Showing posts with label google docs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label google docs. Show all posts

A Handy Google Drive App to Edit, Annotate and Sign PDFs

12:19 PM  ,  

November 2, 2014
PDFzen is a great free web tool that allows you to edit and sign your PDFs online. This app is integrated with Google Drive which means that you can easily edit the PDFs you have in your Drive. When you are done, you can save your edits back to Drive or download the document as a PDF or generate a link to share via email or social media websites.



Some other things you can do with PDFzen include: filling out DF forms, signing documents, highlighting text, leaving comments, and drawing on PDFs. PDFzen is also available for both iPad and iPhone.

"PDFzen is great for when you need to fill out a PDF form, but you are nowhere near a printer. Or if you don't think you should spend hundreds of dollars on PDF software just to use it one time. Or if you need to send your edited document as a fax and your local copy shop charges by the page.

Have PDFs on your desktop that you want to upload to PDFzen? The free deskPDF Reader integrates directly with PDFzen, so its just 1 click to immediately open your PDFs in PDFzen for quick editing & sharing. This is great for quickly publishing to the web, and collaborating with others. (deskPDF Reader is available for Windows & Mac, with Linux coming soon.)"

Read More

Easy Way to Add Subtitles to Videos in Google Drive

7:03 PM    

November 24, 2014
I have just come across this excellent Google Drive tip and want to bring it to your attention as well. The tip is about adding subtitles to videos in Google Drive.This time it is not an extension or third party tool to add to your Drive but simply a short text file that you will have to tweak a bit to validate it. The process is very easy and won't take you more than a couple minutes. I have just tried it on a video on my Drive and it works really well.

I learned about this tip from Google Gooru. Watch his video tutorial to learn how to add subtitles to videos in your Drive.



Read More

A Good Google Drive Tool to Enhance Students' Reading and Writing Skills

4:47 PM    

November 18, 2014
Read & Write for Google is a powerful tool that integrates with both the web and Google Drive to offer reading and writing help. It is also a good extension to support students with learning difficulties and reading disabilities. Some of the features of Read & Write include:


  • Read aloud words, passages or entire documents with easy to follow colour highlighting
  • Explain new terms using both text and pictures
  • Translate text into other languages
  • Provides suggestions for the current or next word you type
  • Helps you highlight text in documents or the web and collect for use in other documents
  • You can also use it to simplify and summarize text on web pages.

Read & Write for Google  work on different platforms and devices including: Mac, PCs, and Chromebooks. It also works with  web pages and common file types in Google Drive, including:Google Docs, PDF, and ePub.

Watch the video below to learn more about Read & Write


Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

Read More

This Is How Students Can Use Google Docs Real Time Collaboration

11:36 PM    

November 15, 2014
One of the best features that  Google Docs provides to its users is real time collaboration. Students can use it to work on a writing project in the same time. Using this feature students will be able to see what each one has added to the document, access edits, and even carry on a little chat on the side of the document. The syncing process is quite seamless and instantaneous.

In the video below, Google Help staff demonstrate how you can use the real time collaboration feature in Google Docs. The main things students will get from this video are :

  • How to create a Google doc and share it with their peers.
  • How to give editing access to collaborators
  • How to identify what other collaborators have added to the document
  • How to chat with collaborators
  • How to bring other people (non-collaborators) into the conversation

Watch the video to learn more about Google Docs real time collaboration.



Read More

The 5 Recent Google Drive Updates Teachers Should Know About

3:31 PM    

November 8, 2014
As you might have noticed, Google has recently released some powerful updates to its Google Drive rendering it more user-friendly. I have already reviewed each of these new updates in separate posts in the past. However, today I aggregated all of these new updates in this page to make it easy for you to access and browse through them from one single place.



1- The New Google Drive
Google has recently released a new updated version of Google Drive with a fresh and lively  look. The new Google Drive is the same as the old one except that it becomes "faster and works more like you re used to on your computer". I have spent sometime tinkering with it today and it seems way user friendlier than the older Drive.

2- Create Automated Lists in Google Docs
 This feature allows Google Docs users to easily  create automated lists. What this new feature does is that it detects the type of list you want to create and it automatically provides it for you. For instance, let's say you want to create a numbered list. If you type in number one for the first line, it automatically creates a numbered list for the rest of your data  and the same applies to other list genres.

