The Best Tech for Summer

The school year’s end is an exhausting but rewarding time. Both educators and students experience the mixed feelings that accompany the conclusion of their grade levels and classes. Due to the unprecedented challenges caused by COVID-19, the end of this school year is particularly bittersweet.

Still, the summer season is always a welcome occasion for rest and renewal. In addition to keeping busy with physical activities and lots of outdoor adventures, it’s equally important for students and teachers alike to continue to exercise their brains. The following tech tools aim to blend playing and learning.

• In the world of convenient devices, HP’s Probook x 360 11 is top notch. This versatile machine is perfect for writing, drawing, reading, and creating. The durability provided by the Probook makes it practical and user friendly, and its spill resistance makes it Popsicle friendly.
  

• The Windows 10 operating system has always been fast and reliable and it also boasts new features that are fun and unique. With just the touch of a few keys, you can talk instead of type. Finding photos is quick and easy with automatic added tabs. Maximize your time by snapping apps side by side.
  

• Microsoft OneNote is ideal for the fast-paced brain of a teacher, and perfect for when you’re inspired with a great lesson idea. Spend a few August afternoons jotting down some lesson plan ideas and getting organized for the coming year. OneNote’s multi-user collaboration allows for sharing ideas with colleagues.
  

• With most summer vacations being put on hold, take an exploratory yet educational adventure with Google Expeditions. Create one to fit the needs of your students, or take an exciting tour created by one of the world’s most well known institutions. 
  

• Keep your mind sharp while having a great time! Geoguessr is an enjoyable way to blend the lines between work and play. The game places you in an unknown location. Using Google Street view, the player will begin to navigate their way home with the help of logic, clues, and the world of technological tools.

What tech tools do you love for summer? Drop your suggestions in the comments!

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The Best Tips & Tricks for Fall Semester

Fall semester is in full swing and if your teachers are already feeling overwhelmed, implementing some of our favorite edtech tools and techniques from our partners could be the answer.

Boost Productivity 

When there’s not enough time in the day, get more done with tech hacks designed to simplify your life. 

• Microsoft Outlook offers productivity and time management tools in its Calendar features. Use it to set appointments, reminders and even organize your schedule by day, week or year. Block out times when you’re unavailable – lunches, personal development time and vacations – to keep your staff updated about your schedule.  

• If your school uses Google and Gmail, Google Tasks is the equivalent to Outlook. Google Tasks allow you to create multiple task lists, organized by grade, department, team, however you choose. You can reorder tasks, add subtasks and notes and even switch between multiple accounts (like your work and personal accounts) if you need to take some work home with you. But probably the biggest time saver is being able to create tasks from a Google search. Google “t your task” and press enter. Google will add whatever you type after “t” as your task, like “buy new Chromebooks.” 

Improve Communication 

Eliminate the need to run down the hall every time you need to connect with a staff member.  

• Microsoft Teams can keep everyone on the same page. Microsoft Teams, which comes with Office 365, allows your staff to instantly message each other and even set online meetings. The chat threads can be grouped so the administrative staff and the English department can all have their own thread. You can even set alerts so you know when someone has added a new comment or reached out to you directly.  

• Take Teams one step further by using Flipgrid and OneNote. Flipgrid is a video discussion platform that allows students to share their ideas, wonderings, projects and questions in new and creative ways. This social learning app is supported by OneNote, Microsoft’s digital notebook. Teachers add the topics, students respond with short videos, and everyone engages. The grids are communities built by educators and each has its own special code, which teachers can share with students. Educators can prompt students to engage with discussion topics or questions and also allow students to respond to their peers. 

Save Time 

It takes massive amounts of coordination, not to mention time, to plan field trips and even professional development outings. Save the hassle by using the classroom and staff room as home base. 

• Skype in the Classroom’s guest speakers bring learning to life for your school’s students. There are hundreds of volunteer guest speakers from around the world that are available to speak to your classrooms about an endless amount of topics from ancient Greece and desert exploration to the science of mosquitoes. These guest speakers are experts in every subject area you can imagine as they are authors, scientists, engineers, zookeepers, etc. Experts can also be virtually “brought in” for professional development. 

