Google News for Primary Source Documents

Google has been listening to teachers

Google Classroom Updates

Many new changes have been rolled out in the last couple of months that have made Classroom even better in its second year.  While debate still continues about whether or not Classroom is a Learning Management System (LMS) or just a Content Management System (CMS), few could refute that it is the best tool for working with Google Docs with your students. With the new features added this year, it is getting easier to manage assignments, assess students and engage them in discussions.

Assignments:

Move to the top of the stream - for those assignments that last many days or weeks and you need to bring it back to student's attention, you can now move a post to the top of the stream.  If you have a very active Google Classroom with lots of assignments, posts and discussions, important assignments can get

Calendar:

Now you have two ways to view and share assignments.  Whether a student or teacher, you can view the calendar view of just one class or all of your class assignments either within classroom or in your Google Calendar.  There is a separate google calendar created for each class.  The added bonus for this is that you can then embed a google Calendar on your website for a public view of the assignments due for your class.  This way parents can see what their child has due without giving them special access to the online classroom.  The only drawback for those who also want to post class notes and presentations is that the only things that go on the calendar are assignments which have due dates. 

Reuse Posts:

While you could always post assignments and announcements to multiple classes at the same time, there are times that you may need to either repost a similar assignment on a regular basis or want to use a post from a shared class as an assignment in your own class.  Now you have the option to re-use a an assignment or announcement to help save some time.

Questions:

Checking for understanding, exit tickets, Do Now's, class discussions, and the list goes on...  This is one of my favorite new features in Classroom.  This adds a more interactive aspect to Google Classroom allowing for more student-student discussions.  This is also a good tool for formative assessment.  

Posting Forms:

Now when you post just a Google Form to an assignment, Google Classroom will mark that assignment "done" for students when they complete the form.  WooHoo!  Now you can track your students completion of quizzes right within Google Classroom.

Check back again for more (hopefully more timely) updates on what it new with Google Apps and many other tools.

Plickers has added a new feature!!!

One of our biggest complaints about using Plickers in different core areas was the fact that you could not include images: an important feature to engaging our students.  

Well, Plickers heard us loud and clear and have added this new feature to their program.  We are very excited about this update, and hope you find this to be a more useful tool when building it into your classrooms!

CheckItOut Add-on for Google Forms

CheckItOut is an Add-On for Google Forms that can be used for checking in and out items within your classroom, a library, sports equipment, and more.  

CheckItOut creates one or  more question sets.  The first question is used to log the items that are IN, and the other is for items that are already checked OUT.   Each time someone fills out the form, the selected items are moved between the two questions.   This allows a for a very easy check in/out form, and allows you to keep track of what devices and items are being used, and by whom.   Alternate questions can be added to a question set so that you can capture any information that you would like from the Google Form. CheckItOut questions can be in the form of Multiple-Choice, List, or Checkboxes.  

If you don't let anyone check things out of your room, or leave your control, then perhaps you would also like one of the other new Add-Ons for Google Forms.  

Form Publisher is a useful tool that generates documents from the Form responses.  It takes an existing template (a Google doc or spreadsheet), makes a copy of it and replace markers by answers from the form submission.  This site has a full explanation of how to use markers while using the Form Publisher Add-On.

Both of these Add-Ons provide incredible functionality and open up a whole new world of opportunities for using Google Forms. 

More updates to Google Classroom- Listening to Teachers

The developers at Google have been listening to feedback from teachers regarding changes they would like to see in Google Classroom.  Since their management system has been built out of the direct requests from educators, their latest addition comes out of pure necessity.  That said, you can now collaborate as co-teachers in Google Classroom, as well as save your assignments and announcements in draft form, for later use.  This is great news!


Co-Teachers
Co-Teachers can be invited to your Classroom under the ABOUT menu in your dashboard.  When invited to your class, co-teachers have the ability to post announcements, assignments, and provide feedback, comments, and grades to any students on the roster.  This new feature allows for collaboration between teachers, but also between teachers and  their students.  Differentiated classes can now be created based on different student needs.

Saving Assignments as Drafts
Sometimes you just don't have the time to start and finish your assignment in one sitting.  Now you can prepare you assignments ahead of time and your draft will be saved for whenever you like. This also allows your new co-teachers to add information to an assignment before it is posted for the class.  Similar to Google Docs, your information is saved as you go, but rather than clicking "Assign", you have a new option of "Save Draft".
*Please note that you are NOT able to post-date your lessons into Google Classroom to have them automatically appear on a date in the future. 