3- Spell Check in Google Sheets
The Spell Check functionality Google added  to its Sheets is the latest improved version of spell check. It resembles in the way it works the spell check that exist on Google Slides and Google Docs. In this version, spelling is checked against the web (similar to Docs and Slides) so that the dictionary is always up-to-date. Also like in Docs and Slides, people can add words to their own dictionary so that the spell checker won't mark names or abbreviations as misspellings in the future

4- Google Plus Polls
Google+ Polls which allows users to easily create interactive polls and share them with others. Using this new feature , you can now poll your students or you followers right from your Google Plus page.

5- Enhance Google Presentations with these new features
Google Slides added some new cool features that allows users to easily adjust and edit images within Slides. With the new feature, users will not only be able to crop and add borders to their Slide images but will also edit and work on them without leaving the Slides.

Read More

A Good Way to Create and Save Mind Maps to Google Drive

2:52 PM    

October 25, 2014
MindMup is an excellent web tool that allows you to create beautiful mind maps. Mindmup does not require registration and is very simple to use. It is also integrated with Google Drive so you can save your mind maps straight to your Drive account. MindMup also provide a set of good extensions to enhance your mind mapping. Some examples include:



Realtime collaboration:
This is a good feature to use with students in class. Realtime collaboration allows multiple users to collaborate synchronously work on a mind map. All changes are visible to collaborators.

Progress
Progress allows you to manage hierarchies of tasks faster by propagating statuses to parent nodes. For example, when all sub-tasks are completed, the parent task is marked as completed automatically.

Straight lines
This extension converts funky curve connectors into straight lines, which makes it clearer to see what connects to what on large maps.


When you are done working on your mind maps you can then save them to your Dropbox or Google Drive. Alternatively, you can share them  via email, embed link, or through social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook,and Google Plus. You also have the option to export them  in PDF or PNG format.

 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

Read More

Here Is How to Easily Cite Papers in Different Formats in Google Docs

10:39 PM    

October 23, 2014
The potential of Google Docs for student researchers is really huge. It has tons of awesome features that will render your academic life such a relief. After we have seen how we can use the research functionality in Google Docs, today I want to highlight the citation feature and show you what you can do with it.

Citing papers and academic articles is something that you can do with one simple click from the research sidebar in a Google doc. The citation styles APA , Chicago and MLA are supported. There are two ways to  can use the citation feature:

1- Cite as footnote
If you click on " Cite as footnote" Google Docs will create a footnote reference at the bottom of your page.

2- Insert
If you click on "Insert" Google Docs will cite the source like a bibliography

Here is how to use both of these features

1- Open your document on Google doc then click on "Tools" and select "Research".




2- Type your search query and select Google Scholar in the search bar


3- When you find the article you want to cite, hover your mouse pointer over it and click either on "Cite as footnote" or "Insert".


4- Click on the arrow under the search bar to select your citation style



Courtesy of Life Hacker

Read More

New Google Drive Is Officially Released with Some New Features

9:56 PM    

October 21, 2014
Google has recently released a new updated version of Google Drive with a fresh and lively  look. The new Google Drive is the same as the old one except that it becomes "faster and works more like you re used to on your computer". I have spent sometime tinkering with it today and it seems way user friendlier than the older Drive. However, The new Google Drive, as announced by Google, is gradually rolling out to all users. If you don't see the option to try the new look, check back later.
To get the new Google Drive, click on the Settings menu and choose" Experience the new Drive".
Here are some of features you will get from the new Google Drive:
  • Create, add, or upload a file with a single button.
  • Find and add files shared with you more easily.
  • Single-click a file to select it and double-click a file to open it.
  • Drag-and-drop files and folders just like you do on your desktop.
  • Improved accessibility.
Here is what is new with Google Drive.

1- Create, add, or upload a file or folder
To create, add, or upload a file or folder, click on "new" 



Choose from the menu below the action to take. The menu looks like this.




2- Add or find files shared with you
To  easily add or find files shared with you, click on Incoming on the left-hand side navigation. 



Then, click on one of the icons below to take an action.




Read More

A Simple Visual Guide to Using Google Drive Offline.

9:40 PM    

October 21, 2014
If you are a heavy Google Drive user like me you would probably love the offline service it provides. This is a feature that, when enabled, allow you to access , create and edit your Google docs and presentations offline. This is particularly useful when you want to access or edit a document in a place where there is no Internet. I have already shared a visual guide on how to activate the offline feature on Google Drive  in a post published last year but since Google released a new Drive interface a couple of days ago, I am updating you on the instructions on how to do it on the new Drive.