• Immersive technology, like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) use software to help students see through time and space. Scholastic has an entire curriculum dedicated to integrating VR into STEM lesson plans that allow students to travel far beyond our solar system or down to a cellular level.  

At Arey Jones, we partner with the best in the edtech business to provide the latest and greatest in software and educational services for K-12 educators and administrators. Contact us to see what solutions we can provide for you.

It’s Madness: The Biggest Players In Tech

There’s a lot of chatter this year about basketball, brackets and top-seeded teams but we’re more interested in some of the standout players in the EdTech field. 

These two champions are always coming up with new products, tips and updates to help administrators and educators effectively do the job of teaching students.

Reigning Champs

Microsoft Education has been at the forefront of EdTech since the beginning. The company and its partners are consistently updating products and providing tips for users. For example, Microsoft Education recently released 10 learning tool updates for the new year which includes adding Translator in the Immersive Reader, combining step-by-step solving in Math Assistant and reading aloud in Immersive Reader and page colors in Word Desktop.

Some other Microsoft products that are moving and shaking are,

• FlipGrid – As more schools and classrooms connect through FlipGrid, #GridPals, a spin on penpals, help engage students with peers around the world. This awesome dynamic helps students learn from others, share their love of learning through books and offer support.

• OneNote – Custom tags are now in OneNote! Users can now name the tag and select an icon to create a custom tag that will sync across devices and show up in app search results. Brilliant!

• Skype Classroom - Skype in the Classroom is unveiling all sorts of different PD options educators can use to get more out of the product. The best news is the courses are FREE!

The Cinderella Team

Google For Education has become a major player in the EdTech world. Its powerful yet affordable Chromebooks have helped make technology accessible to all students. Its GoogleEdu YouTube channel regularly hosts product updates and EdTech know-how, like the new gradebook in Google Classroom and lock mode for quizzes in Google Forms on managed Chromebooks. 

Some other Google For Education product updates and tips include,

• Gmail – Customizable keyboard shortcuts, how are we not already doing this? Make your Gmail work for you by creating your own keyboard shortcuts. A couple quick clicks in Settings can change your entire day.

• Google Drive – No Internet, no problem. Google Drive allows users to access stored files without Wi-Fi or any other type of Internet. You can work on the go, edit Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and more when you’re in the dark.

• Google Classroom – Google is rolling out new features in 2019, including allowing teachers to create and assign a forms quiz directly from classroom. This saves time and streamlines the entire process.

The good news is you don’t have to pick a team. Microsoft Education and Google for Education have tons of programs and products that seamlessly work together making the fans the real winners.

9 Tools for 2019

You’re back from winter break, refreshed and ready to get back to work. Why not implement some of the best tools for 2019 to help? There are a plethora of apps and extensions that can help you, your teachers and students make the most of the new year.

1. Flipgrid. We’re going to keep talking about Flipgrid because we think it’s only going to expand in use, especially since Microsoft Teams integrated Flipgrid into its Microsoft Teams for Education. Flipgrid is a video discussion platform for educators and students. It allows students to share their ideas, wonderings, projects and questions in new and creative ways. Administrators can use Flipgrid to engage their professional learning network and build community among staff by creating conversations.

2. OneNote. Come for OneNote’s Staff Notebooks and stay for its other tools. Aside from Staff Notebooks’ collaboration space, shared content library and personal workspace for every staff member, OneNote also allows users to add any content and use digital inking. It also supports Flipgrid.

3. Google Keep. Google Keep is the online note-taker that goes with you. Webpages, images or quotes are saved with a single click when using this Chrome Extension and they are synced across all the platforms you use. Easy.

4. Microsoft Teams for Education. This popular software is free for educators and has recently been updated. We expect even more improvements to roll out in 2019.

5. Google Authenticator. In a time where BYOD is becoming commonplace in schools, making sure your device is secure is a top priority. Google Authenticator helps with that. It generates a code that gives a second-step verification when you sign in.

6. Google Docs Offline Sync. Believe it or not, there are times when you don’t have Internet access, or you just don’t want to use your data. Because Google Docs is available offline, now you don’t have to. Create, view and edit files on Docs, Sheets and Slides all offline.

