15 Updates Coming to Google Workspace for Education

This week Google announced a bunch of updates that will be coming soon to Google Workspace for Education products. If you missed them, as I did earlier this week, here's a short summary of the key updates to note.

File / Video Security Updates

• Some shared files in your Google Drive will require using a URL that contains a resource key. This change will impact users who haven't previously viewed a file that you're sharing. As an end-user, this shouldn't change anything for you other than the link that you initially share if you use the "anyone with the link" option to share a file. This change will be implement beginning in late July with full implementation in September. Google Workspace administrators may want to read more about this update on this Google Workspaces Admin Help page.

• Videos in your YouTube account that were uploaded prior to January 1, 2017 and were marked as "unlisted" will be changed to "private" on July 23rd. You can revert them back to "unlisted" after the 23rd. Read more about this change here. This update doesn't affect videos uploaded after January 1, 2017.

Google Classroom Updates Coming Later This Summer/ Fall

• Schedule assignments to multiple classes at once. 
  
  
• Offline mode for the Google Classroom Android app. 
  
  
• Student activity view. This will let you see when a student was last active in your Google Classroom. Activity can include accessing assignments and commenting on posts.

All three features listed above will be available in all versions of Google Workspace for Education. The following Google Classroom features will only be available to those using one of the various paid Google Workspace for Education plans. 

• Roster import via Clever. This will let IT administrators create classes based on classroom rosters as written in Clever. (While great in theory, I wonder if this will impact how much control teachers get over their own Google Classroom rosters. I'd hate to see this turn into a situation where a teacher has to submit an IT help ticket whenever a student needs to be added or removed from a Google Classroom. That could be a nightmare during add/drop periods). 
  
  
• Classroom add-ons. This will let IT administrators add third-party services into Google Classroom. Some of Google's preferred vendors for this include Adobe, Kahoot, and Nearpod. Students will use those tools inside of Google Classroom.  

Google Forms

• Twenty new font choices are being added to Google Forms. 
  
  
• The settings menu is going to be revamped to "simplify" the application of settings. (I'm not sure what there is to simplify in Google Forms settings, it's pretty simple now). 

Google Docs

• Create interactive checklists in Google Docs. There's a new checkbox option that you can add in place of bullet points in Google Docs. This is available now. See my screenshot below for an example. 

Google Meet

Hopefully, we can all use Google Meet and Zoom a lot less next year. That said, Google is making some updates to Google Meet for those who are hosting virtual class meetings. 

• When launching a meeting from Google Classroom teachers and co-teachers will automatically be assigned the roles of host. 
  
  
• Students who are on the Google Classroom roster will automatically be admitted but will be placed in a waiting room until the teacher is ready to admit them. 
  
  
• Anyone not on the Google Classroom roster will have to ask to join and can only be admitted by the teacher or co-teacher. 
  
  
• Hosts can turn off all webcams at once with a "video lock" setting. 
  
  
• New viewing options will let you control how much of a presentation you see compared to how much space is allotted for viewing your students' cameras or profile icons. 

How to Forward Google Workspaces Email to Personal Gmail

Now that the summer break is here for those in the northern hemisphere, hopefully you will have a bit less email in your school account. But if you want to keep up with the few emails that you do get during the summer, you can do so without having to log into your school Google Workspaces account. In the following video I demonstrate how to forward your Google Workspaces email to a personal Gmail account. (In the video I say "G Suite" but the process is exactly the same in Google Workspaces). 

One thing to bear in mind is that if you reply from the personal Gmail inbox to which you forwarded your email, the recipient will see the email coming from that address rather than your Google Workspaces address.

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin and WayBetterSite. Featured graphic created by Richard Byrne using Canva. 

7 Interesting Features You Can Add to Google Sites

Last week Google sent out a notice reminding domain administrators that the end of the classic version of Google Sites is near. That prompted me to publish directions for transition from the classic version of Google Sites to the current version. I also shared a set of tutorials for building your first website with the current version of Google Sites. 

