Organizing Your Google Drive

Organizing Your Google Drive

Today, we are going to be talking about all of the ways that you can organize your Google Drive. I know that personally my Google Drive can sometimes get a little out of control so having a way to keep everything organized is a must. I am going to share some of the ways that I keep my Drive organized. Some are probably obvious, some might not be so much. Hopefully after this episode, you are able to find some ways to help tame your out of control Drive.

Starred
One way you can organize your drive is by starring items in your Drive. You can star either a folder or a document in your Drive. You might want to do this with important folders or documents. To star a document or folder, simply right-click on the folder/document and choose "Add to Starred". After you have starred a document or folder, you can filter your Drive by clicking on the Starred label on the left-hand side. Doing this will only show you documents or folders you have starred.

Color-Coding Folder
One way that you can organize your Drive is by creating folders. This I know is fairly obvious. Did you know you can change the color of your folder? To do this, all you have to do is right-click on a folder, choose change color, and pick the color you want that folder to be. Google provides you with 24 different color choices. I try to coordinate the folder color with the same color I use in my calendar. For example, in my calendar, I color meeting events blue. In my Drive, my meetings folder is also blue. For me, it just helps to try to keep things consistent.

Folder Naming Convention
Another way you can organize your Google Drive is through the way in which you name your folders. Obviously, you can organize your folders in alphabetical order but maybe there is a folder that begins with a G but you want it at the top of your folder list. A trick that I use is I add either numbers or emojis at the beginning of the name of my folder. Doing this puts that folder right at the top of your list of folders. For example, I have an ed tech folder I go into frequently. Instead of having to scroll to the Es in my list of folders, I added a zero to the front and now it is right at the top of my list of folders. I also have an ed tech video folder I get into frequently so I added a TV emoji to the front of the name of that folder and it is now at the top of my list of folders. Not only does this add a new way to organize your folders but they also look cool too.

Priority & Workspaces
So a feature that Google just added recently was adding the priority section. You will see the priority section right above the My Drive label on the left side of your drive. In the priority section, you can create different workspaces. To create a workspace, simply click on Priority. From there you will see the section labeled workspaces. Click on the create button, give your workspace a name, and then click create. After you have created a workspace, you can click on the workspace to add files to that workspace. You can add up to 25 files to a workspace. This is great for organizing files you need for projects you are working on. Currently, I am gathering evidence for my Google Certified Trainer submission. So what I did was I created a Google Certified Trainer workspace and have been adding files to that workspace.

Shared Drives (Previously Team Drives)
Finally, a way you can organize your drive by creating a shared drive. Shared drives were previously called Team Drives. This is a great way to organize files that you are sharing with others, especially when you are working on a project together. By creating a shared drive and inviting other people to that drive, everyone can contribute and all the files that you are working on are in one central location. Depending on the roles you set up, someone in a shared drive could be either a Manager, content manager, contributor, commenter, or viewer. A manager manages content, members, and settings. A content manager ca add, edit, move, and delete files. A contributor can add and edit files. A commenter can comment on files, and a view can only view files in a shared drive. One way to add a file to a shared drive, you can simply drag a file from my drive to a shared drive. Another way to move a file to a shared drive is you can click on a file and then you will see the vertical ellipses. Click on that, choose move to and choose the shared drive. You can also create files right within the shared drive. Just note that once you move a file from your drive to a shared drive, it takes it out of your drive so if you want to keep a copy of that document, make sure to make a copy of it first before moving it to a shared drive.

Wakelet Part 2: Taking a Deeper Dive into Wakelet

Wakelet Part 2: Taking a Deeper Dive into Wakelet

In this post, we are going to be taking a deeper dive into Wakelet. We are going to be discussing ways you can customize your profile, collections, sharing options, and much more!