7. Even the most seasoned writers can use the extra pair of “eyes” that Grammarly provides. The base app, which checks spelling, is free or upgrade to the Premium version which not only checks spelling but grammar and punctuation. You’ll be asking yourself, “How long have I been writing everything in passive voice?”

8. CheckMark. This Chrome extension, created by EdTechTeam, gives teachers the ability to provide students feedback quickly and easily. Highlight text in a Google Doc and an overlay pops up with quick shortcuts to frequently-asked comments like “Check Punctuation” and “Spelling.” It works on Slides too.

9. LastPass. It seems like every website, app, social media platform and even software requires a password; that’s a lot to remember. LastPass makes it easy and secure to kept track of them, plus it’s free.

Have a tool that you can’t live without? Let us know in the comments.

How Virtual Reality Helps Education

There’s been a lot of talk lately about virtual reality and integrating it into the classroom. Is it all lip service or is there any substance behind this new type of immersion learning? While virtual reality or VR may seem a little Back to the Future Part II, its benefits make it deserving of a closer look. It can take students places they’d never be able to go in reality – an African jungle, the solar system and back in time to the creation of planet Earth.

Yet, some administers are still getting pushback from those that think VR is a silly idea. So we came up with some ideas to get teachers, parents and students on board with VR.

Teachers

Introduce this technology to the teachers in your school who are eager to experiment with new technology. Once they apply it in their classrooms and see how awesome it is for students, they’ll start to share their knowledge with their peers.

Remind teachers that technology is the future. Did they ever think Chromebooks would replace paper and pencils? 

Put together a quick presentation via Slides or PowerPoint outlining VR’s benefits. Be sure to highlight these attributes:

• VR allows students to travel all over the world without leaving the classroom.

• VR helps develop empathy as students can personally witness communities in crisis.

• VR enables students to experience different careers through the eyes of a surgeon, soldier or other professional fields.

• VR allows students to explore the human body and see how our anatomy works.

• Students can create and share their own VR content.

• It promotes curiosity and wonder.

Parents

Ask teachers to demonstrate this tech to parents during conferences and other one-on-one meetings and school events. Set up the machine so parents can use it themselves.

Encourage students to describe this tech to parents. Since students can create and share their on VR experiences, make it a project for students to give as a presentation for parents. 

Add VR field trips to parent newsletters. “This week our fourth-grade class is traveling to the International Space Station. No permission slip required.”

Students

VR education is new and exciting and students will naturally want to be a part of it. Many teachers recalled seeing that spark and excitement the first time a student goes to Jupiter or learns about pollination by getting up close and personal with flowers and bugs.

Students like have already had an experience with VR through VR games and VR headsets. VR ed tech is just another extension of the technology they’re already familiar with.

Virtual reality not only helps students keep up, but stay ahead in a world that’s learning faster every day. Contact us to see how we can help put this new technology into your teachers’ hands.

How to Be a Google Certified Educator

Tech tools for education are as essential today as pencils and paper. If you’re an educator that knows how to use tech like Google Apps for Education in the classroom there are programs that offer certifications for this ability. One of the most recognized is the Google Certified Educator program, which was designed for educators and classroom teachers who demonstrate proficiency using Google for Education tools.

Why should you be a Google Certified Educator?

The Certified Educator program not only validates learning, but it offers several other benefits as well. Being a Google Certified Educator means:

• You gain confidence with digital learning strategies and Google tools.

• You gain access to content that’s focused on classroom integration.

• You can create a paperless classroom.

• You can increase student digital learning.

• You can measure your impact.

• You can engage in professional growth and leadership.

• And, you can increase efficiency and save time.

Now that you’ve decided become a Google Certified Educator, the next step is determining the level you should obtain certification in.

What level of Google Certified Educator should you be?

The Certified Educator program is offered at four levels, a Google Certified Educator Level 1, Level 2 and Google Certified Trainer and Innovator. Each level requires varying degrees of dedication on your part. According to Google For Education,

• Google Certified Educator Level 1 and 2: Level 1 status indicates that an educator is able to successfully implement G Suite for Education into their teaching practice in order to enhance teaching and learning. The Level 2 status indicates that an educator is able to successfully integrate a wider range of Google for Education tools and other technologies in order to transform their teaching practice.