Once you've made the switch to the current version of Google Sites, you might want to go beyond the basics to add some interesting features to your site to make it a one-stop shop for all of your students' and parents' needs. Here are some things you can do to enhance your Google Site with additional features. 

Embed Posters Into Google Sites

Canva is my favorite tool for making all kinds of graphics including infographics and interactive posters. In the video below I demonstrate how to embed Canva posters into the pages of your Google Sites.

Add a News Section to Google Sites

If you want to make sure that visitors to your site see the latest updates and news first, use the method demonstrated in this video to include a "latest news" section in your website. 



Add Physics, Chemistry, and Math Simulations to Google Sites

PhET offers fantastic simulations for teaching math and science concepts. Those simulations can be embedded into your Google Site as is demonstrated in the following video. 



Add Padlet Walls to Google Sites

Padlet is one of the most versatile ed tech tools that I use. You can use Padlet to create backchannels, collaborative KWL charts, video and image galleries, and even create interactive maps. All Padlet walls can be embedded into Google Sites pages. 



Add an Art Gallery to Google Sites

Wakelet, like Padlet, is a versatile tool for making collections of links, images, videos, and more. You can use Wakelet in conjunction with Google Sites to create an online art gallery. 



Add an Image Carousel to Google Sites

Do you have a bunch of pictures from a school event that you'd like to share with people visiting your website made with Google Sites? If so, adding an image carousel to your Google Site is a simple and good-looking way to do that. 



Add Flipgrid Topics Into Google Sites

If you have a Flipgrid that you want to share with a wider audience without having to send out individual invitations, embedding that Flipgrid into your Google Site is a solution. In the video below I demonstrate how you can include Flipgrid topics in the pages of your Google Sites website. 

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin, TodayHeadline, and 711Web. Featured graphic created by Richard Byrne.

Ten Google Workspaces Features for Teachers You Might Be Overlooking

Google Workspaces (formerly known as G Suite, Google Apps, and just plain Google Drive) has a lot of great features for teachers and students. Some of them are obvious while others might be considered "hidden" features. Those hidden features are often little things that make using Google Workspaces a little easier than faster. In this video I highlight ten of my favorite Google Workspaces features that are often overlooked.

Featured in the video:

• Google Docs: new document shortcut.
• Google Slides: specify video start and stop time.
• Google Forms: set default point value.
• Google Sheets: apply a theme.
• Google Meet: blur your background.
• Google Classroom: copy an entire class.
• Google Jamboard: duplicating objects.
• Google Drawings: hyperlink elements of a published drawing.
• Gmail: schedule sending of messages.
• Google Keep: set reminders based on time and place.

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin, TodayHeadline, and 711Web.

How to Quickly Duplicate and Sort Jamboard Pages

Jamboard has a lot of handy features and neat uses for in-person and online instruction. I recently outlined a bunch of them in this blog post. This afternoon someone emailed me looking for help with duplicating pages within a Jamboard. Like a lot of things, it's easier to show how to do it than it is to write how to do it. I made this short video to show how you can quickly duplicate, re-use, and sort pages or frames within a Jamboard. 

Applications for Education

Duplicating a page within a Jamboard is helpful when you want to have multiple pages that look the same but you want students to complete a different activity on each one of those pages. For example, I might want to use the same outline map of New England on three pages then one page have students label the states, on the second page have them label capitals, and on the third page label state nicknames.

Here's how to create and distribute Jamboard templates. 

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin, Today Headline, and 711Web.

How to Score Google Forms Questions That Have Multiple Correct Responses

This afternoon I answered an email from a reader who was having a little trouble with Google Forms. She was trying to create a quiz in which some of the questions had multiple correct responses for students to select. For example, "select from this list the names of the people who have walked on the moon." 

To create a question or prompt in Google Forms that has multiple correct responses you need to use "checkboxes" question type. Multiple choice will not work because Google Forms will only allow one selection. By using checkboxes you can have students make multiple selections in response to the question. 

