Did you know Google Photos creates animated gifs from a series of photos you take. Take a few and look at the assistant and you may see a few you didn’t know you had. The assistant will also make stories and movies from photos you have as well as stylize your photos for you. This is a great place to backup your photos. ​

You can keep track of your to do lists or throw in an image to take a note about. On your notes you may set reminders, share them with others and color code them for you to easily find later. ​Google Keep can be used on mobile devices and from your computer. 

Goo.gl is a classic must have Chrome extension. Use this extension to shorten a URL to create a QR code, share a resource on social media or track the hits. ​​

There is so much you can do with Maps! Create your own maps to record events. Check out directions and measure distance between locations. Drop Pegman on a map to take a look around at a location’s street view. ​

Google Sheets is quickly becoming a new favorite of mine because you can look at data in ways you can't when it is just text. The power of collecting information in a form and then adding equations, formulas and graphs to look at the information in a different way. Then sharing it with colleagues in a PLC can add even more great discussion.

Google Add-ons are scripts that make your sheets, docs and forms more powerful. Here are 6 of my personal favorites for you to take a look at: Autocrat (think mail merge to docs on steroids), formMule (email merge with multiple templates), Kaizena (add voice comments and links to a Doc), g(Math) (create math equations and graphs in a Doc), Doctopus (create docs for each of your students) and Flubaroo (quickly grade assignments). 

Google searching is more than just for looking up information. Did you know you can do math conversions, search for copyright free images, check a flight status, define words or check a live sports score? Here are some tips for searching. 

If you find yourself sending the same type of message over and over again, it is a great idea to save the message as a canned response and then you can reuse it!  Go to your Gmail settings and to Labs and enable it first. Then compose your message and go to the bottom right and click on the arrow and you can save your first canned response to reuse.

There is a lot of great content on YouTube. Three that I recommend would be C.G.P Grey (fun quick videos that teach you a lot in a funny quick way), TEDEd (some lessons from the creators of TED), and since we are talking Google how about the Guru (a bunch of Google how tos).

You can set default reminders for every calendar event, but I like to shut that off and add the notifications on each event. I like to have 2 (that's how many times I hit snooze in the morning), but you can add up to five pop-up or email reminders per event. 

This is one of the little things that makes Google docs great. All of the changes are tracked, so you can go to File--> See revision history and see exactly what has been added and by whom. Then there is always the option to restore back to that previous version! Merry Christmas!

There are times when WiFi is just out of range and you still need the ability to access your Google Docs on your iPad. However, with a few easy steps you will be able to use specific docs...

• on the soccer field
• in the car
• in a classroom

...and your content will sync as soon as you are back in WiFi range.  

​It's an easy process, but requires a bit of preparation. Here's what you need to know:

The Google Docs iPad app will work offline when you are creating new documents, but the steps above are required for each existing Google Doc that you want to use offline. You can also repeat these steps with Google Sheets and Google Slides!

~Beth Swantz, Technology Consultant at Grant Wood AEA (@betswan)

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We have all had the chance to attend a PD session or take a class for recertification.  Of course these learning opportunities are valuable and needed, especially in the eyes of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.  But is formalized PD the only option for growing, learning and expanding as an educator? I would argue not.  Within our technology coaches class at GWAEA one of the main charges of the coaches is to provide learning opportunities for their staff to serve as a point of departure to lead into follow-up tech coaching opportunities. Educators need to see ideas or models of how to integrate technology into their classrooms, and those models don't necessarily need to be show via a traditional PD session.  Here are some ideas of how to create professional learning outside of the conventional mediums utilizing technology.

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Keeping a professional blog
A professional blog is a great way to record your learning and exploration for your audience. Irony of irony, I am the worst professional blogger that ever lived, however, several of my colleagues keep amazing professional blogs: Jonathan Wylie's blog is full of useful app/program tutorials, pedagogy ideas, and tips and tricks for using technology in the classroom. The work of the professional blog is twofold: first, it serves as a vehicle for delivering new learning to an audience. Second, it serves as a tool for reflection for the author. Tools that can be used to keep a professional blog include Blogger or Wordpress. 