Sections

One way that you can customize your Wakelet profiles is by adding sections. This allows you to be able to organize similar collections. For example, on my Wakelet profile, I currently have 5 sections: DigCit Week 2019, G Suite, Hour of Code, Twitter of Educators, and Twitter Chats. By doing this, visitors to your Wakelet profile can click on a section and then it will only show collections in that section. To create a new section, first you need to go to your profile. From there, click “edit profile”. After that, you will see your sections on the left-hand side. To add a new section, click on the green button labeled “add a new section”. After clicking that, type in the name of your section and click add section. To then add collections to that section, while still on your profile in edit mode, hove over a collection and you will see a drop-down box that will appear. Choose the section, and then click move. You can go back and edit the name of sections by clicking in the box where the section name is located.

Viewing Modes

Another way you can customize a collection in Wakelet is by changing the viewing mode. This is something that has been constantly updating and the people at Wakelet have been adding new viewing modes. Currently, there are 4 viewing modes: Media View, Compact View, Grid View, and Mood Board. Media View allows you to display your content vertically in your collection. Compact View displays your content very similarly to Media view but the tiles are, you guessed it, smaller and more compact. Grid View allows you to organize your content in a side-by-side grid. Finally, Mood Board displays your content in a board view. My favorite is by far the Mood Board. I just love the way the content is layed out.

Different Ways to Share

So you have created your collection and you want to share it with the world! There are a few ways to share your collection. One way you can share is by clicking share when you are in a collection. From there, you will get the option to either post to Facebook or Twitter. You could also copy the link directly to the collection and share it, or take the QR Code Wakelet creates and add it wherever you like! If you are creating a collection to share with your students, you could post it to Google Classroom. When you post it to Google Classroom, you can choose to post your collection as either an assignment, announcement, or question. You could also embed your collection on a website or blog. You can customize the look of your collection like adding the cover image, light or dark mode, and much more.

One way that I share my Wakelet collections and profile is I have a link added to my email signature. That way, whenever I email someone, they will see the word Wakelet in my email signature and will be able to click on it and go straight to my profile. After adding this to my signature, I have received many questions about “what is this wakelet thing in your signature”.

Finally, when sharing a collection, you can change the visibility of your collection. There are three types of visibility options: Public, Unlisted, or private. Public is where everyone can see the collection. Unlisted is where only the people with the link can see the collection. Private is where only you can see the collection. I usually set all of my collections to public since I am sharing them with a large group of people but if you had collections students were working in your could set it to unlisted so only you and the students set a contributors have access to it.

Adding Contributors

When creating a Wakelet collection, you can add contributors. You can invite contributors by either typing in their name or email address or you can get a shareable link or code. The nice thing is that your contributors do not need to have a Wakelet account to contribute to a collection! All they have to do is enter the code you gave them to your collection, they enter their name, and now they are ready to add resources to your collection. This is a great feature if you are sharing a collection with students. Collection contributors can only add items, edit or delete items they added, and reorder the collection.

Cover and Background Images

Let's talk about adding cover and background images to your collection. This is a way that I really enjoy customizing my Wakelet collections. All of my collections have a similar theme but can be customized to the specific collection. All of my collections have the same style of heading and I include a Bitmoji. I create these in Google Drawings, download as an image file, then upload to my collection. When adding a cover image, you can either have a full cover image, half cover image, or you can hide the cover image. Along with this, you can add a background image to your collection. To add a background image, when editing a collection, in the top left-hand corner, click on add a background image. From there you can either upload your own image or choose from library. These images all come from Unsplash. Which side note if you have not heard of Unsplash, you definitely need to check it out. It is a website that has beautiful, high rez freely usable images. All photos that are published to Unsplash can be used for free. Okay so you have clicked add a background image, chose library, and now all you have to do is search for a photo you want to use. Click on the photo and it will be added as your background image. From there you can click on change background image to either upload an image, choose from library, reposition the current background image, or remove the current background image.

Wakelet ebook

Finally, let's talk about the official Wakelet ebook. If you have not checked this out and you want to learn anything and everything about Wakelet, you have to check it out. I will link it in the show notes. This ebook is created by a group of awesome educators. I will link ll of their social media accounts in the show notes as well.

