Category: Blog

This is a repost from Troy Patterson at Dearborn Public Schools and it is indeed a worthy and important read! (While our districts currently have different extension policies, the steps to review and remove Chrome extensions that are outlined remain the same.)

“Chrome extensions can be wonderful. These can add great functionality to the Chrome browser. Unfortunately, Chrome extensions can also be used by those with ill intent. Recently, we have seen a rash of employees having trouble with their browsers due to installing a Chrome extension. Many of these users didn’t even realize that they installed the extensions. For instance, I received this email just the other day:” Read more…

One of the earliest frustrations we had with Google Slides was the lack of audio support within a slide. There has been very few viable options or workarounds to embed audio into a slide…until now!

Scheduled for a gradual roll out starting on April 18th, 2019, we should see it available within out domain soon thereafter! Read more about how here…

“Become a Certified Innovator and join a community of more than 1,700 passionate educators in over 50 countries who are excited to grow professionally, advocate for innovative technologies and drive school transformation.”

“The program kicks off with an in-person three day Innovation Academy focused on helping new participants define, design and eventually launch a transformative project. After the Academy, Innovators stay engaged through mentorship, ongoing learning and development trainings, and special opportunities from Google to advocate for transformative technologies and practices.”

To learn more about the application process, please sign up for this webinar: Certified Innovator Workshop

To learn more about the Certified Innovator Program: https://teachercenter.withgoogle.com/certification_innovator

“Last year, Google released the web-based Tour Creator that allows users to create interactive 360 degree tours right from their computers. Photographs may be uploaded from the Google Street View app or directly from a computer. Users may add points of interest, photos, text, audio recordings, and ambient music to their tours which may be published as public or unlisted. Teachers and students have been really excited about using Tour Creator as they may now create their own virtual reality experiences. https://vr.google.com/tourcreator.”

Read on to learn more about how you might use Tour Creator in the Elementary Classroom: https://flippedtechcoaching.com/2019/01/24/tourcreator/

For a basic tutorial on how it works in less than eight minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s4rhDbyYo4

Even MORE ideas: https://techycoach.com/2018/07/27/google-vr-tour/

EDU in 90 is a video series from Google for Education, with new episodes three times each month. Each episode, Google focuses on an important topic for educators, administrators, and school leaders – things like product updates, new programs, and helpful resources for the classroom. Subscribe to the Google for Education channel to make sure you don’t miss an episode!

Link to Google EDU in 90

As teachers, we know that timely and frequent feedback for students is one of the most important aspects of how we support student learning. But sometimes, it can be very difficult to keep up with that task among all the other things on our plates. Never fear! Eric Curts has created this FANTASTIC resource with TONS of suggestions and options for providing students with timely and robust feedback This document is an amazing collection of tools that can really support your students in the writing process in ANY class. Follow this LINK for the full resource. Here are some highlights:

• Read & Write for Google
• Language Tool Ad-On
• SAS Writing Reviser
• Writer’s Highlighter (blog post on using this tool)
• WriQ (AMAZING Rubric & Writing Feedback Tool) 
• Orange Slice Teacher Rubric
• Use Google Keep
• CheckMark
• Using Screencastify for Video Feedback on student writing

For more Eric Curts awesomeness, navigate to his famous blog that is always relevant and chock full of great resources: https://www.controlaltachieve.com/

Did you ever want to just reuse a few questions from a Form in your Drive? Now you can, just pick the Form in the popup window and it will populate with the questions from that Form. It even will show you which questions were required in the original form and make them required in your new one! Select the ones you want to insert and the formRecycler will automagically insert them at the end of the Form!

Now also supports Team Drives and will recycle quiz questions preserving the point values. It will not recycle embedded images or section headers right now.

FormRecycler is a Google Forms Add-on that makes it easy to reuse questions from one Google Form into another form. Watch this quick video to learn how to use it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwgJpov6BA4

Boclips hosts more than two million educational videos from more than 100 vetted video producers. In Boclips for Teachers you can search for videos according to keyword. Boclips for Teachers is still in beta. As part of that beta Boclips is asking teachers to complete short surveys in exchange for unlimited, lifetime access to the Boclips library.

Sign up for lifetime access! https://www.boclips.com/teachers

The REMC Virtual Courses are free and open to Michigan school personnel. You can take courses “just to learn” or complete the course and assignments and earn SCECH credits. 

All the courses are facilitated by Michigan educators.  They last three weeks and consists of two one-hour webinars and four to eight hours of resource review, assessment development, discussion boards and written reflection.  SCECHs range from 6 – 10 depending on the course.

These courses provide a convenient way for education professionals to connect and collaborate while reducing time and expense. Our courses are available throughout the school year and are open to all Michigan school personnel. Best of all, all our courses are free and offer free SCECHs when completed.

Seven courses begin on Monday, April 8.

Each course is open for three weeks and consists of two (2) one-hour webinars and four (4) to eight (8) hours of resource review, assessment developments and written reflection. SCECHs are available, ranging from 6 – 10, depending on the course.

• Here are some suggested options:
• Literacy Instruction and Technology: Foundational Elements, Level 1
• Inquiry & Questioning: Igniting Student Curiosity with Technology, Level 1
• Media Literacy: Fake or Real
• Authentic Student Learning & Gamification
• The What, Why, and How of Open Educational Resources (OER)
• Social Media: Professional Development through Social Media, Level 1
• Dynamic Presentations

Please click this LINK to navigate to the course offerings.

The first annual Wayne RESA Maker-STEM Summit will engage participants in the maker mindset of “learning through doing” and ways to expand maker and STEM opportunities for students. Attendees will learn from educators who successfully integrate making into their teaching. They will explore maker-centered tools and trends, gain valuable resources, collaborate with maker-minded educators, and learn about partnerships available across the state to help build capacity for hands-on learning. If you’re interested in the maker movement and finding new ways to infuse hands-on learning within your classroom or school, then the 2019 Wayne RESA Maker-STEM Summit is for you. 5 SCECHs available.

Learn more and register here: https://www.smore.com/7a2pm