• Google for Education Certified Trainer: Google for Education Certified Trainers are passionate and driven education professionals with a desire to help others transform classrooms with technology. Whether you are a school’s go-to technologist, a stellar classroom teacher or an enterprising consultant, anyone is welcome to apply for membership in the program.

• Google for Education Certified Innovator: This is designed for education thought-leaders who create new and innovative projects using Google for Education tools.

Once you decide what level fits your teaching style and time commitment, the next step is to study and take the exam.

How do you finally become a Google Certified Educator?

Each of the four levels has a course and exam you must pass to gain certification. Google for Education Certified Trainers and Innovators must also submit an application.

• Google Certified Educator Level 1: Work through the Fundamentals course and take the GCE1 exam.

• Google Certified Educator Level 2: Finish the Advanced course and take the GCE2 exam.

• Google for Education Certified Trainer: Go through the Trainer Learning Center, take the Trainer Essentials exam and submit an online application.

• Google for Education Certified Innovators: Finish the Advanced course, take the GCE2 exams and submit an online application.

You can either work on your own to go through these levels or work with a Google Certified Trainer for face-to-face instruction.

Deciding to take that next step to become a Google Certified Educator can help you take your classroom and learning experience to the next level and show your dedication to ed tech. How many levels have you gone through? Tell us in the comments below.

How To Choose Your Next Chromebook

Google’s Chromebook is the laptop that is ultra-portable, is easy-to-use and keeps going with a long-life battery. It’s also in a class by itself because instead of running Windows or Mac OS it runs Google’s Chrome OS. Keep in mind that all Chromebooks are really designed to work when connected to the Internet. So if you’re looking for a school laptop that can run traditional offline programs, Office, Adobe, etc., the Chromebook is probably not your first choice.

But, Chromebooks are durable and rugged, especially the ones designed for education, and take whatever the kids dish out – drops, spills, etc. 

Because they’re manufactured by several different companies, Acer, Samsung, HP, etc., these machines can vary widely. So how do you choose?

What Apps Are Available?

Since the Chromebook was developed by Google, it is optimized for Google apps like Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive. Some of the systems can access the Android apps, these include the Samsung Chromebook Plus, Asus Chromebook Flip, Dell Chromebook 3189 and Google’s Pixelbook. The Android version of Office is also soon rolling out to those Android-accessible Chromebooks soon, otherwise Microsoft Office Online is available via the Chrome browser.

Here's a list of all the Chromebooks that run Google Apps.

What’s The Battery Life?

Chromebooks offer really good battery life, averaging just over 9 hours with continuous web surfing. A higher price doesn’t necessarily mean a longer battery life, usually due to the amount of processes the more expensive Chromebooks can churn out.

What Are The Special Features?

As you can imagine, different prices come with different features. The Samsung Chromebook Pro has a 12.3-inch QHD display and is enhanced for the web. Google also redesigned the on-screen keyboard for touch-screen that’s ideal for the 2-in-1s like the Asus Chromebook Flip C302, which serves as both a laptop and tablet.

Need more help to choose? Contact us and our team can help set you up with a Chromebook that’s perfect for your facility.

Professional Development 101

Professional Development is hardly one-size-fits-all because every one of your teachers has different needs that must be met. Tackle professional development in a new way by thinking outside of the box. Try these ideas, based on what districts across the United States are doing: 

• Unconferences
  An unconference is a grassroots conference where the content is provided by the attendees, not outside experts. Don’t think of them as unofficial events, rather bring unconferences in-house as the official professional development.

TIP: Have the MIEE and GoogleEIs at your institution do the talking, not the administrators. Have breakouts using Google Sheets and Google Hangouts.

• Personal Learning Community

Personal Learning Communities, or PLCs, are a group of teachers with a shared interest or mutual commitment. Administrators can choose the focus, like hybrid teaching models, and allow teachers to sign up for the PLCs they align with most.

TIP: Use Google Team Drive, to keep everyone in the loop. You can drop information in about each PLC and share with your team.

• Choice Boards

Choice Boards offer a menu of professional development options for teachers to pick and choose from; the amount would depend on your district. This method allows you to meet your teachers’ individual needs, instead of addressing them in a group setting.

