Google Tips for Teachers from OHS inservice

Google for Education
Katie Morrow, Google Certified Teacher

The “Google Gamut” by Kern Kelly.
Listen and watch this 20 min. overview of all things Google:
http://k12online.wm.edu/k12online08gs03.m4v

Google Apps for Education
We used this free service of Google to create modified google accounts for all our 7-12 students. This login gains them access to Mail, Docs, and several other great features, but does not allow them access to all of Google’s tools.

What students need to know to use Student Google accounts at OHS
Use the button off the high school webpage (OPS Google)
Login with fullname (firstnamelastname-- no spaces, no caps)
You may need to sign in to Mail and Docs separately, but otherwise you are ready to go!

Create your teacher account
For full access, I recommend that you (the teacher) create your own fully functioning Google account by following the simple steps provided at this link:
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=ddv3h8rs_83dg5c6sfk

GMail
Another great service of Google is gmail, with which you can use with the Mail program on the Mac. Even if you don’t give out your gmail address, having an extra email is handy, and you can at the very least use it to send out messages while at home (ESU mail doesn’t send out at home.) Sign up for this as well, if you desire.

“Even More”
Go to Google.com, click on “More,” then click on “Even More”
It is quite obvious the extent of Google’s presence on the web. So much more than just a search engine! And most important of all... it is all free!

“Favorites for the Classroom”

#1 - Google Docs
Collaborative documents (word processing docs, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms) that you can store online and invite other people to edit with you.

#2 - Blogger
Create your own blogs.

#3 - Google Maps
Driving directions and collaborative maps that all can add points of interest on.

#4 - Google Earth and Google Sketchup
Must download and install, but then you can create 3 dimensional models and look at the earth from a 3-D perspective.

“Search Better. Faster.”
Just by clicking on “Advanced Search” or entering an extra operator into your search query, you can vastly improve your searching ability. Try some of the following:
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/06/20-tips-for-more-efficient-google.html

And more and more resources for getting started with Google for Education:
Google For Educators: http://www.google.com/educators/index.html (Reproducibles for use with your students)
Tutorials for Educators: http://kevin.jarrett.googlepages.com/home2 and http://cpultzlps.googlepages.com/googleappsforyourclassroom-neta2008