Follow the instructions below to enable the offline feature in your Drive and remember that Google Drive offline feature functions only in Chrome browser.

Here are the instructions for those of you who have updated to the new version of Google Drive.

1- Head over to your Drive account then click on the gear icon on top right hand side.
2- Click on setting



3- Check the box in front of offline.






These are instructions for those of you using the old version of Google Drive.

Log on to your Google Drive account and click on " more " menu



Click on " offline" .If you already have the Drive Chrome web app installed all you have to do is to click on " enable" .


Read More

4 Important Google Docs' Features for Student Researchers

7:05 PM    

October 14, 2014
Google Drive is absolutely one of the best cloud tools out there. Its potential for education is evidently huge and that is why I have been writing a lot on it. Today I want to share with you (more particularly with student researchers) few of the useful tips on how to make use of some hidden features in Google Doc .

1-Research
The research tool allows you to do research simultaneously as you are writing or editing your document. From one place you can search different Google services including: Scholar, Images, Quotes, Dictionary. 



To access the research tab click on "tools" and select "research"



The great thing about this Research tool is that it allows you to easily insert citations and links to your document. When you find a web link that you want to add to your document, hover your mouse pointer on the that link and then on “insert link” and it will automatically be displayed in the place where you want it to be. 



The same applies for citations, click on “cite” and Google Doc automatically inserts the citation according to the style you want ( MLA or APA, or Chicago).



2- Spelling
Google Doc has an integrated spelling checker that automatically underlines any misspelled word. However, if you are working on a bigger writing project and you want to make sure your piece is spelling-errors free, just click on “tools” then select spelling. All misspelled terms will be featured in the displayed window.





And if you find yourself repeating the same spelling error over and over, I would suggest that you add it to your personal Dictionary as shown below and from time to time try to have a look at those terms you added there and see if you can remember its spelling.



3- Word Count
This is a good nifty tool for students working on assignments that require them to write a given number of words. To know how many words you have written in an essay or article, just highlight the entire text , click on “tools” and select “word count”.


Read More

A Step By Step Guide on How to Locate and Add Add-ons to Your Google Drive

1:07 PM    

October 12, 2014
It seems from the emails we keep receiving from some of our readers here that they still did not grasp the concept of add-ons that Google released a few months ago. In a nutshell, add-ons are third party tools created to add capabilities to your documents and spreadsheets.The  majority of these add-ons are created by independent developers not affiliated with Google.

Since the release of this new feature that supports third party extensions in Google Drive, the add-ons store is now teeming with all kinds of applications to use on your documents and spreadsheets. These tools cover a wide variety of services and enable users to perform some enhanced functionalities on their documents and spreadsheets. Here some good add-ons we have previously reviewed for teachers:

Here is how to locate and install an add-on on your document or spreadsheet.

1- Open a document or spreadsheet



2- Click on "add-ons" then select "get add-ons"



2- Browse through the store and select the add-on you want to install



Watch this video to learn more about how to install add-ons on your documents or spreadsheets.



Read More

New Feature in Google Docs- Creating Automated Lists

9:23 PM    

September 20, 2014
Google has recently released a new handy update to Google Docs to make it easier for Docs' users to create automated lists. What this new feature does is that it detects the type of list you want to create and it automatically provides it for you. For instance, let's say you want to create a numbered list. If you type in number one for the first line, it automatically creates a numbered list for the rest of your data  and the same applies to other list genres.

There are different permutations to this feature which you can discover when play around with it. You can also disable the automatic detection of lists in Google Docs by going to tools, preferences and uncheck "automatically detect lists".

Watch the video below from Google Guru to learn more about how to use the automated list feature.


Read More

New Google Docs Cheat Sheet to Use in Class

8:13 PM    

September 15, 2014
Here is a new Google Docs cheat sheet that is ideal for classroom use. This free downloadable document is created by the awesome Shake Up Learning . If you still remember, I have recently featured some of their wonderful Google Drive visuals here in this blog.When I first saw this new visual I thought about teachers who are going to use Google Docs with their students for the first time. This could be a very good introduction to some of the features of Google Docs.