TIP: Create a DIY bingo board with Google Sheets or Docs. Or, go old school and draw it up on a white board then use Microsoft Office Lens to digitize it. This app trims and enhances to make notes on whiteboards and blackboard readable on your mobile device.

• Personal Action Plans

Personal Action Plans allow individual teachers to set their own learning goals, including an action plan to achieve them.

TIP: Try Microsoft Sway. This digital storytelling app helps create professional, interactive designs with images, text, videos that can be easily shared with just a link.

• Peer Observation

With peer observation, your teachers take advantage of the best source of professional development available to them, each other. Teachers shadow then follow up with colleagues about applying what they’ve learned in their own classrooms. The best part is if they have questions, the answer is down the hall. 

TIP: Suggest Microsoft OneNote to take notes or draw up quick ideas. This tool has a variety of ingenious uses and each note is stored on a phone, pad or laptop and accessed from anywhere

Got some great professional development ideas? Share them with us and include which tech tools you used to knock it out of the park.

G Suite Enterprise For Education Is Now Open!

G Suite for Education is Google’s suite of best-in-class productivity tools for teaching and learning. In January 2018, Google announced it was making this product even better with security updates for G Suite for Education and a new edition, G Suite Enterprise for Education, an expanded version built specifically for large educational institutions.

 G Suite Enterprise for Education is the product of feedback from private and public colleges and university to school districts, all who expressed the desire for more advanced tools. It offers many of the same capabilities available to G Suite business customers, in addition to future features geared towards the specific needs of educational institutions.

Google outlined some of the capabilities available in G Suite Enterprise for Education in its blog, including:

• Mobile Device Management.Advanced mobile device management helps large institutions manage mobile BYOD devices. G Suite admins can define custom rules that trigger on device events, like device updates or ownership changes, and have associated actions. Additionally, admins can review audits and reports of activities on these devices, as well as securely manage work apps on a user’s device while leaving personal apps under the user’s control. 

• Cloud Search. Now, cloud search provides a unified search experience across G Suite to help users spend less time searching for information and more time deriving insights. Cloud Search surfaces personalized information that helps users stay on top of important work, prepare for upcoming meetings or even suggest files that need attention.

• Gmail Logs Analysis In BigQuery. Logs in BigQuery contain information that can help education administrators diagnose issues or unlock insights. Admins will be able to run sophisticated, high-performing custom queries and build custom dashboards. Their domain’s data can also be analyzed with Admin reports in BigQuery. 

• Security Center For G Suite. The security center brings together security analytics, actionable insights and best practice recommendations from Google so that admins can protect their organization, data and users. Admins now have access to a unified security dashboard and can reduce risk to their organization by adopting security health recommendations from Google

• Record meetings and save them to Drive. This is for schools that want to capture faculty meetings or online lectures. Hangouts Meet can be used to record and save them directly to Drive, making them readily accessible for those that weren’t able to attend.  

• Hangouts Meet. This edition gives now connects up to 50 participants on a single video and phone conference. The dial-in feature in Meetallows users to seamlessly connect to meetings via phone. If a participant doesn’t have a reliable Wi-Fi connection, they can join via a conferencing bridge that’s automatically added to every meeting. 

Unlike G Suite for Education, which is available for free, customers pay $4 per user, per month, for Enterprise’s additional features. This is still cheaper than Google’s G Suite Enterprise for business, which is $25 per user, per month. Plus, Google promises extra features at no extra cost. If you’re using G Suite Enterprise for Education, let us know what you love and what you don’t.

8 Podcasts Every EdTech Enthusiast Should Subscribe To

Podcasts are one of the best sources of information about educational technology available today. These digital audio files are like radio for the Internet. They can educate, inform and entertain us, but on our own time. Each podcast contains multiple episodes which can be downloaded onto our phones, laptops and other devices.

There are more than 500,000 active podcasts on Apple iTunes alone and many of these are geared towards educators and administrators. With so many listening options available, we’ve done the hard part the narrowed down the top eight podcasts about educational technology you should be listening to today.

1. The Press Release by EdTechTeam – This podcast dives into the minds of innovative and creative educators and shares the best ideas in education with a focus on technology, innovation and empowering both students and teachers. Episode lengths range in length from 3 minutes to nearly 40 minutes.