Keyboard and URL Shortcuts

Keyboard and URL Shortcuts

Today, we are going to dive back into keyboard shortcuts and also hit on some url shortcuts you can use
in and out of your classroom. Some of these shortcuts are specific to Chromebooks, but most are
universal, especially the url shortcuts.

So first, let’s dive back into keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are a vital part of my productivity.
Even if they are just shaving off a few seconds, that time adds up. 

Keyboard Shortcuts

The first shortcut we are going to talk about is one that opens a new tab. To open a new tab, simply
press CTRL + T to open a New Tab. To go with that, to close your current tab, press CTRL + W. If you
accidentally closed a tab you did not want to close, press CTRL + SHIFT + T to open last closed tab.
If you want to open a new Chrome window, press CTRL + N to open a New Window. If you want to
open a new incognito window, press CTRL + SHIFT + N to open a New Incognito Window. If you
want to view all of your open windows, simply press ALT + TAB to see all open windows. 

If you want to view all of you downloads, press CTRL + J. If you are wanting to share the link of either
the current site you are on or a link to a document, press CTRL + L. This will highlight the link. From
there, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C to copy the link and then CTRL + V to paste it wherever
you wanted to paste it.

If you want to find text on a doc, sheet, slide, press CTRL + F to Find text on a document. Have you
ever had to copy text from one doc and pasting to another but both docs are using different fonts and
sizes? Then you paste in that text and have to highlight the text and change it to the font and size of the
current doc. What a pain right? Well, I have some good news for you. If you press CTRL + SHIFT + V,
it will paste the text in the doc but keep the formatting of the current doc. That one is one that I use all
the time and is a game changer for me!

Keyboard Shortcuts specific to Chromebooks

Okay, now let's dive into some keyboard shortcuts that are specific to the Chromebook. If you have
multiple windows open and you want to set them up side-by-side, press ALT + open bracket([) to
Dock the window to the left. To go with that, to dock a window to the right, press ALT + closed
bracket(]) to Dock a window to the right. Did you know you can pin apps and website to the
Chromebook shelf? To open these, you can simply click on the icon at the bottom of your screen. If
you wanted to use a keyboard shortcut, all you have to do is press ALT + 1-8 to Launch apps located
in Chromebook Shelf. ALT + 1 would launch the first app, ALT + @ would launch the second, and so
on. To rotate your Chromebook screen, press CTRL + SHIFT + ↶: to rotate Screen 90 degrees. CTRL + App Switcher will allow you to take a Full Screen Screenshot. CTRL + SHIFT + App Switcher will allow you to take a partial screen screenshot.

URL Tricks

To create a new document/slides/Sheets, simply type in slides.new, docs.new, sheets.new into the url
bar. In URL, replace edit with copy to force a “make a copy”. Also in URL, replace edit with template/preview to allow visitors to view your temperament document and then if they want to make a copy, they can click on “Use Template”.

What keyboard shortcuts or url trick do you enjoy? Share them in the comment section below!

All Things Wakelet

What is Wakelet?

Wakelet is a site where you can find, organize and share content. Using Wakelet, you can organize content into Collections. You can then share these collections either on social media (facebook, twitter, reddit), Google Classroom, or just by simply sharing the link. You can also simply share the link to your profile where people visiting your profile will be able to see any collection you have set to public. We will get into collections here in a minute. You can also find other Wakelet users and follow them to always stay up to date on the collections they are creating.

How to Create Collections and Customize Them

So depending on what platform you are one, creating a collection is a little different but really easy. If you are using the desktop version, once you long in, to create a collection all you have to do is simply click the green plus button that says “create a new collection”.



From there, you can give your collection a title and a description. You can also customize your collection by adding a cover image to your collection. Something that I do is I make custom collection headers with my Bitmoji to add a little personalization.



On mobile, when you open the app there is a green button at the bottom that is labeled “create collection”.

