New: Changing Font Styles in Google Forms

 I love Google Forms.  Really love Google Forms.  

When I was still teaching in the classroom, I used Google Forms for both formative and summative assessments all the time.  I loved how Forms would give immediate feedback to my students.  And with the Equatio add-on, I could even use math symbols (which is huge if you are a math teacher).

Now Forms has given me reason to fall in love with it all over again.  With its most recent update, you can now change your font styes for your questions.  Here is a quick video of how to do this:

Mote

 Have you heard of Mote?  It is a free (although there is a paid version as well) voice recording Chrome extension for Docs, Sheets, Slides, and now Forms.  To add Mote, go to the Chrome Web Store and search for Mote.  The direct link is here.  

With the free version, you get:

• Unlimited voice notes
• 30 second limit for recordings
• No transcription

Just click "Add to Chrome".  After you add Mote, click on the puzzle piece 

then click the picture beside Mote to pin it to the extension bar.  

Here is the overview from the developer:

Welcome to Mote: the Chrome extension that lets you easily add voice comments and audio content to shared documents, assignments, emails and forms.

Mote is integrated into Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms and Classroom - and Gmail - for easy recording and playback. 

You can also create voice notes for any website or application directly from our Chrome extension menu - simply click on the browser icon to access our 'Motepad' recorder."

Here are some videos that show Mote in action.

Using Mote in a Google Doc:

Using Mote in a Google Form:

Using Mote in Canvas:

Google Meet Updates

 Google listens.  Really! They do.  They are actually very good at reading through all feedback and making changes that people want in their products.

This past spring when most divisions went all virtual and as schools have continued to have a virtual part to their programs, Google has been listening to the feedback from teachers for some of their products that have become indispensable in this new age we are living in.

One of those products that wasn't used too much prior is Google Meet.  Educators quickly found weak points in Google Meet that were causing all sorts of issues when they were trying to run their classroom or communicate with students in a virtual format.

Teachers made suggestions ...... Google listened.  Because of this, we have had some pretty significant changes to Google Meet in the past month with more changes coming.

Here are some of the new features:

Host controls

When you start a named Meet or open one through Google Classroom, you may notice a new icon in the lower-left corner where the name of the Meet is.

When you click on the blue shield with a lock you will get a list of host controls.

We can now:

• enable or turn off screen sharing for students
• turn off the ability for students to use the chat feature (not individually, we allow or turn it off for everyone)
• disable anonymous joining
• have those not invited made to ask to join

Blur background

This one is cool.  There are some students who may be uncomfortable joining a Meet where people can see what is in the environment behind them.  Participants in a Meet can now blur their background. When participants click on the 3 dots in the lower right hand of their screen, there is a list of new options, including blur background.

Additional layout options

In the same menu, there has always been the option to change the layout of the Meet so you can spotlight the speaker, have a sidebar, or a tiled view.  Now, we can customize the tiled view.  We can set how many different participants we would like to see in the tiled view.

Jamboard and Meet (whoo hoo!!!!!)

The other week, I shared out Gail Moore's blog post about Jamboard (Google's interactive whiteboard app).  Jamboard has now been integrated into Meet so a Jam can be started from the Meet itself.  What a great way to deliver instruction and have students participate as well.  Just click on the 3 dots in the lower left and select "Whiteboard open a Jam".

We can start a new Jam or open one previously created in Drive.

If we start a new one, then the Jam will automatically be named with the same name as the Meet.

As always, we can still record our Meets and if we want, we can even cast our Meet (if we have a device with a Chromecast) to a larger screen.

These are some super awesome new features in Meet!!!  Let me know what you think!

You've got this!

 I thought I would blog about something a little different this week.  We have spent the past 4 weeks getting ready for our kiddos, whether face to face, hybrid, or completely remote.  We have been trepidatious, determined, confident, and terrified.  We have laughed, been shell shocked, and we have cried.  Sometimes all of these in one day.  And now here we are, getting ready to welcome our kids back in some form or another.  You've got this.  Whether you think so or not, you have absolutely got this.

I wanted to share something I ran across on Facebook this week:

I remember back 23 years ago to an evening just like this one.  I was a fresh-faced brand new teacher straight out of college.  I had been hired for my first teaching position.  I was hired to teach 8th grade math (not my favorite subject, but ..... ok), computer applications (I could do this. Word. PowerPoint. No problem), and Advanced Web Page Design (coding using HTML .......WHAT!!??).  

I had no experience coding.  How was I going to teach a room full of (technically talented) kids how to code web pages.  I was terrified.  This was a brand new elective.  I couldn't just ask the previous teacher what she did because there was no previous teacher.  

So, I marched myself straight to the bookstore and bought myself an HTML coding book.  Remember, this was 23 years ago.  I couldn't just YouTube or Google how to do this.  Then I sat down and started reading.  That first year I was literally ONE WEEK ahead of the kids.  I would learn it, then teach it to them the next week.  And you know what?  It was wonderful.  Did everything I wanted to do work?  Of course not!  Did I have major meltdowns?  You bet!  But I learned that year.  I learned a lot.  And the kids taught me just as much as I taught them.

Sitting back all this time later, it is easy to forget how much of a struggle that one class was that first year.  It actually ended up being the class that was my most favorite out of all the classes I have ever taught.   So even though I will not be in the classroom with you this year navigating Canvas with students, I know what you are going through.  I was terrified of that course.  I just knew those kids would see right through me and know that I was a total fake.  But they didn't.  They learned, I learned, and we all had fun (not every minute was fun, but overall I had a great time teaching that class).  

Just remember, these kids don't know anything about Canvas.  This whole situation is completely new to them as well.  They are not going to know if you don't know what you are doing.  Just be confident and roll with it.  And listen to them.  They will probably end up teaching us a thing or two as well.  They've got this.  You've got this.  And I've got your back.  Reach out to me at any time with any technical question and I will help you work through it.  

It's going to be a great year!