Using this cheat sheet students will be able to learn about how to edit documents (both Google docs and Windows Word files).They will also learn about the different components of Google Docs menu and will explore the various functionalities nested in the Insert menu. To this is added another section that visually features items under the Tools menu and the Toolbar.

Visit this page to download or save a copy of this cheat sheet to your Google Drive. Enjoy.

Read More

10 Excellent Google Drive Templates for Teachers

7:30 PM    

September 8, 2014
The template gallery that Google Drive offers to users is one of the best places I often have recourse to to look for ready made templates to use in my work. The gallery features a wide variety of templates pertaining to different topics from templates on albums and flipbooks to templates for resumes and cover letters. You can refine you search either by type or category. You can for instance conduct a search for only Spreadsheets or Presentations templates by clicking on " Sdpreadsheets" or "Presentations".You can also sort these templates by frequency of usage. And if it happens that you have made your own template on Google Drive and you want to share it with other users, you can submit it using the "submit a template" button on the top right hand side.



The "Students and Teachers" section in this gallery features a plethora of useful templates that you can use in your class with your students. You can browse through the selection there and when you come across a template that you want to use just click on its title and then select " use this template".
Here are 10 excellent ready made templates ideal for classroom inclusion. These templates have been selected by Susan Oxnevad and embedded in this interesting post. CLick on any title below to access and use the template.

1- Student Report

Read More

5 Good Extensions to Enhance Your Google Drive Productivity

11:37 PM    

August 27, 2014
Since the time Google made it possible for third party developers to create extensions and add-ons compatible with Chrome and the Chrome app store is teeming with all kinds of apps. If you have a look at the Drive section in the Chrome store you will notice a multitude of apps provided there for free , however, many of these apps are not really worth installing. In this regard and if you are looking for powerful Drive extensions to maximize your productivity, this selection is definitely a must try out.

1- Save to Google Drive

This extension allow you to save web content directly to Google Drive through a browser action or context menu. You can save documents, images, and HTML5 audio and video all by right clicking and selecting 'Save to Google Drive'.
2- Save Text to Google Drive

The Save Text to Google Drive Chrome extension helps you save web text content to your Google Drive.
3- Shortcuts for Google

Display all Google™ services as buttons in a space-saving popup next to your address bar. Reach services like Gmail, Google Reader, Google Maps, Google Calendar, and many more in just two clicks from your browser. The extension includes more than 220 Google services and websites.
4- Pixlr Editor

Pixlr presents a full featured photo editor direct in your browser. If you are used to working with Gimp, Paint shop pro or even Photoshop you will feel right at home with this online image editor. It contains lots of the features that you normally see in desktop applications but just one click away. No registration required.

5- Black Menu for Google


This extension is meant to be a replacement for both, iGoogle and the quickly removed google menu. This extension contains an extensive menu of google services. You can access them by browsing through the black menu entries. By clicking the menu entry of your choice, you'll go to the corresponding google service in a new tab.
Based on a post initially posted on Mashable.

 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

Read More

A Handy Google Drive Cheat Sheet for iPad Users

9:31 PM    

August 25, 2014
Here is another great Google Drive resource created and shared by Shake Up Learning. This is basically a Google Drive cheat sheet for iPad designed specifically to help mobile users of Drive.If you are planning to use the Drive app with your students in this new school year then this cheat sheet is definitely a must have. It will provide your students with visually enhanced instructions to assist them discover the different features the mobile Drive offers. They will particularly learn how to locate incoming files and folders, identify recently modified documents, access shared folders, see items downloaded to their devices, and locate uploaded files. There is also at the end of this  sheet a selection of other other important  Google iPad apps.


Check out this link if you want to save a copy of Google Drive for iOS Cheat Sheet to your Google Drive.


 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

Read More

Step by Step Guide on How to Use Google Drive to Collaborate With Others

9:51 PM    

August 21, 2014
Google Drive has some wonderful features that enhance collaborative and group work. The video below by Andrew Boan walks you through the different collaborative features in Drive and shows you how to use each one of them. Some of the things Boan covers in this tutorial include:
  • How to create a shared folder
  • How to share the folder with others
  • Add a file to a shared folder
  • Upload a file directly into the shared folder
  • How to create and share a new document in shared folder
  • How to work collaboratively on a document
One of the great feature I love about Google Drive is the ability to share shared folders with others. You can easily create a shared folder and share it with your students. Anytime you add something to this folder, all students will be able to see it instantly in their Drive. You can use shared folder to share assignments, learning materials, documents, and videos with your students. In this way you will not have to worry if every student has got a copy for they can all access it in their Drives. Here is a step by step guide on how to create a shared folder on Google Drive.

