A great feature has come to the Expeditions App (iOS and Google Play)- augmented reality (a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view.)
When you enter into the Expeditions App, simply select AR and you will be taken to a list of all AR tours. The tours include Coral Reefs, The Spanish Armada, Bridges, Solar System, Bees, The Skeletal System, and many more.
In this post, you will see a week's worth of posts from my site in one post. This week I had some fun with the Google Chrome Music Lab - definitely worth checking out.
Google's Chrome Music Labis a website that makes learning music more accessible through fun.
The site is free and allows for users to experiment with making sound waves, arpeggios, Kandinsky experiment, as well as a Melody Maker.
To see a 2 minute and 1-second YouTube tutorial I created, please click on the embedded video
below.
Google's Chrome Music Labis a website that makes learning music more accessible through fun.
The site is free and allows for users to experiment with making songs, listening to and making rhythms, spectrogram, and chords.
Embedded below is a 2 minute and 17 second YouTube tutorial.
Just today (5/25/18) I noticed in Google Photos on my phone I noticed a Star next to the three dots (upper right). This star allows you to favorite a photo. You can then access your favorited photos by going into your albums and selecting favorites.
This is a nice new feature and will be rolled out over the next few weeks. This option I do not see on my notebook computer.
If you are noticing that for some reason Google Chrome is running slowly, check Chrome's Task Manager. When you do this you will be able to view the processes running inside Google Chrome. In your task manager window you’ll see every open tab along with every enabled extension, the amount of memory and CPU power each is using, and how much network data they’re sending or receiving.
In the newly redesigned Gmail a nice feature is being able to choose a theme for your background (including the ability to add your own personal picture).
If you would like to use Book Creator for Chrome and would like to have a simple way to sign-in (great for younger users as well as those who do not have Google accounts) - try using their QR code generator.
Upon sign-in select your picture (upper-right) and then select QR logins.
Type or paste in the names of your students (you can always add more later) and then print individual or all QR codes at once.
When students log in, make sure they select QR code and allow camera access.
If you have ever found tweets that you would like to go back to, use Twitter's mobile site (either on your mobile device or type in https://mobile.twitter.com/home).
When you find a Tweet you would like to bookmark select the up arrow and then Add Tweet to Bookmarks).
Before you can write emails faster with Smart Compose you will need to Enable experimental access. Once you enable experimental access you willgain early access to features still under development. Google may email you to request feedback on these features. Experimental features may be removed without notice. How to enable experimental access:
select the settings gear
settings
scroll down and check enable experimental access
save changes
Gmail will relaunch
How to enable Smart Compose:
select the settings gear
settings
scroll down to 5th option (Smart Compose)
check Writing suggestions on
save changes
Compose a new email
When you start composing your email, suggestions will come up. If you like the suggestion and would like to use it make sure to select Tab. If you d not like the suggestion, ignore and keep writing.
I have found so far that the option took me a day or so to get accustomed to and the suggestions have been beneficial. However, as Levar Burton would say, "You don't have to take my word for it!" Try it yourself!
Embedded below is a 2 minute and 15 second YouTube tutorial.
I wanted to pass on this week's blog posts. Main ones to point out are Bitmoji in Classroomscreen, Confidential Mode in Gmail, and how to remove the bell in Outlook!
What is really helpful is you will see over 2,000 names that include how many followers and tweets they have. You also can follow an entire list by category.
Adding your bitmoji in Classroomscreen.com just adds that little bit of fun for you and your students. Make sure to add the Bitmoji extension in Chrome and then either copy and drag into a text box of copy and use Ctrl V.
Embedded below is a 42-second YouTube tutorial I created.
If you use Google Photos and would like to quickly and easily create a video out of the photos, try https://photos.google.com/movies/create. You will be presented with an image like you see below.
You can then select the video you would like to create. In the example 1 minute and 22-second video below, I show how to create a Mother's Day video.
Take care and Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there.
Brad
If you have enabled the new Gmail you will see that a new feature is the ability to use confidential mode in Gmail. Confidential mode allows you to send an email that recipients will not have the option to forward email contents, copy/paste, download, nor print. You can also set an expiration date of 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, or 5 years. You can also send an SMS password code if desired.
