How to Make a Copy of a Google Doc That Isn't Directly Shared With You

From time to time I publish charts and other digital hand-outs that I have created in Google Documents. For example, I recently shared this chart comparing student blogging tools and this chart comparing multimedia timeline creation tools. When I share those charts I publish them as Google Documents marked as "view only." If you want to make copies of the charts you can do so by following the steps outlined in the short video embedded below.

On a related note, you can search for any publicly shared Google Docs, Slides, or Sheets by following the steps outlined in the video below.

How to Use Google Calendar to Book Zoom Meetings

This week and next week at my school we have to hold short interviews with students who want to be in our technical programs next year. In normal years this happens in our classrooms. This year we're doing it over Zoom. 

To streamline the process of scheduling Zoom meetings with prospective students I created a Google Calendar appointment page on which they could book a time for an interview. Then in the appointment details I removed the default Google Meet link and replaced it with a link to a Zoom meeting. 

I couple of years ago I published this video about how to create appointment slot calendars in Google Calendar and how people can book one of the calendar slots with you. 

The video above is still accurate. If you want to take the process a step farther and include Google Classroom and Zoom in the process, watch this video that I published last spring. 

Free Webinar Tomorrow - Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions & Share Cool Stuff

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 4pm ET/ 1pm PT Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I will be hosting the next installment of our free webinar series that is simply titled Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff. 

Just like the title says, during each webinar we answer questions from anyone who attends as well as questions that have been sent to us in advance. You can email me or Rushton with your questions. In each episode we also share a couple of interesting apps, websites, or videos that we've found during the last couple of weeks.

Watch one of the recent episodes to get a sense of what tomorrow's webinar is all about.



Click here to register and join us for the next episode of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff.

Two Search Refinement Tips That Helped My Students Today

The students in one of my classes are currently working on some Arduino projects of their own choosing. A few of them had the idea to build and program model cars. The trouble they ran into is that we didn't have any Bluetooth modules and a lot of the plans they were looking at called for Bluetooth modules. They were starting to get frustrated with their search results when I interjected with the quick tip to exclude "Bluetooth" in the advanced search menu in Google. 

By excluding "Bluetooth" from the search results and choosing "filetype PDF" in the advanced search menu my students were able to get past a lot of their initial frustration. 

In this short video I demonstrate how to exclude words from search results and how to search by file type. 

Another little tip to pass along to your students when they are searching for PDFs is to remind them to use "Ctrl + F" (Windows computers) or "Command + F" (Mac computers) to search within a PDF for keywords or phrases.

I include more tips like these in my on-demand webinar, Ten Search Strategies Students Need to Know. 

Webinar Tomorrow - Google Earth & Maps Projects for Social Studies

One of the primary ways that I've been able to keep Free Technology for Teachers going for the last couple of years is through the registration fees for my Practical Ed Tech webinars and courses. I haven't held one in 2021. That will change tomorrow when I host Five Google Earth & Maps Projects for Social Studies. 
 

Google Earth and Google Maps should be staples in the toolbox of anyone who teaches social studies lessons. These are powerful tools that can be used by elementary, middle, and high school students.

In this webinar on March 2nd at 4pm ET I’ll outline five social studies projects that utilize Google Maps and Google Earth to help students make discoveries and to demonstrate what they’ve learned. These projects can be adapted for use in elementary school (grades 3-5), middle school, and high school settings.

Five Things You Can Learn in This Webinar:
1. How to create multimedia maps.
2. How to build, record, and publish virtual tours.
3. How students can collaborate remotely with Google Earth and Google Maps.
4. How to map data, compare data sets, and compare past and present imagery.
5. Options for multimedia mapping with students who don’t have email or Google accounts.


When Is It? What’s Included? How Much?

• Tuesday, March 2nd at 4pm ET. 
• Yes, it will be recorded for those who register in advance. 
• Recording access will be sent to all who register in advance. 
• Project guide sheets. Copy of slides. 
• Certificate for participation. 
• $25

Register Here

Register Here