Thursday, February 4, 2016

How to Embed a Google Doc on a Website, Weebly etc.


Google Docs are a great tool for gathering input from students and parents without having a login required.  Embedding Google Docs into your website (weebly) can be frustrating.  Take a look at the image below.  If you copy and paste the embed code from the Google Doc you often get a tiny little box which only allows you to see a corner of the entire document.

It is time to put on your coding boots!


The original embed code gives you this....



The altered code gives you this...

Friday, January 22, 2016

Share Google Doc and Force Recipients to Make Copy


Scenario 1

Mr. Smith worked really hard on creating the perfect Google reading strategy template for his lesson. He was so excited to share it with his students.  He put the link on his website, made a note before the link and on the template, reminding students to make a COPY of the doc.  Unfortunately, some eager students started the lessons and didn't see the "make a COPY" reminder.  Now many students have made a copy with the eager students work.  What can Mr. Smith do to avoid this?  SIMPLE...

Mr. Smith's link https://docs.google.com/document/d/17O_89DvczzQwh5TEu_BRvNbXpvyAjaRFu_qf8O9bQ28/edit

When sharing the link, Mr. Smith can simply delete "edit" at the end of the link and add "copy".  .

Example 1:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17O_89DvczzQwh5TEu_BRvNbXpvyAjaRFu_qf8O9bQ28/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17O_89DvczzQwh5TEu_BRvNbXpvyAjaRFu_qf8O9bQ28/copy


Note, some links might have extra letters and symbols at the end, delete everything from the end to the word edit.

Example 2:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IyZA-Iah8lpxwdzeh4vMCkSbx3lTaLz6GJr5_kdT1vk/edit?usp=sharing 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IyZA-Iah8lpxwdzeh4vMCkSbx3lTaLz6GJr5_kdT1vk/copy




Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Stich.it Together

Stich.it great tool to keep students focused and on task when searching online, for all ages!
  1. Create a list of websites you want your students to explore
  2. Copy and paste the links - one to a line
  3. Put them in the order you want them (if needed)
  4. Click on the red "Stich it" button
  5. Name your Stich it
  6. Share the "Your Stich" with your students. 

Add website links in the box.
Share the "Your Stich" with your students.



Monday, December 14, 2015

Windows Short Cut Tips

I LOVE computer shortcuts and recently came across a blog with awesome shortcut tips for educators.  Check them out, you won't be sorry!

12 Windows shortcuts every educator should know

Thursday, December 10, 2015

URL Shorteners and Single Link

"Time keeps on slipping into the future" (a high school flashback to Steve Miller Band-sorry couldn't resist) as you wait for students to type in a long website address correctly.  A simply solution is shortening the URL.  There are many sites that will shorten a website address it all comes down to user preference when deciding on a site.  There are also many sites that allow you to create a list of sites and create a single link to share the list.

Example 1:
If I wanted to transport you back to my high school days I could have you check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6lAwbE1J4.  Now Would you like trying to type this out if copying and pasting wasn't an option?  How many mistakes would be made in attempting to type this?  What if the link was http://bit.ly/smbflash, would it be easier?  Would there be less mistakes?

I used bitly https://bitly.com one of my favorites.  Logging into the accounts allows you to create customized shortened urls as well as computer generated shortened ones.

Other popular URL shorteners are:


Example 2:
Let's say I want to share a list of songs that were played at my high school dances and are stilled played at high school dances today.  If you didn't have a website to link these one... how long do you think it would take individuals to successfully type these addresses out?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo2qQmj0_h4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q7Vr3yQYWQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p4MZJsexEs

Using the site fav7.com, I copied and pasted the links to fav7.com and it generated a single address to share all the links. http://fav7.com/Z2949053

Other popular URL shortener sites that allow users to share multiple links with one URL.



On the FLIP side, there are sites that allow you to unshorten the shortened links.  I use these sites because often our school server blocks shortened URLs accessed on social media sites.  I can simply enter the the shortened URL on the site and find out the original source.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

The Endless Activities in Google Draw

I have to be honest, I have never seen the worth of Google Draw until recently.  Now.... I LOVE it.  Following are a few reasons why and how Google Draw can be used in your classroom.





Thursday, November 19, 2015

Twisted Wave- Simple Audio Recording & Editing


Do you ever need to record or edit audio?  Twisted Wave is an easy to use online site that allows users to record audio and then download or save to Google Drive.  Do you have an audio clip that you want to edit out sections?  This is your tool!  Upload the clip - highlight the areas you want deleted, hit delete and download your new clip.

RECORDING