Articles posted by Richard Allaway

Weekly post #37 - Google Workspace age related changes, Todoist and managing your Chrome tabs

Google makes some age related changes

Google recently launched a new age-based access setting to make it easier for domain admins to tailor experiences for their students and educators based on age when using Google services like YouTube, Photos and Maps.

Since September 1, 2021, students who are under 18 are seeing changes in their experience across Google products.

For example, after September 1, students designated as under 18 in K-12 domains can view YouTube content assigned by teachers, but they won’t be able to post videos, comment or live stream using their school Google account.

Safer learning with Google for Education [29 June 2021]

If you used to get students to create videos and add them to YouTube you should still get students to create videos - but now they should add them to their Drive and share them with you.

Read more here → Google Workspace Admin Help - Control access to Google services by age

Are you looking for a to-do list manager?

I find that a 'proper' to-do list manager really helps me to organise what I need to do and therefore reduces the stress associated with rushing or forgetting things.

My to-do list manager of choice is Todoist. It is great on the web and has a slick smartphone app as well. It integrates nicely with Gmail so that you can easily generate tasks from emails.

If you want to know more check out this post → An Educator’s Guide to Todoist.

Chrome tab management

I have (strong) opinions on font choice and the number of tabs a 'normal' person should have open in Chrome!

If you struggle with managing all your tabs you may want to read this blog post → The Ultimate Guide to Chrome Tab Management by Jonathan Wylie. Super useful.

Basic actions on multiple tabs in Google Sheets

Now you can select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection (such as moving the tabs together, deleting, duplicating, copying, coloring, or hiding). I just thought some of you might like to know!

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection [22 July 2021]

Weekly post #36 - ManageBac subject pages, Cursive, how does Google Search work and Mote updates

ManageBac subject pages

ManageBac now has 'subject pages' for IB Diploma and MYP.

Our new Subject Pages for IB Diploma and MYP provide searchable, dynamic, curated support, resources, ideas and unit plans to support IB teaching and learning.

managebac.com/blog/subject-pages

Subject Pages are accessible by Teachers from the Curriculum Tab via the Subject Centre Tile.

Read more here → ManageBac - Subject Pages [23 August 2021]

Cursive - a new note taking app for Chromebook users

Cursive is a new note taking app from Google but it isn't an app store app - it is a web-based 'progressive Web App' and that means anyone (with a Chromebook) can use it now.

It is still 'early' in it's life and I will try and share more about it in the future. If you are a Chromebook user - visit the URL cursive.apps.chrome, unleash your stylus and give it a test drive.

Discover how Google Search works

We all use Google Search - regularly! We rely on it to find the answers to our questions. Seeing we are so dependent upon it maybe we should take an opportunity to learn more about it.

Google has recently updated their 'How Search works' website. It is worth a couple of moments of your time.

Mote - recent updates and developments

Mote is a platform that allows you to record audio comments and the like in Google Workspace applications. For example - if you are commenting upon a student's Google Document you can leave audio comments in the comment boxes - rather than texting.

Staff at Campus des Nations who are interested in giving Mote a try - please let me know and I will sort you out with a subscription.

Mote has made the following recent updates:

  • Pause recording in Google Classroom and Google Slides
  • iOS app
  • Extension and iOS app localization into Chinese, French and other languages. Find out how to switch your language.

Weekly post #35 - Chromebooks, lucid.app, digital notes and the Social Dilemma

Staff familiarisation with C13 Chromebooks

Forty teachers at International School of Geneva - Campus des Nations Secondary are starting the academic year using Lenovo C13 Chromebooks as their personal devices.

The slides below are what was used at the familiarisation session →

Use lucid.app for all your Lucidpress and Lucidchart needs

Lucid have brought all their services and you files together in a very 'Google Drive' style approach.

To start a document or find your exiting ones - start of lucid.app.

Do you get students to produce notes in Google Documents?

If you allow your students to make digital notes in your lessons consider the use of a Google Documents.

A single document, per student, per subject structured with uniformly formatted headings (using H1, H2, H3 etc) and bookmarks produces a well structured document that increases in usefulness as more content is added.

The Social Dilemma is now available on YouTube

If you haven't seen it - it is worth a watch. I think there are some great sequences in it. I particularly like the ones that 'show' a characters attention being kept by a social media platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mqR_e2seeM

Weekly post #34 - Smart chips, checklists and adding audio to Kahoot! questions

This will we the last 'Weekly post' before the summer break. Posts will start again in late August or early September focused upon the updates made during the summer months.

