Use Google Drawings as an Alternative to Thinglink

Thinglink recently made some changes to their free plans that further limited access for students. Because of those changes, a few days ago I received an email from a reader who was looking for an alternative to Thinglink. One of my suggestions was to try using Google Drawings to create hyperlinked images. In the following video I provide a demonstration of how to create hyperlinked images in Google Drawings.


Click here to see five more ways to use Google Drawings.

Videos and Google Earth File for Learning About Glaciers

SciShow Kids recently published a new video that explains to children how glaciers are formed and how they change over time. SciShow Kids is intended for early elementary school grades and this video about glaciers not an exception to that pattern.


For older students you might want to take a look at How Do Glaciers Move? which explains how glaciers are formed, the physical properties of glaciers, and how glaciers move. The video also answers the question of whether a glacier is a solid or a liquid.



Finally, the Extreme Ice Survey offers a Google Earth file (clicking the link will launch a KML download) that displays the results of the Extreme Ice Survey. In this Google Earth file users can view glaciers, historical data about glaciers, and some video clips about shrinking glaciers. The Extreme Ice Survey website has high quality photos and time lapse videos from the surveyors.

Use one of these seven tools to create a science lesson with either video that is posted above.

Getting Out of Your Ed Tech Rut

For the last seven weeks I've been making it a point to try out the features of Microsoft's offerings for teachers and students. See yesterday's post about Microsoft Forms as an example of that. I have been doing this because it is forcing me to take an honest look at the competitor to G Suite for Education which I have used in its various forms for more than a decade. Yesterday afternoon I went live on Facebook to talk about why I'm trying Microsoft tools right now. If you missed my live broadcast, the recording is embedded below.

Search Within a Folder in Google Drive

A convenient update to Google Drive was released yesterday afternoon. You can now search within a folder in your Google Drive account. You can do this in one of two ways. The easiest way is to right-click on a folder's name and then select search. The second option is to open a folder and then use the search box at the top the page.

Like almost every update to Google Drive, this new search feature will be rolled-out gradually over the next couple of weeks. So if you don't see the new search option today, you will see it before too long.

If you're new to using G Suite for Education, take my on-demand course that will teach you everything you need to know to get going and feel comfortable using G Suite in your classroom.