I've got another cool new Google feature for you today. This one is only in beta right now, though, so it's not available to the general public yet. Read on to see how you can request early access! Google Forms Locked Mode allows teachers to give an assessment during which students are unable to navigate away to other sites. It works on managed Chromebooks, and it's easy to do: just click a checkbox!
Now our school has a monitoring program for our Chromebooks, but to lock students into a Google Form, it's a few steps. This Locked Mode option makes it super easy to do! If you are interested in trying out Locked Mode, you can fill out this form and Google may grant you early access. The form also allows you to request access to Google for Edu's other new beta feature, an updated gradebook in Google Classroom. Both features will roll out to everyone eventually, but if you're eager to try it out, fill out the form!
0 Comments
Happy almost Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you truly can take a break and enjoy some relaxation with family and friends. This can be a stressful time of year as a teacher and a human in general. Make sure you are taking care of yourself! For today's Digital Tool Tidbit, I've got two Google updates for you. My good friend and amazing science teacher, Kathryn, gave me this first one (thanks, Kathryn!). Google has released shortcuts for creating new files. Just type in any of the following URLs, and you will open up a new, blank file:
The other update is on the Android version of the Google Classroom app. They have updated the app to include a random student selector. Last year, I wrote this post on Cold Calling and how, when used effectively, it can increase student engagement. I included a digital random student selector that teachers can use. While the tool is good, it's not the best for secondary teachers because you have to manually enter each student's name. That's not an issue with Google's student selector! Since it is housed in Google Classroom, it already pulls in your roster. Then, according to Google, you can "randomly [pick] students from your class roster. You can call on a student, skip a student to call on later, or mark a student as absent." Go to Google's Support page here to see step-by-step directions. Also, I'm sure they are already working on this for iOS, but it never hurts to click on that handy question mark at the bottom left of Google Classroom and submit feedback requesting it. Remember, they listen!!! Thanksgiving Photo from Pexels.com
Google Shortcut information from Leswing The other day I was super excited to see this email in my inbox: In this earlier post about the new Google Classroom updates, I mentioned that the Announcements option was now only available in the Stream. You couldn't organize it within your Classwork page, which made posting things like videos and links that accompany assignments or units very difficult. I thought Google should bring Announcements to Classwork, so I put in feedback using the little question mark at the bottom left of Google Classroom, and apparently I wasn't the only one, because Google came up with the Materials feature this last week. Now, you can post links, documents, videos, etc. that you want students to use but you don't necessarily want them posted as an assignment. You can organize it by topic so that the materials stay with your other content.
This just goes to show that Google really does listen to your feedback. So if there are features that are missing, let them know (like the Move to the Top feature??). I did this same thing a couple of years ago with decimal grades in Classroom, and it took them a while, but they did fix it. It's always so nice to know there is a person on the other end of the tech. |
AuthorChristin Barkemeyer Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|