Google Docs - Smart chips for files and meetings

Google is currently working on a whole set of enhancements to Google Workspace that will make the collaboration and project management even easier.

Smart chips are already available when you mention a person in a document, displaying additional information such as the person’s location, job title, and contact information.

Google have expanded this functionality to include the ability to insert smart chips for files and events.

  1. Open a document in Google Docs.
  2. Enter "@."
  3. Select from the list of suggestions or enter letters, numbers, or symbols to narrow your suggestions.
  4. Hover over the smart chip to view related information.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Insert smart chips for files and meetings, create checklists in Google Docs [18 May 2021]

Google Docs - create checklists

It is now possible to add checklists to Google Documents.

  1. Click a Google Doc page where you want to add a list.
  2. In the toolbar, choose a list type → Checklist.

Read more here → support.google.com - Add a numbered list, bulleted list, or checklist

Add audio to Kahoot! questions

You can now add audio to questions. Just type a short text in one of the supported languages and it’ll be read aloud to players before they answer the question!

Based on Microsoft Azure’s Text to Speech service that converts text to lifelike speech, this media type supports text in the following 37 languages:

Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Read more here → New: add audio to Kahoot! questions to power up listening comprehension and language learning [14 June 2021]

Replace your background with a video in Google Meet

In addition to replacing your Google Meet background with a static image, you can now replace your background with a video. At the moment, you can select from three Google made videos: a classroom, a party, and a forest — more options will be available soon.

Just because you can - doesn't mean you should!

Weekly post #33 - Google I/O and WWDC

It is the season of developer conferences. Both Google and Apple have had their annual (online) developer conference in the last few weeks. These conferences are not focused upon 'educational technology' but technologies they announce and discuss will have impacts upon us, our student and upon education as a whole.

Both of the condensed video summaries below are worth a watch to get a feel of the technologies that will be influencing us and our students in the near future.

Google I/O 2021 in under 9 minutes

Google I/O (or simply I/O) is (usually) held by Google in Mountain View, California. "I/O" stands for Input/Output, as well as the slogan "Innovation in the Open".

WWDC 2021 in 9 Minutes

WWDC stands for Worldwide Developers Conference and is held annual, by Apple, (usually) in in the San Jose Convention Center in California.

Weekly post #32 – New things in Google Meet

Google is continually evolving the applications we use as part of Google Workspace for Education. These updates are pushed out and can take a couple of weeks to arrive with us all! The following updates have been promised for a while but I have just noticed that they are appearing for @ecolint.ch users.

Automated live captions in five languages

[Not as new as the other updates mentioned here - but worth a reminder!]

You can turn captions on to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a video call. They are not a translation but sub-titles of what is being said.

You can use captions in English in all geographical locations. As we are in Europe, we can use captions in: English, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain).

Read more here → support.google.com - Use captions in a video call

Improved screen layout

When viewing and sharing content with any group of people, you will now have more space to see the content and others’ video feeds through the refreshed new look and improved ability to pin and unpin content.

Hover over your video feed for options between a tile in the grid or a floating picture. You can also resize, reposition, and hide it to concentrate on the call. Your self-view appears in the bottom right of the grid to put more video feeds at eye-level as you look into the camera.

The bottom bar

The bottom bar is always visible, while not covering cover captions and bottom video feeds. Meeting dial-in codes, attachments, the participants list, chat, and other activities have all moved to the bottom right to create more vertical space for seeing people and content. Controls have been consolidated in one place with descriptions available when you hover your mouse pointer over them. The leave call button has been moved away from the microphone and camera buttons to prevent accidental call hang-ups!

Expiring Meet codes

Google Meet meetings can be scheduled across Google Workspace products, such as Calendar, Gmail, Google Chat, and more. This means your unique meeting code and its expiration are based on the product that your meeting is created from.

Most meeting codes will expire 365 days after the last use, but there are instances where the meeting code will expire instantly once the meeting ends →

Weekly post #31 - GCE L1, images in front of or behind text and Google Slides Theme Builder

Four things to check out →

An update on the Google Certified Educator Level 1

If you have not yet completed your Google certified Educator Level 1 certification, or have let your lapse, this video is worth 14 minutes of your time →

Produced by John R. Sowash who is definitely worth subscribing to on YouTube for Chrome and Chromebook ideas and updates.

