Google Updates and Tips

Tech Tip Tuesday (September 5, 2023)

Check to see if your favorite tool got a facelift or a new treat!

🎥 Meet

Meet has come a LONGGGG way since its inception 6 years ago as Google Duo/Hangouts, which have since been deprecated.

On a call in the same room with a group of people? Use Companion Mode!

It helps you avoid that pesky feedback and can utilize a single conference room camera and mic for everyone.

Meet has also improved closed captioning and translation of those captions, letting folks into the meeting that are outside of your domain, and how you want the viewing mode of your meeting to look.

Meet is my preferred medium for remote instruction with any age of students with the dramatic increases in breakout rooms, security, and Q&As during class!

📆Calendar and Tasks✅

zoom_out_map

Keep on top of what and when you need to do things AND preserve your time.

Appointment Schedule has been one of my favorite upgrades to Google Calendar, and now you can send a desired availability right from Gmail to stop the back & forth for when you want to meet. Available to all domain users!

Also, Reminders have merged with Tasks and help with what has been assigned to you and how you can keep others on a project in the loop.

💬Chat and Gmail✉️

We spend about 28% of our working weeks on our email, whether it's reading (for me, re-reading to make sure I didn't miss anything) or crafting the perfect message.

Stop that back and forth for "When are you free?" and send them a quick availability schedule right from Gmail.

Create custom layouts for your emails that make your personal emails look like they came from a marketing department!

They've also improved the Search Mail function inside of Gmail to learn what you search for more often to quicken up looking for an email in a folder, archive, or trash.

Google Chat has become one of the easiest ways to chat with someone while at work without cluttering up your or their inboxes. Use Smart Compose (or turn it off) to write quicker, see read receipts for Chat for a group message, and stay organized with the chat from the last 7 days.

📋Forms, 📝Docs, & 📽️Slides

Nothing too crazy from these apps over the summer, but here are some to note!

You can add line numbers to help with poetry or even writing lines of code (even though I would use code blocks).

Rolling out soon will be the ability to annotate over a slideshow in presentation mode. It should be available for everyone within the next week.

Want to collect and verify emails automatically, but not sure if everyone is in a Google account (thinking parents on this one)? Forms allow you to verify with any email.

Add a voting chip inside of a collaborative Google Doc to get voice from everyone on the document.

Tables inside of Docs can be a hassle, but there have been improvements to where and how you can place tables easily.

🔵🔴Other Updates🟡🟢

Some quick odds and ends that might help you out!

Your downloads bar moved! Check it out in the tray up top now!

Google for Education has made some improvements to safety and security for students and families.

Bard, Google's generative AI bot, has made some huge improvements since launching earlier this year.

Fact Check Explorer, Google's way of finding false information, will have some new features rolling out soon such as being able to search to see if an image has been altered!

Schedule a time for me to come into your classroom or planning time!

Wonderopolis

Tool Highlight

zoom_out_map

Wonderopolis is an informational site that helps kids ask and answer interesting questions about the world. Every day, a new "Wonder of the Day" question is posted -- each designed to get kids to think, talk, and find learning moments together in everyday life. Sponsored by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) and supported by a number of philanthropic partners, the site provides hundreds of wonder-filled moments for adults and kids alike.

The site's questions cover dozens of categories from animals (Why do skunks stink?) to cultures (What is zydeco?) to history (Who is Uncle Sam?) to science (What is space?). Click any Wonder question to find facts, information, suggestions for further exploration, useful links, and teaser videos.

Source: Common Sense Education

Brain Dump

Strategy Highlight

zoom_out_map

The strategy described here, known as "free recall," is a highly effective method for enhancing student learning based on cognitive science research. It involves pausing a lesson or activity, asking students to write down everything they can remember, and then continuing with the instruction. This retrieval practice takes only a few minutes and offers several benefits:

1. Engages All Students: Individual writing ensures that all students participate in the retrieval process.

2. Low Stakes: It's not used for grading, emphasizing that it's a learning tool, not an assessment.

3. Specific Prompts: Being clear about what to write and setting time limits helps students focus.

4. Optional Spacing and Feedback: Adding spacing (asking about previous content) or feedback (discussion among students) can enhance the activity but isn't mandatory.

5. Versatile: Free recall is versatile and applicable to various subjects and learning levels, aiding in both basic knowledge retention and complex learning.

6. Improves Metacognition: Contrary to its name, free recall also enhances inferential learning and metacognition, which is crucial for deeper understanding.

This simple, quick strategy can have a significant impact on learning outcomes without requiring extensive instructional time. It's a valuable tool for educators to promote effective learning in their classrooms.

Want a template to try it tomorrow?

Check out a Google Slides or Jamboard template for this strategy!

Source: Pooja Agrawal, Retreival Practice