Watch this video to learn more about how to use Google Drive to collaborate with others.



 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

Read More

Excellent Google Drive Resources for Teachers

8:34 PM    

August 18, 2014
On the occasion of the first back-to-school week, I compiled this list of excellent resources to help teachers make the best of Google Drive in their classrooms. I firmly believe that Google Drive is one of the elemental web tools with huge educational potential that every teacher should be able to tap into. However, the thing with so many of Google's services is that their power and usefulness lies in their hidden features. The resources below cover some of these features.


Google Drive Resources for Teachers


Read More

This is How to Grade Students Work on Google Drive

9:58 PM    

August 15, 2014
Goobric is an interesting Chrome extension that allows teachers to easily grade students work by using rubrics. Goobric helps you grade any work that is created and delivered through one of Google Drive's services ( documents, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Folders, etc). Up to now, Goobric supports only works created via the Doctopus Script which is a "a tool for differentiating, grouping, distributing and managing student projects in google Drive.  Doctopus is available from any Google Spreadsheet from the Tools menu->just search the Script Gallery."



Goobric provides an overlay widget in the Google Docs editor, improving teacher workflow. Rubric scores are automatically passed back to Doctopus spreadsheet by skill strand, allowing for grading to be accomplished without flipping between open windows or a gradebook.   Rubrics should be built as a simple spreadsheet grid.  They can be of any dimension or content, however the headers must be integer scores (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, ... or ...4,3,2,1) starting in column 2 and skills/competencies must be in rows, with skill titles in column 1.

Watch this video to learn more about how to use Goobric to assess student work


Read More

38 Ideas to Use Google Drive in Class

9:13 AM    

August 11, 2014
This is the third post in a series of posts aimed at helping teachers and educators make the best out of Google Drive in classrooms. This series comes in a time when teachers are getting ready to start a new school year and hopefully will provide them with the necessary know-how to help them better integrate Google Drive in their teaching pedagogy. The two previous posts featured in this series were entitled consecutively "New Google Drive Cheat Sheet" and "Teachers Visual Guide to Google Drive Sharing". Today's post covers some interesting ideas and tips on how to go about using Google Drive in your classroom. This work is created by Sean Junkins from SeansDesk.






Google Docs

  • Collaborate and share lesson/curriculum plans
  • Track instructional interventions
  • Create a simple webpage with Docs publishing
  • Share and collect assignment without printing
  • provide instant feedback to students
  • access documents in class or at home
  • Consolidate notes for department or faculty meeting
  • Improve writing skills through peer editing and feedback
  • Work on reports, research or papers together with peers in different classes, schools,or countries
  • Keep a continuous, running log for assignments such as journal entries or writing samples

Google Slides

  • Share presentations with your students and co-workers
  • Upload and convert existing presentations to Google Drive format
  • Download your presentations as PDF, PPT, or txt files
  • Insert images and videos and format your slides
  • Draw organizational charts, flow charts, design diagrams, and much more within a presentation
  • Publish and embed your presentation within a website, allowing access to a wide audience
  • Add slide transitions, animations and themes to show-stopping presentations
  • see exactly what others are working on with colourful presence markers
  • Edit a presentation with other people simultaneously
  • Use revision history to see who made changes or to revert to earlier versions
  • Say hello, start a conversation or share new ideas using built-in chat
  • Use the comments feature to provide asynchronous feedback on slides

Google Sheets

  • Create a seating chart
  • Record grades with an organized grade book
  • Track attendance, missing assignments, and behaviour reports
  • Store a database of contact information for students and parents
  • Use a word cloud gadget to visualize written responses
  • Use an App Script to automatically email feedback to students
  • Collect data from across the web for research
  • Create interactive flashcards with a spreadsheet gadget
  • Format a weekly class schedule

Google Forms

  • Collect mailing addresses
  • Build quizzes
  • Student group welcome forms
  • Club event requests
  • Structured peer editing feedback
  • Assignment checklist and submissions
  • Applications for positions in clubs, groups, student government, etc

Read More