Positioning an image in front of or behind text in Google Docs

Positioning an image in front of or behind text in Google Docs

You can now position an image in front of or behind text in Google Docs.

You’ll see the new option for positioning an image above or below text within the image options sidebar and in the image toolbar when clicking directly on an image.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Create and import documents that contain images above or behind text in Google Docs [24 May 2021]

Present from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly to Google Meet

Present from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly to Google Meet

You can now present content from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides directly to an active Google Meet call.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Present from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly to Google Meet [18 May 2021]

Google Slides Theme Builder

Google Slides - Theme Builder

Google has renaming the “Master” view in Google Slides to “Theme Builder”.

This change better communicates the benefits: to help users quickly customize the font, color, and layout customization for their current theme, ensuring a consistent experience throughout the presentation.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - “Master” view in Google Slides renamed to “Theme Builder” [25 May 2021]

Weekly post #30 - New types of citations, edit history, Google Sheets keyboard shortcuts and searching for public Google Workspace files

Four things to check out this week.

Richer information on the edit history of a Document

You can now view richer information on the edit history of a particular range of content in Google Docs. Simply highlight and right-click on a range of text and select “Show Editors” from the dropdown menu. Here, you can view a list of editors and their latest edit along with time stamps.

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - “Show Editors” provides more context on changes made in Google Docs [3 May 2021]

How to Find Public Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Sheets, and Drawings

Another useful video from Richard Byrne that demonstrates how to use Google's advanced search function to find publicly shared Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Sheets, and Drawings. 

Four new types of citations in Google Docs

Add Citation Source in Google Docs

Now you can add these four additional citation source types in Google Docs:

  • Film
  • TV Series
  • TV Episode
  • Miscellaneous

Read more here → Google Workspace Updates - Add and manage four new types of citations in Google Docs [31 March 2021]

Google Sheets: Every Keyboard Shortcut You Need for Windows and Mac

Google Sheets

Useful post listing all the Google Sheets keyboard shortcuts, including a free cheat sheet PDF, from makeuseof.com.

12 YouTube channels to watch with your children/parents

This post is aimed at the parents (and students) at International School of Geneva - Campus des Nations following this week's 'Meet the Technology for Learning Coordinator' session.

The idea is to share with you 12 YouTube channels that I think are great for parents to watch with their children. Some are silly, some are creative, some are educational. They all showcase the positive use of YouTube channels and should stimulate conversation and discussion.

How Ridiculous

6.32 million subscribers [May 2021]

We drop stuff, we bounce stuff, we throw stuff, we catch stuff.

In my opinion good, clean, silly fun.

colinfurze

11 million subscribers [May 2021]

This channel is the home of crazy inventions, brilliant world records and constant disregard to health and safety.

Crazy intentions that nobody knew the world needed.

Mark Rober

18.5 million subscribers [May 2021]

Former NASA and Apple engineer. Current YouTuber and friend of science.

Science and engineering applied to everything from glitterbombs and a 15 ton jello pool.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

14.9 million subscribers [May 2021]

Videos explaining things with optimistic nihilism.

Video explainers on everything from 'Do we Need Nuclear Energy to Stop Climate Change?' to 'The Deadliest Being on Planet Earth – The Bacteriophage'.

TED-Ed

13.9 million subscribers [May 2021]

Within TED-Ed’s growing library of TED-Ed animations, you will find carefully curated educational videos, many of which represent collaborations between talented educators and animators nominated through the TED-Ed website.

Video explainers from 'The loathsome, lethal mosquito' to 'A glimpse of teenage life in ancient Rome'.

BBC Ideas

233,000 subscribers [May 2021]

Our aim at BBC Ideas is to feed your curiosity, to open your mind to new perspectives and to leave you that little bit smarter.

Clips to make you think…

Danny MacAskill

419,000 subscribers [May 2021]

Danny MacAskill's official YouTube Channel.

Crazy skills and some beautiful landscapes.

Joshua Weissman

4.22 million subscribers [May 2021]

Hi, I'm Josh and I make entertaining, exciting, and inspirational videos about food and cooking.

I thought I would add a cooking themed channel into this list and Joshua's channel is one that I am enjoying at the moment.

Thomas Heaton

466,000 subscribers [May 2021]

This channel is all (Mostly) about landscape photography. Follow me as I venture in to the outdoors to photograph some of the most stunning landscapes in the world.

