Quick Google Tips from #METC15: Drive, Docs, & Calendar

In my last post I listed some of my favorite Google things from #METC15 a few weeks ago. Today, I'd like to share some specifics. 

The following tips and tricks were presented in the "Google Like a Ninja" session led by Greg Lawrence (@greglawrence) and Michael McCann (@mccann1776), two Google Certified Teachers and instructional technology coaches in the Wentzville School District. Their "Google Ninja Showdown" slideshow is shared here, though it only lists what they demonstrated. Their presentation was a live demo in Google Apps, a showdown of rounds in each app with the audience voting on a winner (when they could connect to the internet, that is).

DRIVE - Force your students to COPY a file to their drive:

Sharing docs in Drive via a shareable link is a lifesaver for many of us. I love that uploading a document to Drive and using that link on Moodle lets me edit or update the file for a new school year without the multi-step process of uploading it to Moodle again. 

If I want every student to have her own copy of the file to edit (a worksheet, for example), but don't want all of my students to edit MY copy, I can follow these steps to simplify things in class when they need to access the file:

1. In Drive, access the file you want to share (you can open it or simply select the file within drive)
2. Click the SHARE button 
3. Click "Get shareable link" and change the sharing settings to "anyone with the link" and "can view" or "People at [your organization] with the link can view" 
4. Click the COPY LINK button or "Get Shareable Link" to copy the URL to the clipboard
5. Click Done
6. Go to the website, doc, email, or wherever you want to post your link
7. Paste the URL into the space
8. Note where the word "edit" is in the sharing URL:
   
9. Replace the word "edit" with "copy" in the URL 
10. When your students click the link, they will be prompted with this screen: 
    
11. Students click the MAKE A COPY button and the file is now saved in their Drives

DOCS - Use "Replace with" codes for grading comments:

A simple tip for giving feedback in a Google Doc was to create your own special codes that Google recognizes and replaces with longer text. Helpful for those commonly used phrases when grading papers. In TurnItIn, we make them QuickMarks (or they are provided in the pre-made sets). This is a way to create a version of those marks in Google Docs.

1. Open a Google Doc
2. Under Tools, click on Preferences, which will show you this pop-up window: 
   
3. You can see some of the commonly "replace with" codes. Add your own! Some examples:
   
4. Use these codes when adding feedback for your students... but only in the body of the document. I thought our presenters said you could use the "replace with" feature in comments, but I cannot get them to work... I find that to be a bummer. Hopefully you can find other ways to use custom "replace with" options.

CALENDAR - Share attachments with your events:

I guess I never paid attention to the "Add attachment" option when editing the details of an event on Google Calendar before METC. Now that I'm a Google Ninja, though, I'm loving it. I see this as a great tool for my teachers who put their assignments on a Google Calendar that is embedded in their Moodle page (CJ teachers - I'd love to help you do this!). If they store their homework files (reading assignments, worksheets, project descriptions, etc.) in Google Drive and share them from there anyways, this is a great option. Also great for having people sign up for time slots for conferences, to bring food to an event, etc.

1. Make sure you have the appropriate sharing settings applied to the Doc/Sheets/Slides/etc. file you are attaching
2. Open your calendar
3. Create your event or choose a previously existing one and click "Edit Event"
4. On the event details page, click "Add attachment" next to Attachment (about halfway down the page, just above the Event color choices)
5. Choose a file you already have in your Drive or click Upload to add a file from your computer
6. Click the SELECT button
7. The file name shows up next to "Attachment" on the event details page
8. Click the red SAVE button at the top of the page
9. Now when students view the event on the calendar and click "more details", the attachment will appear as a link in the window

Stay tuned for more #METC15 sharing - Google and beyond!

Turn it in to TurnItIn in Moodle

Nothing makes me happier at work than a teacher getting more excited than me about something in technology. Last Thursday was a really happy day for me.

After a few weeks of silly errors and issues, I finally had our new TurnItIn Moodle Direct integration ready to deploy and was playing around with a TurnItIn rubric when a teacher looked over my shoulder and asked if she could watch what I was doing. This prompted me to explain my latest project - encouraging more people to use our TurnItIn subscription by letting them use TurnItIn from within Moodle. And her response was my favorite kind. Excited about this new prospect, she went directly back to her desk and not only created her own first TurnItIn assignment in Moodle, complete with grading form, but also told the rest of her PLC right away. And got THEM excited for it.

I thought I was going to have to beg people to try this. Apparently not.

So why do this? 

The reasons to use TurnItIn are numerous. Paperless assignments, originality checking, online grading, digital portfolios, and data collection are a few. Since I started using TurnItIn ten years ago, I have seen vast improvements to the GradeMark program, especially the new Grade Anything platform that allows teachers to grade any kind of file, presentation, performance, etc within GradeMark. The iPad app is something I would have loved eight years ago when I was lamenting my decision to collect essays only via TurnItIn, but was headed for a twelve hour car ride with no internet connection - with the iPad app, you don't need an internet connection once you sync a set of assignments. Easy. Lovely.

