5 Google Classroom Features You Might Have Overlooked or Forgotten

We're halfway through 2020. This week I'm taking some time off from the blog to work on some other projects. The rest of this week I'm going to re-run some of the most popular posts and videos of the year so far. 

When my school and thousands of others closed in early March, I found myself answering more questions about Google Classroom than ever before. While I already had a bunch of tutorials on my YouTube channel, I still went ahead and made a little slideshow of handy Google Classroom features for teachers. The slideshow wasn't intended to be an all-inclusive tutorial about Google Classroom (see my YouTube channel for that) but rather a set of reminders about functions within Google Classroom.

Featured in the slideshow:

• Posting announcements to multiple classrooms at the same time. 
• Scheduling announcements to appear at a later date.
• Creating topics to organize assignments.
• Scheduling assignments.
• Using Google Classroom to send bulk email to students and parents.

5 Helpful Google Classroom Tips for Teachers by richardbyrne

Cincinnati Zoo Offers Daily Virtual Zoo Visits

We're halfway through 2020. This week I'm taking some time off from the blog to work on some other projects. The rest of this week I'm going to re-run some of the most popular posts and videos of the year so far. 

Back in March I my sister, who lives near Cincinnati, shared a Facebook post with me about the Cincinnati Zoo's daily virtual zoo visits. I thought it was a neat thing that my kids would like too. I wrote a short blog post about it to share with those of you who have kids at home. I didn't expect it to be a popular post. It has turned out to be the single most popular post I've written all year. Here it is for those who missed it the first time around.

Yes, the zoo is still holding these virtual visits. I get Facebook notifications about them everyday. 

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is closed to the public right now and thousands (millions?) of kids are home from school right now too. That's why the zoo has announced that they're hosting daily "Home Safaris" beginning today at 3pm ET. These Home Safaris will be broadcast live on Facebook. Each Home Safari will feature a different animal and a related at-home activity. Be sure to follow the zoo's Facebook page to be notified when the Home Safaris begin.

How to Work With PDFs in Google Classroom

We're halfway through 2020. This week I'm taking some time off from the blog to work on some other projects. The rest of this week I'm going to re-run some of the most popular posts and videos of the year so far.

In March I fielded a ton of questions from people who suddenly found themselves using Google Classroom and all other aspects of G Suite for Education a lot more than they ever had before. One of the most common questions I received revolved around the idea of using PDFs in Google Classroom. I recorded this short video demonstration of how to use PDFs in Google Classroom and it became one of my most-watched videos of 2020 so far.

An Easy Way to Overlay Historical Maps on Google Earth

Last fall I published a video about how to find historical maps and overlay them on Google Earth. That method works for any historical map that you have the rights to re-use whether because it's in the public domain or because of Creative Commons licensing. There is another method that you can use. That method is built into the Rumsey Historical Maps layer in Google Earth.

In Google Earth Pro (the free desktop version of Google Earth) you will find the Rumsey Historical Maps collection listed in the gallery of layers on the left hand side of your screen. When you turn on that layer you'll see map icons appear all over the map. Zoom-in and click on those icons to view the historical maps and see them layered over current Google Earth imagery. Watch my short video below to see how this process works.


Applications for Education
Layering historical maps over current imagery is one of my favorite uses of Google Earth. Doing this gives students a better view and understanding of how the geography of a city or a geographic area has changed over time.

50 National Geographic 360 Videos

Watching 360 degree videos is probably my favorite thing to do with my Google Cardboard viewer. A lot of people don't realize that a Cardboard viewer can be used for more than just Google Expeditions. For example, National Geographic's YouTube channel contains fifty 360 videos featuring things like Mount Everest, glaciers in Iceland, elephants, sea turtles, lions, sharks, and polar expeditions.

You don't need to have a Google Cardboard viewer or any virtual reality headset. You can can just view them in your web browser then click and drag to experience the full 360 degree imagery. Of course, it's more fun to do it in a VR viewer.


YouTube's search tools include a filter to help you identify 360 degree videos. Give it a try to find other great 360 degree videos like those from National Geographic.



Applications for Education
One of the things that I appreciate about 360 videos is how they give students a bit more control over what they see and give students a better overall picture of what a place looks like. My hope is that students who view 360 videos like those from National Geographic are inspired to ask more questions and to perhaps travel to interesting places in the future.