It was interesting to hear the back story of Manaiakalani. I have been in my present job for 12 months, previous to that I was in a school that was not involved.
The 'Learn, Create, Share' pedagogy is something I am very interested in and would like to strengthen this is my school. I would like it to become the way we work and be visible.
I have never been a big user of Google Docs. I stuck to what I knew, word, etc. I now feel much more confident with Docs. I have learned to use extensions and add-ons.
- Talk and Comment
- Anyone can view
- Doc to Form
- MindMeister
- Word Cloud Generator
I really liked the formatting, using headings and title, I think I will use this a lot for Board reports and other things.
Google Groups is another tool I found interesting. I have set up a group for my staff and board and will set up another for a PB4L group I belong to. This seems to be a very easy way to not only share information but keep track of that information as well.
Some of the short cuts we learned today were great.
- Command shift T - brings back a tab
- Command shift Z - to make an alias and shift to the top level of the drive
- Command shift V - only copies the text - this is a favorite
- Adding a number in front of a folder name means it will always be at the beginning of the list of folders in my drive - another favourite, means I don't have to go searching for folders I use all the time.
I learned about voice typing, how to change it to recognise an NZ accent. I have learners at school that I think this will work really well for. I like the explore feature, that it can explore the web, images and also my drive. This will be really handy when working on strategic plan documents, I think.
I have a teacher that did the DFI last term, now that I am working through it I will be able to help him to implement these things in his classroom.
- Voice Typing
- Version History - being able to label and name different versions of the same doc will be handy
- Highlighting text and being able to ask questions and direct these at individuals and getting the students to ask questions of each other.
A very simple thing that is already making things easier is to take the text away from the bookmarks bar. Now it only shows the icon, this means I can see all the bookmarks I have and for me has made it more useable.
It was great to see you at the DFI Mandy. Your honest blog shows a real enthusiasm to learn any new tricks that will help you in your profession. It will certainly be a real asset working with the teacher who has already been to DFI and getting things up and running in your school. I wonder what you will go away with next week?
ReplyDeleteLots fo great learning today. Your post is very informative and will be good for you to remember all the fantastic tips we learnt. It is wonderful to see you on the 'learn, create, share' journey with us both as a school and leader.
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