How to Add Content to Collections

So you have your collection made, personalized your header, and now are ready to add content. To add content to your collection, when using the desktop version, simply click on the green plus sign to add content. When you click the green plus button, you get the options to add either a URL, text, a video from YouTube, Tweets, an image a PDF, a file from your Google Drive, or a video from Flipgrid.



On mobile, you get a green button labeled “add an item”. After clicking on that, you get the option to either add a link, write a note, add an image, add from twitter, or add from bookmarks in Wakelet.

Also, on iOS you can add to a Wakelet collection via the share sheet. For example, you can be on a website, click the share button which is located at the bottom. It is the icon that looks like a box with an arrow pointing up. When you click on the share button, choose Wakelet. After that, you can see all of your collections and add the website link to the collection you want.

Once you have all the resources added to your collection, you can set the collection’s visibility to either public where everyone can see the collection, unlisted where only people with the link to the collection can see it, and private where only you can see it.

Uses in the Classroom

So there are tons of ways you could use Wakelet in the classroom. Currently, the way I am using Wakelet as an Ed Tech Coordinator is as a way to share information and gather resources for teachers. Currently, I have collections based around using Twitter as an educator, Digital Citizenship resources broken down by grade level spans, Amplifying Student Voice, EduProtocols Resources, and much more. Check out my collections at https://wakelet.com/@MarshallBeyer.

I usually put a collection together and then share it a few ways. One way I share is through Twitter. I will tweet out links to a specific collection. Another way I share my collections is through my work email signature. I have a link in my signature that goes straight to my Wakelet profile page. Matt Miller from Ditch that Textbook wrote a nice blog post on 12 Ways to Use Wakelet in the Classroom. In that post, he talks about ways students could use wakelet. Everything from creating a collection to use as a work portfolio to novel studies. He also talks about how teachers could use it for professional development. For example, creating podcast playlists or reflection collections.

App Showdown: Kahoot vs Quizizz

VS

In this post, we are going to put Kahoot and Quizizz head to head to see which one fits your classroom the best. So these two apps have a lot in common. They both do a lot of things the same thing, but they also do a lot of things differently. We will put them head to head through 5 categories: Interactions, Integrations, libraries, collaboration/sharing, and results/data.

Interaction

Kahoot:

One way to play Kahoot  is live via game pin. You can choose either classic or team mode. You would go through the game together as a class; everyone is on the same question at the same time. The question and answers are displayed on screen with a corresponding shape. The shapes are on students devices.

Quizizz:

One way to play Quizizz is live game mode or homework mode. Both modes are self paced. Once you answer a question, you can move on to the next question and do not have to wait for the rest of the class. As a teacher, you also have the ability to print out a hard copy of quiz. This is nice for students without a device or  ones who need accommodations whether it be via an IEP or 504 plan.

Integration

Kahoot:

Play and access through Kahoot website or app with game PIN. You can also share a link to your Kahoot quiz to Google Classroom.

Quizizz:

Play and access through Quizizz website or app. You can also post quiz in Google Classroom as an assignment. Doing this will give students two links: a web link or mobile link.  So depending on what type of device they are using, they can access the correct format. You can also set a timeframe for when the quiz needs to be completed. Also, you can have the score your students got on the Quizizz quiz imported into your Google Classroom grades.

Libraries

Both Kahoot and Quizizz have libraries of premade quizzes that teachers can search for and use with their classes.

Kahoot:

Thes premade quizzes can be found under the Discover Tab. You can filter by subject, grade level, who it was created by (teacher, student, business user, social users), type of Kahoot (quiz, survey, jumble, discussion), and language.

Quizizz: 

These pre-made quizzes can be found under the Find a Quiz section. You would type in what you are looking for then you can filter by either grade, subject, number of questions, and language.

Collaboration/sharing

Kahoot:

You can share Kahoot quizzes via link, directly to other Kahoot!’ers, or via social media.

Quizizz:

You can share Quizizz quizzes via email to another teacher, direct url link, to social media, or to Google Classroom as either an assignment or announcement.

