How to Change Google Classroom Notification Settings

Earlier today a subscriber to my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter asked me if it was possible to change the frequency of Google Classroom notification emails. Yes is the answer to that question.

Here's how to change Google Classroom notification settings:
1. Sign into Google Classroom.
2. In the upper, left corner of the screen click on the "hamburger" or "three line menu."
3. At the bottom of the menu select "settings."
4. Notifications options will appear in the settings menu.
5. Choose your global settings and choose your class-by-class notification options.

A video of this process is included below.


Click here to read more about Google Classroom notification settings including how to change notification settings in the Google Classroom mobile apps.

Lego Launches Their 2019 Master Educator Program

Lego Education is one of the vendors whose stands that I always enjoy visiting at big education conference like the BETT Show (I'll be there later this week). They always have neat hands-on displays (they never let me take them home though) and people who are passionate about using Legos in education. If you're a teacher in the U.S. who also passionate about using Legos in your classroom, you're a candidate for Lego Education's 2019 Master Educator Program.

Lego Education's Master Educator Program is open to K-12 teachers in the United States. The program is an ambassador program that gives participants access to a community of other teachers who are passionate about using Legos in their classrooms. The program appears to include some specialized online PD opportunities. And, of course, participants get a digital badge and the right to say they are Lego Master Educators. In exchange for all of this three or four times a year participants have to give Lego feedback on their education products and initiatives. Participants are also expected to promote Lego Education whenever they can. If you're interested in becoming a Lego Education Master Educator, you can apply here.

On a related note, before engaging in a brand ambassador program I recommend considering reading Examining the New Phenomenon of Teachers as Brand Ambassadors.

Vizor 360 is Now Free for All - Create Interactive 360 Imagery

Vizor offers great tools for creating interactive 360 imagery. I've previously covered their Patches program for creating animated VR because that was the free service that they offered. Now their core product Vizor 360 is available for free too.

Vizor 360 lets you upload a series of pictures and then stitch them together. After you have stitched your pictures together to create a 360 image you can then add interactive elements to it. Those interactive elements can be links to websites, audio, and additional text and image overlays. A completed project can be viewed and interacted with in a web browser and or a VR headset.

Applications for Education
Vizor 360 could be a great tool for students to use to create interactive imagery of places that they have visited as part of a class or school field trip. Adding interactive elements to the imagery enables students to link to Google Docs they've created about the imagery and or to include audio of themselves talking about the imagery.

You Can Now Publish Entire Book Creator Libraries

Book Creator, one of my favorite tools for creating multimedia ebooks, has announced a new publishing option that many teachers have requested. Book Creator now lets teachers publish entire libraries of their students' books. This library publishing option is in addition to the option to publish individual books.

Publishing an entire library of student-created Book Creator books could be a good way to showcase an entire class' work in one place. If you're building a portfolio of your class' work on a class website or blog, putting the Book Creator library into that website will make it easier for visitors to see contributions from all students in one place. Libraries, like individual books, can be password protected.

Detailed directions for Book Creator library publishing can be found here. In short, you'll find the library publishing option in your teacher dashboard in the new library settings cog.

Here's a short overview of how to create an ebook on Book Creator.

Here's How Parents Can Receive Text Notifications in the SeeSaw App

In all of last week's kerfuffle about Remind and Verizon it got lost that there are other ways for students and their parents to receive mobile updates from you. SeeSaw is one of the services that offers a way for parents to receive text notifications. SeeSaw's parent app includes the option for parents to enable SMS text notifications. The following video demonstrates how to do that.


And if you're new to using SeeSaw, check out this video on how to send announcements to parents.