2. Google Teacher Tribe - This weekly podcast is designed to give K-12 educators practical ideas for using G Suite and other Google tools. It’s hosted by Matt Miller and Kasey Bell, who also share helpful tips to keep administrators on task.

3. Chromebook Classroom Podcast -  This podcast explores how Chromebooks are impacting the K-12 classroom. It is hosted by Google Certified Trainer John Sowash, who invites guests to chat about their Chromebook Classroom experience on this monthly show. Episodes range from quick, resource editions to longer interview editions.

4. Cult of Pedagogy - Hosted by Jennifer Gonzalez, this podcast covers teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform and education technology. Episodes range in length from 10 minutes to an hour. It’s a must for anyone looking to make their educators to be the very best.

5. Microsoft Innovative Expert Spotlight Series Podcast – Each episode of this podcast features a Microsoft Innovative Educator that showcases how they are transforming their classrooms through 21st-century teaching styles. It is hosted by Jeff Bradbury. Each episode runs about a half hour, and is perfect to listen to before you walk into a team meeting.

6. EdTech Situation Room -  This is both a weekly podcast and live Wednesday evening webshow. It’s hosted by educators Jason Neiffer from Montana and Wesley Fryer from Oklahoma. The duo analyzes current tech news and how they can make education better. Episodes run about an hour long.

7. EdTech Bites - Host Gabriel Carrillo sits down with educators and innovators once a month to talk educational tech trends over dinner. This podcast allows him to bring together his and every other educational administrator’s two passions, food and educational technology. Episodes range in length anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.

8. EdTech Rewind Clint Winter and Lee Green invite their friends to get together and discuss what’s going on in the world of educational technology. Episodes are about 45 minutes to an hour. For long drives home where you have to come up with an agenda for your educators – yes, this is the one.

We love these podcasts about educational technology, but if you know of another that you can’t believe didn’t make this list, let us know.

Go-To Tools for Presentations: When to Blog and When To PowerPoint

The goal of a presentation is to effectively convey information that allows the audience to remember what has been said. That being said, there are several options as to how to give a presentation, specifically for a final project. For students, presentations can be given as individuals or groups, or for educators in seminars. The best tool for the job depends on whether the presentation will be visual or verbal. 

When to Blog 

Blogs are definitely the ideal verbal tool for presentations. They are becoming increasingly popular for e-portfolios, offering students the opportunity to review, communicate, assess, archive and display their work - including blogging for projects and presentations. Google has a great Keyword Planner tool that allows the writer to enter seed keywords and receive a list of suggested search terms. Microsoft’s Windows Open Live Writer is another solid option.

There are several pros to using blogs in presentations:

• Blog writing is informal, unlike academic writing. This style takes the pressure off students and also allows them to speak their audiences’ language. Blog, or web log, style is typically relaxed, which makes it comfortable and easy for students.

• Blogs allow for comments. Students can get feedback from peers, educators and even parents about their blog.

• Blogs are published. The students’ work is online and can help educate others about their opinion.

• Blogs can easily be linked to social media. Blogs are almost made for social media. A student’s project can easily be shared or linked to the school’s social media account.

There are also some cons:

• A blog doesn’t allow the student to practice his or her speaking skills. In today’s world - where it is a struggle to compete with online and handheld distractions for students’ attention - there aren’t as many real-world opportunities for students to practice their speaking skills.

• Blogs aren’t conducive to group projects. It can be hard to track who-did-what if only one blog is uploaded. Presentations give an entire group the opportunity to participate, even those that aren’t the strongest writers.

When to PowerPoint

When the presentation goal is to be visual, the presentation needs to be done in PowerPoint. Microsoft’s presentation software allows users to create fluid, cinematic motion in one click. Slides can be duplicated, morphed together, moved, etc. 

There are definite pros to PowerPoint: 

• PowerPoint is the standard when it comes to professional settings. It’s been offered in Microsoft Office versions for more than a decade. It’s highly-recognizable.

• PowerPoint can improve presentations. The software’s ability to use animations and images is a definite plus. Even basic shapes can enhance data and help get the point across.

• PowerPoint slides can be easily distributed. The slides can be printed or emailed. They can be uploaded to the cloud or saved on a flash drive.