When using the checkbox question type your students can select multiple correct responses to a prompt like, "select the names of the people who have walked on the moon." When you do that you'll find that Google Forms will not give partial credit to a student who selects one correct name and one incorrect name. Therefore, you'll need to change the settings on your Google Form to "release scores after review" instead of the default "release scores immediately" in the form settings. Then you'll have to manually score the question(s) that ask students to make multiple selections. 

In the video that is embedded below I demonstrate the process that I've outlined above for creating and scoring Google Forms questions that have multiple correct responses.  

On a related note, here are five Google Forms features every teacher should know. 

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin, Today Headline, and 711Web.

How to Quickly Record Voice and Video Messages in Gmail

Sometimes it is easier, faster, and more effective to record a video or audio reply to an email than it is to type a response. For example, when I get asked for technical help it is often faster and more effective to create a screencast video than it is to write directions.

Sending an audio message in response to an email can be useful when you need to use some voice inflection to deliver meaning that you might not be able to deliver with just text. This is particularly true when replying to students who are still developing their reading skills or when replying to parents whose first language isn't your own.

In the following videos I demonstrate how to record video and audio messages directly from your Gmail inbox.

Two Ways to Create Videos in Your Gmail Inbox


How to Record and Send Voice Notes in Gmail

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin and 711Web.

A Quick Tip for Categorizing Gmail Messages

The default inbox arrangement in Gmail consists of a Primary tab, a Social tab, and a Promotions tab. Gmail generally does a pretty good job of accurately sorting messages into those tabs. There are some occasions when messages that should appear in the Primary tab appear in Promotions and times when messages that should be in the Promotions tab land in the Primary tab. Fortunately, there is an easy way to remedy that problem. 

You can move messages from one Gmail tab to another by just clicking on the subject line of a message and then dragging it to the tab that you want it to be in. When you do that you'll see a small pop-up message asking if you want to have all future emails from that sender appear in tab to which you just moved the message. Watch this short video to see how this process works. 

Applications for Education
While rare, there are times when a message from a teacher to a student or student to a teacher lands in the wrong tab. Dragging the message back to the proper tab can help prevent that from happening again. Then the challenge is to get students to actually open their inboxes!

Jamboard Now Offers Version History

This school year Google's Jamboard has become one of my go-to tools for hybrid instruction. Yesterday, Google added a feature to Jamboard that I'm excited to finally see. That feature is version history. 

Version history in Jamboard works just like version history in Google Docs and Google Slides. To access it simply open the little "three dots" menu next to the share button in Jamboard. Once you open that menu you'll see a new option for "see version history" at the bottom of the menu. Click on "see version history" and you'll see a list of time-stamped versions or revisions of the Jamboard. 

Just like in Google Docs and Google Slides you can name the different versions of a Google Jamboard. And just like in Docs and Slides you can revert back to previous version with just one click. 

Applications for Education
Version history in Jamboard could be useful when students are working together on a brainstorming activity or, as my students were doing yesterday, a flowchart creation activity. Students can work for a while on a Jamboard then stop and talk about the various versions they've made. If they decide that a previous version was better, they can quickly revert back to it.

On a related note, here's an overview of how to use Jamboard in Google Classroom. 

How to Download Google Meet Video Call Recordings

A few months ago Google introduced the option for teachers to record Google Meet video calls in some versions Google Workspaces. If you have that option and your school allows it, recording a Google Meet is a good way to save a lesson and publish it for students who missed the first time to go back and watch it. 

Before publishing the recording of a lesson conduct via Google Meet you might want to edit out the beginning of the meeting when you're doing "housekeeping" stuff before the lesson actually begins. To edit the recording you'll need to download the recording then upload it into your video editor of choice (I'd recommend WeVideo or iMovie). In this short video I demonstrate how to download the recording of a Google Meet video call. Remember, any Google Meet that is recorded will automatically be saved to a folder in your Google Drive. 

