Tech Implementation

Tech Implementation

One of my favorite tech blogs is published by Brenham ISD. Their tech integration team always has pertinent and timely posts. At the end of July they posted some awesome advice on tech integration. Moving into the fourth week of school, the advice seems timely to share.

You know how you go to workshops and do professional reading over the summer, and you come back to school with tons of new ideas that you want to implement in the classroom? And then school starts and all those ideas seem to move into the background as the reality of keeping up with the every day things kicks in.  If that sounds familiar, click HERE to access Brenham ISD's post. Bottom line: Try one new thing and do it well. Then move on to another. Over time, you'll see big changes.

Need to put together a quick slide show? Try Photo Gallery by Awesome Table

1. Put all the photos into a single folder in Google Drive.
2. Open up Google Sheets and add the add-on Photo Gallery by Awesome Table
3. Access the add-on in the add-on list and select Create/Edit a photo Gallery
4. Click the blue button Use an Existing Album
5. Select the folder with your pictures and follow the instructions on the screen.
6. You will be able to view your slide show in Google Slides in just minutes. You may need to adjust some of the cropping, but this add-on truly makes creating a Google Slide presentation quick and easy.

Longing for the more advanced editing features of Powerpoint? Once your Slide file is ready, download it as a Powerpoint presentation, and continue editing on a PC or Mac. I love it when you can access the best features of each platform and make them work together to make something awesome!

Google Slides or Google Docs? How do I choose which is the best tool for the job?

Last week when I was at BHS, one of the teachers expressed her frustration in trying to create name tags in Google Docs. I can relate! As awesome as Google Docs is, it lacks many of the features that Microsoft Word users are accustomed to using.

But, Google Slides has some of those features that Google Docs lacks, like ordering images on top of each other and layering a text box over an image.

So, if you're trying to use your Google-ness to do visual design, try opening a Google Slides file, click on  FILE and Page Set Up to customize the page size to 8.5 x 11 (portrait) or 11 x 8.5 (landscape) and add your text and images. Works like a charm. Need something a bit fancier? Download a template from SlidesCarnival.