Yet, there are also some cons to PowerPoint:

• PowerPoint requires some time to learn. There are a lot of options, which can seem overwhelming to users. Also, novices could put too much information on slides, ruining the entire purpose of using PowerPoint – which should be to enhance a presentation. No one wants to sit and read slide-after-slide. 

• PowerPoint could be riddled with technical difficulties. The computer could stop working, power might be lost to the outlet or the overhead display doesn’t work right. These might seem like conditions that can be avoided, but you never know what can happen in a space that is unfamiliar.

Follow us @AreyJones for more great tech tips.

Top Chrome Extensions For The Google Classroom

Google Classroom has been instrumental in changing the way education looks today. It streamlines assignments, boosts collaboration and fosters seamless communication to help make teaching more productive. There’s also the advantage of being able to integrate hundreds of Chromebook apps and extensions that save teachers and students time and make it seamless to share information. Extensions enhance the browsing experience by tailoring Chrome’s functionality towards individual needs and preferences. 

Here are some of our favorites.

Grammarly

Grammarly is an online editor that gives all of your text the once-over before you send it to colleagues, parents or students. It’s a free extension that revises the text you type in Chrome, Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Linkedin and anywhere else on the web. It suggests corrections based on both spelling and grammar, and it explains alternative options because we call all still learn.

Screencastify

Screencastify is a great tool to use when you need to create a quick demonstration or instructional video. It is a screen recorder that allows you to capture, edit and share videos in seconds. It can tell a story in just a couple of clicks.

CheckMark by EdTechTeam

This extension is designed to give teachers the ability to provide students with feedback quickly and easily. When a teacher highlights text in Google Docs, an overlay pops up with quick shortcuts to frequently-added comments such as “Spelling” or “Check Punctuation,” or “Evidence needed.” CheckMark has both comments related to grammar as well as concepts, citations and more.

Shareaholic

Shareaholic gives you the ability to share and bookmark great content, without stopping what you’re doing on Chrome. It works with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and more than 200 other services. It makes all your shared links searchable in one place and won’t slow down your Google Chrome.

Alice Keeler – Teacher Tech

This extension gives you quick access to Alice Keeler’s Teacher Tech blog – which covers all things classroom and Google Classroom. A quick click on the extension pulls up a list of her most recent posts. Topics include: 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom, A Tour Of Google Classroom and Google Slides, Create a Drop Shadow on Text.

LastPass: Free Password Manager

This handy extension saves all your usernames and passwords in one spot. It gives you secure access and will autologin to your websites and sync passwords. Plus, anything you save on one device is instantly available on all your other devices. Slick.

We'd love to know your favorites on Chromebooks, too.

Google Gold: 7 Nuggets You Didn’t Know Existed in the Google Suite

G Suite--what most of us first knew as Google Apps for Work--is one of the most powerful cloud-based collaborative and productive tools on the market. It’s no secret why it has become the fastest go-to for schools, business, and personal use. The trick is how to make the most of it.

Here we’ve broken down our favorite hidden gem for each product in GSuite (so far). We’re finding more ways to use these tools all the time, so check back often for more tips!

Gmail Tip: Get the Group Together

Use Contact Groups to get your team, your classroom, and your students’ parents all on the same page. By creating separate groups for each, you can email the group without fear of forgetting anyone important, and you can easily manage additions and edits. To avoid the awkward accidental Reply-All moments, put your own address in the “To:” field and use “BCC:” for your group.

Google Forms Tip: Form an Opinion (Poll)

This underutilized app can help you take a quick poll, give a test, get to know your students, and reach out to parents right where it’s easy for them--online. The Google Form generator is easy to use and intuitive, you can choose from text answers to multiple choice, check boxes, lists, sales and schedule options.

Google Scholar: Use Your Resources

Google Scholar performs your query against an index of scholarly publications. It works the same as a Google Search, only it filters everything out but academic papers across an array of disciplines and formats.

Google Drawings: Chart Your Heart Out

Whether you use it as a literal drawing board for collaboration or as a place to create customized charts and graphs, Google Drawings can bring your documents, presentations, and imaginations to light. As part of the Google Docs package, it’s easy to use, integrate, and share.

Google Docs: Improve Your Image.

Within Google Docs or Google Slides, you can insert a variety of royalty-free images to give your paper or presentation the wow-factor you want.

