Adobe Voice is now Spark and it is on the Desktop!

With the latest update to Adobe Voice, the tried and true video creator for the iPad that our teachers have loved has become changed names and added browser access. 

Adobe Voice is now Adobe Spark and the browser allows teachers to use their chromebooks and desktops to create awesome multimedia projects with their students.

The one link: spark.adobe.com  gives students free access to creating videos with voice narration, graphic images, and easy flowing pages to create web stories that are shareable via links and through social media to add to your teaching tool box!
 
The apps are still there, just the names have changed and updated.  If you have iPads these are must have apps for any grade level:

• Adobe Spark Video - Easily Create Videos in Minutes
• Adobe Spark Post - Create Stunning Graphics 
• Adobe Spark Page - Create Stunning Web Pages from your Words and Images

I created a recap of my BreakoutEDU sessions quickly through the desktop version to try out the features...just like the apps, it is clean, easy to use, and no ads!

Asking Questions in Google Slides

I saw this roll out last week and couldn't wait to try it!  

Super easy and fun way to involve an audience in your presentation.  

In presentation mode a option for AUDIENCE TOOLS is now available.  

The ON/OFF toggle turns on the questioning option,  this will post the link onto the slide you are on and allow participants to post questions anonymously or signed with their google account.  

Once questions have been submitted participants that are logged in will see all the questions and if they are signed in with their google account they can vote a question up or down.  If there is a question that you are wanting to discuss you can choose PRESENT and it will post to the presentation.  
  

I can already think of ways that this will be useful during trainings and presentations and can't wait to roll it out this summer in some of our classes! 

Often Overlooked When Using Google - Templates!

With all the updates to many of the Google tools, many of us miss out on the templates that docs, slides, etc.. have to offer.  

How did you miss them?  That's easy!  Many of us access docs, slides, forms all through our Google Drive.  When we do this, a new document just pops up and is ready to type.  If we open our new document or slide through the icon in the app (or waffle) menu near your name in the upper right hand corner you will find an amazing library of already created templates!



Tip:  Make sure to click the "MORE" in the right hand corner to check them all out!

These templates are available in forms, sheets, docs, and slides.

Why not just start from scratch?  If you are new to the tool or in a time crunch and need a quick exit ticket, using the template of the form allows you to simply change the words and push it out to students.  If students are working on a project and the many different fonts, funky colors, and wonky visually unappealing presentations are eating at you, have them start with a template and discuss the graphic design of the template that makes it more visually appealing.  Have fun exploring the templates!

Push a website out to your students with Share to Classroom extension!

"Share to Classroom" is such a great extension for any teacher who is using Google Classroom with their students.

One extra feature that this extension can do that I wanted to share requires that students are in class - logged into their chrome on a desktop or on a chromebook AND the students have this same extension installed.

The PUSH option in the "Share to Classroom" extension allows the teacher to instantly push a website to the students on their computer or chromebook.  It instantly opens a new tab and the website appears in front of the students.  This is an easy way to get students to a site without having to post a link, or worse, have the students type the address in the browser.

It took less than 5 minutes to walk a classroom of 3rd graders through adding this extension to all the chromebooks.  If your chromebooks are set up through a management system the extension can be added that way as well.  Once the extension is added it will stay with that student's log in on both the chromebook and in the chrome browser when on a desktop computer.

Must have Extension for Google Classroom!

Using Google Classroom with your students?  There is a must have extension to help streamline the process for creating assignments and announcements.  

The “Share to Classroom” extension allows for teachers instantly link a website that they are visiting to their Google Classroom wall as either an assignment or an announcement.  

You can post directly from inside the extension or ‘save as draft’ to post later or add additional resources.  

Another use is if you have a google document open that you are creating to use in an assignment, using the “Share to Classroom” you can instantly attach the document in the extension and create your assignment.  This saves you from needing to log into classroom and find the document in your drive.  

This productivity tool is essential for any teacher that is using Google Classroom!  There's another cool use for this extension coming in the next blog post!

Not sure how to add an extension? Or what is an extension? Here's a older Youtube video to help explain.

Chromebook Basics - Thinglink

Just wanted to share a quick resource that awesome edtech guru Melissa Lim from Portland Public Schools created to help explain the ins and outs of Chromebooks.   Check it out!


If you have never played with Thinglink before - check it out! It's a fun twist on making interactive images.

Student Character Word Cloud

It's the end of the year.  Students creating a collection of works as a scrapbook reminding them of their journey.

One elementary teacher had students create character trait word clouds for their covers.

The students began by brainstorming a list of positive character traits.  From this list they could choose one trait that represented each student.

To automate this process a Google form was created.  This way we could copy/paste in results from the Google form into Wordle to create a quick cover.  To get the name larger we simply typed it in enough times to create desire look.

 

Now if only there was a Google Add-On that created a "word cloud" from results provided by a form submission.