Posts
It is summer and time to play. My favorite playground is Google, and it is so easy to signup. Just go to Google, http://www.google.com/ and sign in or “Create an Account now.”
- Google Calendar
- Google Reader (& Google Blog Search)
- Google Notebook (It’s back! Well, I thought it was. Other options.)
- Google Docs
- Google Books
- Google Scholar
- Blogger
- iGoogle ( & Google Gadgets)
- YouTube
Google Calendar - We have a master calendar at Rolling Prairie, as well as a vehicle calendar, and we share our personal calendars. This enables us to view our calendars anywhere we have Internet access.
Google Reader (& Google Blog Search) – I save time keeping up with my favorite websites by having the updates sent directly to my Google Reader. My mailbox is more manageable, and I know where to look for updates, so I save time.
Google Notebook – Well the good news is that those of us who got hooked on I, we still have access. Those of you who don’t’ have a notebook of your own, it looks like if you can get someone to share a notebook with you that you can then create new notebooks of your own. There are also other options.
Google Docs – We share word processing, presentation and spreadsheet documents, both with other staff and other systems. Google Docs allows you to view the edit history of a document, so you can tell who has been working on a group project, and who hasn’t. It is a great way to provide feed-back to students on papers and projects. Students who don’t have to have Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel can create their documents online. Students can upload their projects and teachers can comment on them online. No more lost projects.
Google Books – Now you can search within the books and find the long sought after information that you’ve been looking for. Of course you may have to interlibrary loan or buy the book to get a better look at the information. I’ve ILLed several books, but I’ve also spent several hundred dollars purchasing books that I never would have guessed that I would have been interested in.
Google Scholar – You know they are going to go to Google before going to FirstSearch, so now you can show them how to use Google Scholar and follow it up with a lesson on how to use that information in FirstSearch to access the full text, if you have Wilsons.
Blogger – Share information by creating your own Blog. Rachel, Bev and I, each have a blog.
iGoogle – Pull all your favorite tools and resources together in one place. There are lots of gadgets that you can add, including and RPLS search gadget.
YouTube – What better way to learn how to use these fun tools than viewing tutorials on them on YouTube.