On a related note, here's an overview of ten Google Meet features teachers should know how to use.

What's New in G Suite for Education - It's Not Called That Anymore!

Last week was a vacation week for my school and many others in New England. If you were on vacation or you just don't obsessively follow all things Google like I do, you may have missed that Google has changed the name of G Suite for Education to Google Workspaces for Education. For the most part, the name change doesn't have an impact on the day-to-day use of Google products by teachers like you and me. 

If you're curious about what's new with Google Workspaces for Education and the various versions of it, watch this short video in which I provide a run-down of the changes. I also made a short slideshow about the changes. You can see those slides here or as embedded below. 

How to Create a Google Slides Template

A couple of weeks ago I published directions for creating and editing master slides in Google Slides. Last week I received a follow-up question regarding using those edited master slides as a template for other presentations. If you're using Google Slides in a G Suite for Education Google Workspaces for Education account, there is a fairly easy way to turn your master slides into a template for you and your students to use and re-use. In this video I demonstrate how that process works to create a Google Slides template. 

Applications for Education
Creating a template is a great way to use consistent branding of presentations and it's also great for helping students follow guidelines for presentations. For example, I have a rule that font must be at least 28 points with no more than three lines per slide. Having a template for students to follow is a good way to help them follow those basic guidelines.

Some of my Favorites - Create Labeling Activities in Google Drawings

This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that's not happening this year. Instead I'll be "staycationing" and working on some projects around home. While on my staycation I'll be sharing some of my personal favorite tools and blog posts.

In the video that is embedded below I demonstrate how to use Google Drawings to create a labeling activity and then distribute it to students through Google Classroom. In the video I used the example of creating an activity in which students drag state names onto a blank map of New England. A variation on that activity would be to have students using the arrow tools in Google Drawings to draw connections between the labels and the states. Watch the video below to see how the whole process works including how students complete the activity in Google Classroom.

Make Sign-in/ Sign-out Sheets With Google Forms or Microsoft Forms

This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that's not happening this year. Instead I'll be "staycationing" and working on some projects around home. While on my staycation I'll be sharing some of my personal favorite tools.

In the past, I've always been fortunate that I didn't have "wanderers" who signed-out for the bathroom and never re-appeared. That's largely due to the fact that my classes are electives that kids choose to attend to begin with. So I never kept great records of when kids signed-out and signed-in from trips to the bathroom. But this year, for contact-tracing purposes, I have to keep much better records of when students leave my classroom than I have in the past. Rather than keeping a paper sign-out/ sign-in sheet, I'm using a Google Form that I have posted as a material in Google Classroom.

In the following video I demonstrate how I created a sign-out/sign-in sheet in Google Forms, how I post it in Google Classroom, and how students utilize it. In the video I also provide a possible modification of the Form.



It is possible to the same thing with Microsoft Forms. In this video I demonstrate how to create a sign-in/ sign-out sheet with Microsoft Forms. In the video I also explain variations on the form and how students complete the form. 

Some of my Favorites - Jamboard in Google Meet

This week is school vacation week here in Maine. I usually take this week off to go ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. Unfortunately, that's not happening this year. Instead I'll be "staycationing" and working on some projects around home. While on my staycation I'll be sharing some of my personal favorite tools. The integration of Jamboard into Google Meet was one my favorite new things to start this school year.

The old method that I used to combine Google Jamboard and Google Meet was fine, but the new integration is so much easier. In the following video I demonstrate how to launch and use Jamboard in Google Meet. 

Applications for Education
There are a lot of ways to use this new integration of Jamboard and Google Meet. Here are a few of my initial thoughts about it. First, even if only you use Jamboard during the Meet you can still share the Jamboard afterward with your students. Doing that would give them access to view and review any sketches or diagrams that you shared during the Meet. Second, this new integration could be great for students to participate in collaborative mind-mapping or diagramming sessions. Third, you could use the Jamboard to have students share pictures and then conduct a virtual gallery walk in Meet.

