Tech Tips
Issue 18
This Tech Tip will look into the many uses of Google in the classroom. I am sharing the list below (25 Ways Google Can Help You Become A Better Teacher) to remind teachers of all Google can do. I did not create the following list, but wanted to share it with others. It came from the blog www.TeachThought.com.
25 Ways Google Can Help You Become A Better Teacher:
- Identify YouTube channels to provide daily writing prompts, activity modeling, and out-of-the-box content area expertise that students find interesting.
- Use Google Drive for cloud-based storage.
- Aggregate videos for learning via a YouTube channel.
- Use Google Search to identify exemplars of project-based learning, blended learning, or mobile learning.
- Source curricula, apps, and other pedagogical tools.
- Find curated collections of resources currently tucked away in the dark recesses of some obscure web page using expert keyword search tactics—gold mine!
- Use Google Search to find new professional opportunities as your education interests and expertise in education evolve.
- Have students analyze emerging cultural trends using Google Trends.
- Use Google Search to see how what other schools are doing in regards to BYOD policies, technology in the classroom, or unpacked and prioritized Common Core academic standards.
- Have students use a combination of YouTube and Google Drive to save digital portfolios.
- Communicate with learners and families via Google+.
- Use Google Reader to create a feed of your ten favorite blogs as a persistent source of learning resources.
- Have students trace a fictional character’s journey through Google Earth.
- Have students manage and communicate project-based learning work on Google Calendar.
- Sync your browser tabs, search history, and extensions between devices with Google Chrome sync.
- Use Google Search to locate PD conferences.
- Hangout with author experts via Google+ Hangouts—and have students do the same.
- Have students collaborate and published work to closed circles of peers on Google+.
- Download learning Android apps from Google Play.
- Use Google Drive to respond to student writing via comments, or collaborate real-time with distance learners.
- Join Google+ communities and participate in a persistent professional learning community.
- Find webinars, eLearning courses, and other professional development resources to self-direct your own educator training.
- Source MOOCs to extend the learning of students.
- Use Google Scholar to review research on learning trends and strategies.
- Use Google Search to find a blog–like teachthought.com–to do all of the above for you.
