Noel Erskine, Technology Coordinator Norris Schools

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Amazing web tools, free apps, Google tools and more. Here's my stash from the summer!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013



Here is a stash of some great web-tools, free apps, amazing sites and more that I have been storing up all summer long. Hope everyone is settling into a great school year!

Some great web resources and tools:

Great app for site words! goo.gl/YjbOs many levels and allows students to self-check

Math Equation Editor - I just added the Daum Equation editor to our recommended apps in our nsdtitans.org Chrome Store. Check it out!  And... Google has it's own math equation editor too:  More info is here! 


IgniteCast – Create and Embed Multimedia Presentations http://teachamazing.com/ignitecast-create-and-embed-multimedia-presentations/

scootpad.com offers practice for common core standards and is self paced. It's free for ELA/Reading and Math. (With a few premium features costing $. Compare features here.)  Includes leader boards, incentives, and more. 

GoSoapBox - Survey Your Audience In a Variety of Ways goo.gl/fb/IiGtd

7 Ways to Create and Deliver Online Quizzes  I like Google Forms with FlubarooSocrative or the quizzing feature of the Google add-in we have a Norris called Engrade Gradebook. 

Create your own Docs story. http://docsstorybuilder.appspot.com/


softschools.com Another great websites with lots of online activities for all subjects for grades K to middle school

The Five Best Tools for Creating Videos Without Installing Software ow.ly/jMmZ7

A couple nice screencasts on Evernote vimeo.com/67441603 & vimeo.com/67440869

8 Great Sites for Reluctant Writers - Ed Tech Ideas http://goo.gl/6wznF

This is a great place to make a cool QR code! qrphoria.com

PhET Interactive Simulations http://phet.colorado.edu -  Fun, Interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena from the PhET project at the University of Colorado.  Includes simulations for science and math.  Click on Play with Sims to see different simulations that are available.  (Resource shared by Alisha Bollinger)

Want to connect your class with experts? check out @catlett1 's great GHangout site: eduhangout.org

Twitter Tools:
The Tagboard site,http://tagboard.com/,  allows you to view Tweets based on a hashtag.  Here is an example of the #nebedu hash tag on Tagboard.

Open Education Resources OE:
http://www.goorulearning.org (We have this enabled in our Google Apps Domain, so it's available from the drop down in Google Apps.) 
 Some great tutorials for staff and students on a variety of topics at GCF: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/   Here is their section on just Google topics: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/google  Here is their listing of all topics.


IOS (iPhone/iPad) apps



5 iPad Apps Students Can Use to Record Audio Notes ow.ly/naxIV

6 iPad Apps for Better Classroom Management ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning http://goo.gl/iwO3D  ClassDoJo is one of those... and we like this app/site!  

21 ClassDojo Tutorial Videos http://t.co/T0xh8k5efU  If you have not used Classdojo http://www.classdojo.com/ (Best for younger students), now might be the time!  (Behavior Management site/software.) 

Teach Science?  The iCell app is amazing for teaching about cells! And is Free!

Convert Any Webpage into an ePub Document ow.ly/l4Ul0 (You can then read it on your tablet by importing the ePub doc.) 

History Maps for Your Students’ iPads http://t.co/Ib3goS0MLE Free!

YouTube Resources

Not new, but still a great list... 100 Incredibly Useful YouTube Channels for Teachers

The K-12 YouTube for education home page allows you to look for EDU videos based on subject area, and other sorting criteria.  http://www.youtube.com/education?category=K-12


Google, Gmail, Chrome, and more great Google Tools!

How to Print Gmail Emails in Bulk (or save to a PDF) http://goo.gl/LNrtL 


22 Useful Google Forms for Teachers and Principals ow.ly/l7oxC


Google Class Folders updated with new features: sites.google.com/site/gclassfol… (See last weeks blog article on some great Google Scripts to use.)

Here is one from Janelle while attending the Google Summit this summer:
For those of you in the last session who knew I was looking for where to record in YouTube, I thought I'd show you I found it while attending next session about YouTube. It is in the upload section. You can also make it from a presentation or pics in your account or a Google hangout on air (which Molly mentioned in her session but didn't get into). Awesome find for me today!

30 Gig for Google Drive and mail. Here are the details: 

Here's important news: Google storage quota is being unified across Gmail and Drive.

Beginning May 28th, 2013, Google changed to a new, simpler allowance for storage—one that's combined across Gmail and Drive. We're replacing the current, separate storage allowances—25GB for Gmail and 5GB for Drive—with a single 30GB quota that will cover Gmail, Drive and Google+ Photos.

Should users need more than the 30GB quota, they can purchase additional Drive storage using the existing ordering points, and the higher allowance will continue to be spread across all of these services.
Here's how the change will affect your users:
Each user will have a total of 30GB of included storage that can be used across Gmail, Drive and Google+ Photos.
Users who needed extra storage under the old plans may no longer require it. For example, a Gmail user with just 3GB of email stored will be able to store up to 27GB of files in Drive without a need to license additional storage.
Gmail inboxes are no longer limited to 25GB. Each user can store up to 16TB of email by purchasing additional storage licenses.
As before, when users approach their storage quota, additional storage should be purchased to continue using Drive and Gmail normally.
Also as before, files created in Docs, Sheets and Slides, as well as photos in Google+ smaller than 2048px, won't count against storage quota.
For more information, please take a look at the FAQ and Help Center. And feel free to contact Google Apps support if you have any questions or need further assistance (you can find contact information on the Support tab in your Admin console).

Thank you,
The Google Apps Team

Some amazing Google scripts to start the school year off right.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

All of these are some great free scripts, you can use to automate your classroom and leverage the power of Google Apps in your classrooms.

Flubaroo http://www.flubaroo.com/
Teacher creates a Google Form with multiple choice questions. Students fill out the form (quiz, assignment). Teacher runs Flubaroo to autocratically grade the assignment. Results are presented with some nice data summaries

doctopus http://www.youpd.org/doctopus

Automates creating, sharing, grading and returning work to students via Google Apps.
Make a spreadsheet with your roster, names and email addresses.
Your starting document (handout, quiz, etc...)  Doctopus will use your roster to share a version of your doc with each student, and the link to the student's work will be located in a column of the spreadsheet next to their names. Your students will then receive an email notification that it's ready for them in their drive folder. When the assignment is completed you can stop their editing rights. Then you assign a grade and give feedback in the spreadsheet. The script automates the process of sending out an email to each student containing the grade and the feedback.  (Check out integration with Goobric for creating Rubrics for grading of these assignments.)  Updated: 8-29-13- Read more about doctopus use in the classroom by a Norris teacher. 

autoCrat http://www.youpd.org/autocrat A document merging utility, that allows you to personalize, share and email your templates.

formMule -  http://www.youpd.org/autocrat flexible merged email creator that runs from Google Spreadsheets

gClassFolders  http://www.gclassfolders.com/  creates class folders for students and teachers to simplify and streamline document management.  (Similar to Doctupus?)

Gcal2Excel http://www.gcal2excel.com/
is a free utility application that lets you export your Google Calendar events to Excel files.

WiFli Response http://www.wifliresponse.com/  Own your data a student response system for your Google Drive. (This one is not free, but for $5, it's close!)

Want to learn more about Apps Scripts, and maybe even make your own?  Here are some more resources you may find helpful:

Nice resource on how to write scripts. (For the techy teachers!)

The Hottest Script in Hollywood

Listing of more useful scripts and another list.

Auto Email based on a Google Form response. - Example