How to Edit Master Slides in Google Slides

Twice in the last week I've received questions from readers about Google Slides. In both cases the questions were related to using fonts and color schemes without having to manually change them for every new slide added to a presentation. The solution in both cases was to change the master slides in the presentation. 

Editing the master slides in a presentation allows you to essentially set a default font style, font size, and font color for your presentation slides. Additionally, you can choose background color(s) scheme and add icons that you want to have inserted every time you add a new slide to your presentation. 

How to edit the master slides and re-use them in your Google Slides presentations is demonstrated in this short video. 

The Easiest Way to Create QR Codes for Google Forms

Last fall I published a video and blog post about using QRCode Monkey to make QR codes for Google Forms. Doing that makes it easy for students to quickly access your Google Forms from their phones. In my school a lot of teachers are using QR codes to give students quick access to things like lunch menus, sign-in/sign-out forms, and activity registration forms. 

QRCode Monkey is a good tool and I don't have any problem recommending it. But if you're looking for an even easier way to make a QR code for a Google Form, there is a relatively new option for making QR codes built right into Google Chrome. 

When you're viewing the URL for a Google Form or any other web page in Google Chrome you'll see a small QR code icon in the right edge of the address bar. Simply click on that icon and a QR code will be generated for that page. You can download the QR code as PNG image file to download and print or download and insert into a document. This is probably the quickest and easiest way to create QR codes for Google Forms. 

In this short video I demonstrate how to quickly create a QR code for a Google Form without having to use any third-party tools. 

How to Give Yourself a Grace Period in Gmail

Have you ever hit "send" a bit too quickly when writing an email? Have you ever accidentally sent an email to the wrong person or accidentally hit "reply all" when you only needed to reply to one person? If so, you should consider enabling Gmail's "Undo Send" feature. 

Gmail's Undo Send feature allows you to create a grace period for yourself. You can set it to give yourself up to 30 seconds to undo the sending of an email. I have it enabled in all of my personal and professional Gmail accounts including my school G Suite for Edu account. 

Watch this short video to learn how to enable "undo send" in your Gmail account. 

On a related note, here's how to make sure that you don't "reply all" unless it's absolutely necessary. 

Magnetic Poetry With Google Jamboard and Google Classroom

Earlier this week a reader emailed me looking for an alternative to Read Write Think's old Word Mover activity which is no longer available because of the deprecation of Flash. Word Mover was essentially an online version of the old refrigerator word magnets that were popular in the 90's. While the producers of Magnetic Poetry do offer an online version, it's not well-suited to classroom use. My suggestion is to try using Google Jamboard and Google Classroom to create a "magnetic poetry" for your students. 

On Google Jamboard you can create a set of sticky notes with words on them. You could color code the sticky notes to make verbs one color, adjectives another color, and nouns a third color. Once you've made your word bank you can then divide the Jamboard and add directions for writing a poem with the words in the word bank. Finally, share your Jamboard as an assignment in Google Classroom. When you share it in Google Classroom make sure that you choose the option of "make a copy for each student" so that students have their own copies to work on without having to manually make copies for themselves. 

In this short video I explain how to use Google Jamboard and Google Classroom to create online magnetic poetry assignments for your students. 

How to Create Posters and Embed Them Into Your Google Site

Canva has been my go-to tool for making posters, infographics, video covers, and social media graphics for most of the last eight years. Over the years it has steadily added more and more features including options to publish your designs as stand-alone webpages and to embed your designs as dynamically updating graphics in other websites like those you might make with Google Sites. So when a reader emailed me earlier this week asking for a suggestion on how to include flyers in a website my thoughts immediately turned to Canva. 

In this short video I demonstrate how to use Canva's poster templates and then embed your poster into a page in a Google Site. 

I've made more than a dozen other tutorials about using Canva's many features. Anyone interested in learning more about how to use Canva to create a poster and then print it with a standard printer should watch this video.



This video will show you how to make a video with Canva.