Google Drive: Slash Your Search Time

If searching for your files is taking longer than just creating the doc itself, keep reading. You can perform a filtered search in Google Drive by simply clicking that tiny black triangle to the right of the field. You can filter your search by date, words, and how it was shared.

Google Everything: Find Your Shortkeys

Use the Ctrl+/ combo to quickly find available keyboard shortcuts--and then commit them to memory, so you save even more time.

What “Google Gold” tip has saved you more than once so far? We're always looking to add more to our resources here at Arey Jones.

6 Tools in Google Docs To Help Write (and Grade) Term Papers

We’re in the throws of March Madness, and productivity across American businesses--and classrooms--is taking a nosedive. (Research shows that employers lose an estimated $4 billion in revenue due to the paid time lost in managing brackets, discussing team matchups, and watching games.)

And your students aren’t immune.

While college basketball teams are gearing up for the culmination of the season, high-school students across the country are prepping for midterms, term papers, and research projects. To stay ahead of the game, they have to stay on the ball--and Google Docs is a fan favorite.

1. Choose your Add-ons wisely.
   There are several Google Doc add-ons that can help you write--and grade--an effective paper. Word clouds, editing tools, a worthy thesaurus--all of these can improve your language and flow while demonstrating your knowledge of the material. Before you start adding a bunch, however, start with Extensity, an add-on that makes sure extensions and additional add-ons play well with each other.
   
   Try: Pro Writing Aid, Kaizena, and Easy Bib

2. Get a second opinion.
   Having another set of eyes on your paper is always a good thing. An unbiased proofreader will catch unclear phrasing, grammar, and flow problems, and they may be able to offer insight on specific context you could be missing. Use the Chats and Comments functions within Google Docs to make sure you and your friendly editor are both on the same page.

3. Find supporting research.
   Just like you can use the CTRL + K function to create link text, you can also use it to find likely resources--and sources— for your material. Simply type out the topics you are researching, highlight, and hit the shortkeys, and Google will give you some suggestions. Make sure to cite!

4. Use your Tools to Explore
   Another excellent resource in the Google Doc toolbox is the Explore function. Hidden in the Tools menu, Explore opens a side tab in your doc and gives you additional ideas and sources that support your paper based on the phrases, topics, and ideas you are talking about. It pulls from other Google services, like Google Scholar, Google Images, Google Quotes, and Google Dictionary.

5. Harness collaboration.
   With Google Docs, you can pass around thoughts, edits, suggestions, and formatting questions with relative ease. You can also sneak back into past revisions if a tossed idea ends up being relevant again. These commenting tools are also crucial for teachers who want to encourage deeper research or call out worthy sentences.
   
   Tip: Make sure you understand the difference between the Editing and Suggesting modes in active collaborating. Determine who has the final say before ideas start to swarm.

6. Minimize distractions.
   While not a specific function of Google Docs, it’s all-in-house ability to focus a student’s efforts can help funnel creativity in a purposeful, productive way. There’s no need to have multiple tabs open (including ones with live updates of the games); there’s just you and the page, and all the time and tools in the world to fill it.

What add-ons are you using in your Drive? We would love to know.

16 Hashtags Worth Following (and Tagging!)

We do a lot of Twitter outreach at Arey Jones because we love to be in on the educational technology conversation, and there is always something to new going on in our industry. Whether you want to contribute to the discussion or learn something new every day, these hashtags will put you--and your followers--in the know.

By Platform

• #OneNoteEDU

• #MinecraftEDU

• #Skype2Learn

By Software

• #GoogleSheets

• #GoogleSlides

• #GSuiteEDU

By Company

• #MicrosoftEDU

• #GoogleEDU

• #AcerEDU

By Broad Reach

• #edtech

• #education

• #digcit 

By Teams

• #GTT

• #MIEE

• #GoogleEI

• #edtechteam

Obviously, this isn’t an extensive list, but it is a great start to learning just how connected educational technology is to how we work, learn, and share advancements. The next time you share a cool teaching-with-technology moment, add these hashtags to your post. You could inspire others with your ideas, and you also may learn a thing or two in the process.

Ready to learn more? Follow us @AreyJones, or feel free to contact us traditionally.