Another creative focused channel following the British landscape photographer Thomas Heaton.

Ali Abdaal

1.73 million subscribers [May 2021]

I'm a Cambridge University medicine graduate, now working as a junior doctor in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). I used to make videos about life as a medical student but I now vlog about life as a doctor 🙂

Fantastic channel ranging from research driven revision skills to tech reviews.

Jeff Su

404,000 subscribers [May 2021]

I'm Jeff, a full time Product Marketer. In my spare time I like to tinker with tools and create systems that help me get things done faster - or as one of my friends puts it: "Get better at being lazy"

Some top tips here for the use of Google Workspace - the core of the digital tools we use at Campus des Nations.

Common Sense Media Ratings & Reviews

297,000 subscribers [May 2021]

Check out our hundreds of videos, including new movie reviews, parent tips for raising kids in the digital age, research, documentaries, and other stuff we love.

Maybe a little more the parents this one... Also check out the sister channel of Common Sense Education.

[2021 version] So you are leaving us…

Goodbye

Your @ecolint.ch, @learning.ecolint.ch or @pgce.ecolint.ch account is a ‘Google Workspace for Education’ account. Depending on whether you are a staff member, a PGCE student or an Ecolint student dictates how much time you have to get any content out of your account before it is deactivated and then deleted.

Ecolint students - you have five months from the end of June to sort your account out.

My advice is to decide upon what you want to keep and complete the necessary processes as soon as possible. The ability to move digital assets from one platform to another is a key skill.


Your Windows account

Following departure, your Windows account will be shut down at the end of June. We need to do this for security reasons. You should therefore make sure you have taken all your locally-stored files (on the school servers) with you by the final day of the academic year. We cannot be responsible for keeping these files nor access to them after the beginning of July.

The easiest way to move files off the network is to copy them over to a USB drive or upload them to a personal cloud storage service.


GMail

Mail – start here

Ensure you have set up another email account. This following series of processes is only really fully possible if you have a personal @gmail.com account. If you are creating a new @gmail.com account now is the time to think about your new email address as it may be with you for a while. sparklyunicorn2018@gmail.com may not be the best address to share with future academic institutions and employers!

Set up an ‘Out of Office‘ reply for your school email account. Use the message to explain that this email address will soon cease to function and what your new email address is.

Set up email forwarding from your school email account to your new email address. Ensure you make the effort to update the sender of each email you receive with your new email address.


GMail
Google Drive

Transfer your content - Mail and Documents

Google Workspace for Education users have access to a 'transfer your content' service. The service will copy and transfer your email and documents.

  1. On your school account, go to Transfer your content.
  2. Enter the email address of the Google Account where you want to copy your content.
  3. Select Get code.
  4. On your Google Account, check your Gmail inbox for a confirmation email from Google. In the email, select Get confirmation code. A new tab will open with a code.
  5. On your school account, go back to the "Transfer your content" page. Enter the code, then choose Verify.
  6. Choose the content you'd like to copy, then select Start transfer.

Google Contacts

Mail – Contacts

To export your email contacts do the following:

  1. Go to contacts.google.com and ensure you are signed in with your school account.
  2. In the left hand column click on ‘More’.
  3. Choose ‘Export…’
  4. Decide which contacts and the necessary export format.
  5. You will then need to import your contacts into your new mail account using a very similar process if you have chosen to use a @gmail.com account.

Google Takeout

Google Takeout allows you to download other files and information - it is worth checking out if there are additional files etc that you want to get from your account before it is closed.


Google Sites

[New] Google Sites

To begin, open the Google Site from within your Ecolint account.

  • Go to 'Share with others' and add your personal Google account as an editor.

Steps to take place in the personal Google account:

  • Open your personal Google account and access the Google Site that you have just shared with yourself.
  • Go to 'More' (the three dots) and then 'Duplicate site' to make a copy of the site (which is owned by your Ecolint account) in your personal Google account.

Any files that have been inserted into the Google Site that are saved in Google Drive these will still be located in your school Google account after ownership of the site has been transferred. Individual items in the Google Site will need to have their new location (if you have transferred ownership or copied them to your personal Google account) updated.


Creative Cloud
Lucid

Other software platforms

You need to take steps to get any files you want from additional services provided by the school - such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Lucidpress or WeVideo. It is likely that your accounts for these services will be closed in July or August as we transfer accounts to new students.