Google

Google tools

Google offers a range of tools which can be used for both professional learning networks (PLNs) but also with students in class.

We were going to do this page manually but we found this page (URL below) which we modified for relevance and info for Lands teachers:

//Original Website: @http://sites.google.com/site/googclass/Home//


 * The first thing I suggest is setting up a Gmail account. It is free and then you will have a login for all of the Google tools and applications.

//** Applications **//

[|Google Earth] - Utilising GE can take students on virtual excursions. Great for Accelerated Literacy if your book is set in another city or country. Obviously great for SOSE, but also good for numeracy when doing the measurement strand - it has built in measuring tools. You can also create Custom Google Maps (through the maps.google.com.au) if you have an Gmail account. Here's an example done by a student from Mimili last year. media type="custom" key="8464106"

[|Sketch Up] - Quickly build and create 3D drawings and models. These drawings (if done to scale and look identical to the building) can be placed on Google Earth as a 3D image. 3D buildings of PYku centres uploaded to Google Earth? that would be something!

[|Picasa] - Photo sharing with students and parents. Embedding slideshows into your webpage or blog.

Google Desktop - When you use Google Desktop to search, it not only searches the web for that topic, but it also searches documents on your computer. For example if you search "cars" it will not only find documents that you reference cars in the middle of the text, but it will also find the music from the movie Cars in your iTunes library.

//** Collaboration **//

[|Google Docs] - Sharing documents with students and colleagues to collaborate on projects. A sort of open access Word document.

[|Google Groups] - Collaborate and discuss things with students, colleagues and experts using a Google Groups discussion board. The great thing is you can keep it private and moderate discussion before anything is posted.

[|Google Sites] - Create your own webpages in just a few minutes.

[|Google Calendar] - Electronic calendars that can be shared and subscribed. Great for numeracy activities.

[|Blogger] - Setting up a blog for your classroom is just a few clicks away. This is a great way to for your students to take pride in their work as it is uploaded to your class blog. Also a great way to encourage writing.

//** Research Resources **//

Google Custom Search - You can create a search engine that will search only sites you want searched. For example, if you put in "stars" in the normal Google search box you would get tons of websites not related to the stars in the sky. However, you can create a search engine that will only search websites of your choice like NASA and other space websites. Your data will return content that is only related to your needs. This is great when you want to teach your students how to search in Google, but are worried about content that is not educational.

[|Google Reader] - This a good way to organise blog post you have subscribed to.

//** Other Resources **//

Google Educator - Google has created a great site for educators to keep them up to date on using their applications in the classroom. ||