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 34 second YouTube tutorial from both the sender's and receiver's point of view.
To find out more about Gmail's confidential mode click here. One thing to point out, I did read that if you do not see Confidential Mode - try going under settings and then toggle conversation view to on. I myself did not have to do this - but read a few places that some users did. Not sure why or if this would make a difference - just passing on.
I wanted to pass on this past week's blog posts. I do want to point out that the “Talk to Books” while fascinating (ask it a question and scans 100,000+ books to find an answer) it may not be something you would use with a younger audience. This was something to pass on to you to try.
Wanted to point out that if you are ever frustrated with selecting text in a doc, try double clicking beforehand (to select full words), or triple-clicking to select full paragraphs.
Khan Academy offers the ability to learn about math, art, computer programming, grammar, etc all for free.
The example video I have embedded below goes through the process of creating a teacher account (Google account) as well as using Google Classroom to import your class(es).
If you select Teachers, start here, then select Continue with Google, and then you can add your class. If you do not see the option, select your name in the upper right and then select Coach Dashboard.
When ready select Add new class and a pop-up window will appear. If using Google Classroom make sure to select the Import from Google Classroom button and then select your class.
Once you have selected your class, select the grade (you can skip this but I think you will want to select it), then you can assign the content you would like to.
Make sure to check out the tabs across the top for Content, Assignments, Progress, Activity, Roster, and Settings.
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 53 second YouTube tutorial I created.
The other day my friend and colleague Layla Lyons (great follow on Twitter by the way) shared a way to make photo comparisons using a site known as Juxtapose.
I recommend taking a look at some of the examples that have already been created. The ones of Berlin took my breath away.
The site is very easy to use.
Find 2 pictures that show a comparison
best if taken from the exact same spot
Right click to copy the image address and paste where states URL
Add a tlabel and credit
Select preview
Publish and share
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 19 second YouTube tutorial.
Semantris blocks are very similar to the Arcade version, however, you are presented with words that you need to eliminate. When you eliminate the word you are given a certain number of points. However, take a good look around and make sure that when you enter a clue word it is not similar to another word, An example would be boat. I was going to type in water; however, the term ocean was there as well. So, I typed in an engine and it removed the boat.
If you see a word in a certain color block and there are a lot of other colored blocks - you will want to aim for that word because all of the blocks will be removed, thus gaining you more points.
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 40 second YouTube tutorial I created.
Semantris is a word association game powered by machine learning. The goal of the arcade version is to think fast, type fast, and get as many points as you can. In order to "get points" you will need to enter clues that you think go best with the given word. Each time you enter a clue, the AI looks at all the words in play and chooses the ones it thinks are most related.
The faster you are the more points you will gain.
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 19 second YouTube tutorial showing how this site works.
A big thank you to Steve Wick for sharing this link the other day on his Twitter feed. Embedded below is a 1 minute and 13 second YouTube tutorial I created showing how to use the site.
Today I was asked a question on YouTube dealing with checkboxes in Google Docs and how to get a sum of the total number of checkboxes. Here is how to do it.
Enter into your Google Sheet and select the area that you would like checkboxes to appear
Select Data
Data Validation
Criteria - select the box that states select from range and change the criteria to checkbox
Select use custom cell values (for this example I used 1 for checked and 0 for unchecked)
Select Save
Go back to the sheet and select the boxes you would like checked
Finally, insert a Function (in this case I used sum)
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 9 second YouTube tutorial I created.
A quick reminder that you can search in the Google address bar (also known as the Omibox). A new feature (was previously an experiment) is that many times you will receive an answer to your question in the Omnibox. Please know answers do not always come in the Omnibox but will when you hit enter.
Something to point out is that you can search for experiments in Google Chrome by typing in chrome://flags and then searching for some features to help make Chrome "better".
One experiment to check out is the ability to add Favicons (think pictures companies have to represent them). To add the Favicons type in Favicon and add the Omnibox UI Show Suggestion Favicons. You will need to relaunch Chrome in order for the Favicons to show.
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 18 second YouTube tutorial.