The Power of Podcasts
At Grant Wood we are experimenting with podcasts as a medium to augment our traditional professional development offerings. The advantage of podcasts are the potential for anywhere, any time listening. You can learn while walking the dog, on your commute to work, or at the gym. The choice is yours. Our podcast, The EdTech Take Out is hosted by Mindy Cairney and Jonathan Wylie. It is aimed at giving educator's bite-sized technology tips that they can use in their classroom today. Check it out on iTunes or in all good podcast players. Learn more here.

Curating resources
In Gayle Allen's new book The New Pillars of Modern Teaching she describes the act of curation as one of the new essential skills for all teachers and learners.  She argues that since we have moved from a world of knowledge scarcity to one of knowledge abundance our job to to teach students (and other teachers) how to curate resources around a topic by applying the 3 S's - scanning, sense making, and sharing.  Scanning means to wade through the vast amount of information that is out there and select only those resources that are valuable to solving a particular problem.  Sense making is arranging the found resources in a logical order or pattern and providing context for the resources, why did you select this particular resource?  Finally, sharing refers to sharing your curated resources with the world.  Tools that can be used to practice curation include Flipboard, Pinterest, Storify, and Symbaloo.

Expanding your PLN
Some of the most engaging an authentic learning can come from expanding your PLN and participating in Twitter chats around a specific topic that you are interested in. If you are new to the Twitter world here is the key difference between a hashtag and a twitter chat.  A hashtag, denoted with the # sign is a way to tag a tweet so it can be organized and searched for. For example, I might use the hashtag #ELAchat to tag tweets that have to do with English/Language Arts. Then folks on Twitter interested in learning more about English/Language Arts will search that hashtag and find all the tweets out there with that hashtag. A twitter chat is a specific time/date during the week that a virtual discussion takes place on Twitter. The format for the discussion is Question/Answer and the discussion is moderated by someone who is active in this only community.  Here is a comprehensive list of educational twitter hashtags and educational twitter chat times (in CST) developed by Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1).

Gina Rogers
Technology Consultant
​GWAEA

Have you heard of We.org?

I heard about this amazing movement and the story behind it in a keynote address by Craig Kielburger, co founder of Free the Children, Me to We and We Day,  at the 2015 iNACOL Symposium.  Kielburger's activism began at the age of 12 - when his 7th grade SS teacher set aside class plans to allow students to follow their passions.  After reading a newspaper article about the death of a 12-year-old labor activist, Kielburger found his passion - to change the world!  From the first fundraising success he has grown his passion to a worldwide organization and event that empowers young people to believe they can make a difference through volunteering both locally and globally.  

So what does that mean for educators?

In his keynote, Craig Kielburger shared his perception of the largest problem facing our world today, the fact that we are "raising a generation of passive bystanders." To change that future he challenged each teacher by naming educators as "the most important people in the world because you have the opportunity to shape the next generation."  Kielburger has gone farther than just challenging educators and schools to impact change. With the help of his organization he has also created tools and procedures to assist in making change happen. 

We.org has two different ways to help.  

1. One branch of their organization is called We Schools. We Schools leads school organizations through the steps of figuring out a local issue to change, taking action, tracking the impact and celebrating.  We Day is a national way to celebrate with students at the completion of their community service.  Students 'buy' their tickets by volunteering.
2. They are also partnering with AP and the College Board to add service work as part of a student's complete academic image. The plan is for AP classes to incorporate service learning into the curriculum to tie classroom learning to real world work. This would be reflected on a student's transcript.

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One final thought

I was challenged to help students see themselves as "problem solvers" rather than a "problem to be solved."  In a time of testing and standards and devices this may be the most important idea we can pass on to the next generation.  Naming a student a problem-solver empowers them to face any situation with the knowledge that they are enough to make change happen.  If we, as educators, succeed with that task - we have truly given back!

~Beth Swantz, Technology Consultant at Grant Wood AEA (@betswan)

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