Results/data

Kahoot:

After your students take a Kahoot quiz, you can extract results/data from that quiz. This would be found under the reports section. From there, you can sort by date played, title, or number of players. You cannot view reports within website. You would have to download them to be able to view them. Reports can also be saved to Google Drive.

Quizizz:

Reports would be found under the Reports section. From there, you would be able to see class accuracy, number of questions, and the number of players that took the quiz at the top of the report. You can filter by player or question. You can also sort by accuracy, first name, or last name. You also have the ability to email parents directly from reports page. You can print results or you can download results as a CSV file.

Bonus Category: Pricing

Kahoot:

Kahoot has a different plans with different access points. $6/month per teacher: Get slides, polls and image library in addition to everything from Plus; $3/month per teacher: Unlock folders, team space and detailed reporting on top of essential Kahoot! Features; Free: Essential features for creating, playing and searching games. Quizizz: Free

So which platform do you think would fit your classroom the best?

Google Sites Part 2

In this post, we are going to dive into part two of our Google Sites series. We are going to discuss some ways that you can customize your Google Site.

Adding a Logo

while in editing mode, simply head on up to the top left-hand side of the navigation bar at the top of your site and you will see a dialogue box that pops up that says Add logo. Clicking on it will bring up a box that asks you to either upload an image or select an image.

Customizing Accent Color

After you add your logo to your site, you will notice that you have some color options that you can now choose from.

Changing Header Image

To set a custom header image, hover over your banner and you will see a dialogue box with the following options: Change image, reset, and header type. Click on Change image. You then have the option to either upload an image or select an image.

Navigation

To change the navigation mode, hover over the navigation bar at the top of your site. You will see a settings wheel appear on the far left. Clicking on that settings wheel will allow you to choose between top navigation and side navigation.

Drop Down Navigation

To create drop-down navigation, head on over to the Pages section. You will see a list of all of your Pages. Drag a page onto another page and you will see a blue box appear around the page you are dragging onto. Drop your page and you will now see a down arrow next to the top page and the page that you dropped under that page. You will now see a down arrow next to the page title on your site as well.

Hiding Pages

To first hide a page from navigation, click on the Pages section on the right-hand side, hover over the page you want to hide and you will see the vertical ellipsis, click on that and choose “hide from navigation”.

Adding Alt Text

To add alt text to an image, first click on an image that you have uploaded to your site. After clicking on that image, you will see the vertical ellipsis appear in the image options section. From there, you can choose add alt text. Adding alt text allows screen readers to access the image for people who might have trouble seeing the content on your site.

Google Sites: The Basics: Part 1

In this post, we will be talking about Google Sites. This will be a multi-part series. In today’s post, part 1 of the series, we went over the basics of Google Sites. We will cover how to create a site, the controls on the site, and adding content to your site.

How to Create a Site

To create a new site, all you have to do is head on over to drive and click the “NEW” button in the top left-hand corner. You will see options like a folder, file upload, folder upload, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more. Click more. From there, you will get a new drop-down menu. In there you will see Sites. Click on sites.

The Controls on the Site


Adding Content to Your Site

You will find the sections of where you can add content to your site on the right-hand side. The three sections are labels insert, pages, and themes. In the insert section, here is where you can find all the types of things you can add to your site like a text box, images, embed code, and items from your Drive.

Inserting a Text Box

Clicking on text box will add a text box to your site. After adding it, you can customize the size of the text box, change the text format so it is either a title, heading, subheading, normal text, or small text. You can also adjust the alignment of your text and, depending on the format you chose, you can bold or italicize your text. You will also find our chain link again where you can highlight text and add a hyperlink.

Inserting Images

Here you can either upload an image from your computer or select an image either from a URL, your album, your Google Drive or do a google image search.

Embed Code

This is where you can embed HTML code for widgets and online players. For example, on the podcast website, I use the embed code for the Anchor podcast episode player to post the episode on the site so somebody could just click and play the episode right from the site.

From Drive

Here, you will be able to add items from your drive to your site.

Adding Pages to Site


Themes