Now it's even easier to use here at CJ. No need for teachers or students to log into another account to use the main features of TurnItIn. For everyday use, they can simply create and upload assignments via Moodle... which is an essential part of almost every class here. Logging into TurnItIn will still be useful to gather data from GradeMark Reports, but it isn't necessary every day, nor is it needed by the students. 

From the reaction I've gotten from just a few teachers, I'm thinking this will be a good thing.

Resources:

• TurnItIn's Moodle Direct page containing...
• Instructor Manual
• Student Manual
• Training Videos
• FAQ
• TurnItIn Product Demonstration Videos

Giving Video a Trim

This morning a colleague wanted to insert an online video into her PowerPoint presentation. But not just a video - an excerpt from a video. This led me down a few roads of exploration, just to verify what I thought I knew...

Source of the video - Uh oh...
I love YouTube. I can find a tutorial for just about anything on it. Teachers can find videos on just about anything on there. It's a great resource.  However, waiting for videos from YouTube to buffer in the middle of a lesson can be tedious, I know. And since our teachers switch classrooms all the time, it's tough to have everything set up and buffered ahead of time for each class. So downloading videos from YouTube is tempting. But is it allowed?

No. Not according to YouTube (owned by Google). The terms of service state...

5. Your Use of Content

In addition to the general restrictions above, the following restrictions and conditions apply specifically to your use of Content.

1. The Content on the Service, and the trademarks, service marks and logos ("Marks") on the Service, are owned by or licensed to YouTube, subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights under the law.
2. Content is provided to you AS IS. You may access Content for your information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the Service and as permitted under these Terms of Service. You shall not download any Content unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content. You shall not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or the respective licensors of the Content. YouTube and its licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to the Service and the Content. (highlighting emphasis mine)

My quick research shows that people will debate until they are blue in the face whether or not you will get in trouble for downloading videos from YouTube. Me? I'm just going to leave you with the above policy and move on to explain how to manipulate videos and clip them using videos from Vimeo that are licensed under Creative Commons if I need an example.


Downloading the video...
The internet abounds with free video converters. Some are web-based, others involved downloading software. One that I've had installed on my computer for a while is YTD Video Converter (yes, the YT stems from YouTube). I learned about it from our Computer Applications teachers, then found it to download and a write-up about it from CNET, which I generally trust.

Downloading is quick, installing is easy, and it's simple to use. Copy and paste the URL for your video into the box in the Download tab, make a few selections, click Download, and your video is headed your way.  

One warning: When installing, make sure to click "Custom Install" and remove the check marks next to all the lovely options about a toolbar and resetting your home page, etc. Unless you like those surprises. Then on the next install screen, click "No Thanks" when asked about installing something else that I can't recall. Sneaky. Very sneaky. 

Trimming the video...
We are on PCs here, so Movie Maker is standard issue on our image. I know it can be bulky, that people who work with video editing all the time don't love it, but for this purpose, it works.

When you open Movie Maker, you have a blank slate, ready for you to add video or image files. Easy enough. Click on either of the areas highlighted in the image below and select the file you just downloaded:

After you add your video, Movie Maker takes a few minutes to process the video. Be patient. If it's a long video, take the time to get a cup of coffee, grade a few quizzes, or search Twitter for something fun like #edtech.

For this project, you only need one tool in Movie Maker: the Trim tool. You will find it in the "Edit" ribbon, which only appears as part of "Video Tools" once you insert a video file.

The Trim tool is simple to use. Choose where you want your clip to begin and end, down to one hundredth of a second. Click "Save trim" and you are good.

Almost.


Saving the trimmed video...

The most important part of saving a Movie Maker project is in HOW you save it. I had a group of students figure this out about five minutes before their final project was due in my Literature in the Cinema class a few years ago. Clicking the "File" menu in Movie Maker presents you with a few options and

• "Save Project" & "Save Project As" - use these if you are in the process of manipulating your video and need to take a break. It saves your work as a .wlmp file. This will not play in video software (QuickTime, Media Player, etc.). Think of it as a folder containing all of the video clips, images, and sound clips you want in your video, along with instructions for how to play them.
• "Publish Movie" - want to send your finished product directly to the web? This is a quick way. Chose from Vimeo, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc.
• "Save Movie" - CHOOSE THIS if you want to save a video file to your computer so you can embed it into a presentation, email it, show it from your hard drive, burn to a DVD, etc. 

Embedding the video...

This is the easiest part.  Piece of cake. Open your PowerPoint file and insert a new slide. If you choose the common "title and content" layout, the icon is there waiting for you to insert a video. Just click on the video icon in the middle of the blank space: 

Another way to add a video is to select the "Insert" ribbon, then select "Video" waaaay over to the right side of the ribbon (I almost missed it) and click "Video on my PC" to select your file.

Done. These details/instructions actually make it seem to take longer than it really does. Maybe that's just the process of typing them amidst Monday interruptions. Oh well. Good luck!