New Updates to Google Classroom Make it That Much More Compelling

For those of you that have been using Google products for a while, it comes as no surprise that they still live by the entrepreneurial mantra of "Iterate Fast and Release Often." There have been numerous times that I have been training on a Google Apps Product and found that one or more tools have changed within the last week. In fact last week I told teachers that they couldn't have a different first-page header on their research paper in Google Docs only to find this week that they have added that option! So it also goes with Google Classroom They have released new changes to Google Classroom nearly every month since its first launch in August. All of these changes are driven by user feedback, so if you have suggestions, feel free to click the feedback button in the lower right hand of your Google Classroom screen and suggest away. Here are a few of the most recent and the most impactful changes they have made:

Personalized Theme

Don't like the selections of themes available on Google Classroom? Want to use pictures of your students to make it feel that much more inviting to them to participate? Well now you can. This animated gif shows how:

iOS & Android Apps

They have recently come out with apps for both Apple and Android and have subsequently made some changes to make it easier to use.  Now you can upload photos, videos, and other files for announcements right on your phone or tablet.  However, you still can't create an assignment from there - hopefully, that feature will be coming soon.  Until then, the new apps make it easier for students to use Google Classroom on the go.

Invite Students using Google Groups

If you already have a Google Group set up for your class, you can now use that group to invite students to Classroom. And if your school uses tools like School Directory Sync, your Google Apps administrator can sync your school’s class rosters from your student information system (SIS) into Google Groups, helping you use these groups to set up a class in seconds.

Mark Assignments as "Done"

If you are assigning offline work for students to do, it is very frustrating to have students assignments hanging out there incomplete or requiring them to submit something in order to remove it from their list of assignments that need attention.  They have added the feature of marking an assignment "Done" to facilitate that.

Control the Flow

Now teachers have the ability to give students permission to either post or comment in the stream and can block students who are violating your class rules.  Furthermore, you have the ability to see previously deleted messages giving you true omnipotence in your online classroom, as well as the physical one.  

Grade Export

Recognizing that many teachers use other electronic gradebooks, Google has given teachers the option to export all of their grades for all assignments, not just one at a time.  This is a big time saver for those that do use other programs like Engrade, Learnboost or others.

Sorting It All Out

It may seem like a small issue, but being able to only sort by last name or by first name is frustrating.  Now you can sort your students by either. 

While there are other features we would like to see, Google has been making headway in addressing users concerns.  If you have not tried Google Classroom yet, you are missing the single best Learning Management System for working with Google Docs.  

Copyright at the Core

Copyright at the Core

Copyright has been around in the United States since 1790, when it was signed into law by President George Washington. The law existed before that in Great Britain since the Licensing of the Press Act of 1662, and the British Statute of Anne (1710) further alluded to individual rights of the artist. The concept, however, is even older. In recent days, however, it has fallen out of the forefront of people’s minds, especially in the case of teachers when it comes to students’ assignments.

With the coming of the new Common Core New York State standards, students are asked to publish their writing starting in third grade, for example:

W.3.6. With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

W.4.6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

W.5.6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

W.6.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

As one can see, the standards are there, and the expectations are clear. What is not covered is the appropriate way to illustrate published writing. Too often, images are copied from a Google image search, and no mention of ownership is ever addressed. Many companies have exercised their rights. There is a difference in opinion between what “fair use” entails, and what the law stipulates, and the Internet has further complicated matters, making content more easily attainable. Students and teachers alike feel that if it’s out there, they can use it, but a company can object to their imagery being used without permission, and could legally challenge people with a lawsuit.

Here is a useful video schools can use to help articulate the basics of copyright for teachers and students. While the video is geared towards higher education, it can easily be applied to K-12 too. http://www.copyright.com/content/cc3/en/toolbar/education/resources/copyright_on_campus.html

Copyright law is quite specific, and the rules are black and white, but the use of materials is gray. One solution to this growing concern is Creative Commons, a not for profit organization that allows use of their content in a simpler, easier way. There is, therefore, a resource that teachers and students can use to find copyright-friendly images that they can use without fear of reprisal. Here is a link to the Creative Commons search on their site: http://search.creativecommons.org/

Let’s be clear, however: you must be sure to always read the fine print! People think if you find an image on Wikipedia, that it’s free to use. While that is sometimes true, it is not always the case. Ever so often, an image is classified as “Some Rights Reserved” just to muddy the waters further. An example of the attribution information is below:

It is also important for teachers and students who use Creative Commons materials to give credit when credit is due. Attribution is almost always required by those who license their work in such a manner. Many times the owner of the work will provide the citation or details as to how they would like the attribution to be displayed. If this information is not provided, websites like EasyBib.com provide a template for images and digital media for students to complete for the citation to be generated.

"Credit Is Due : Nina Paley : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive."Internet Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2015.

So what is a teacher to do? For one, be careful. When in doubt, don’t use it! And if you want to be sure you’re safe, use a free photo archive. Here are more links for copyright free/friendly links and links to lesson plans:

Copyright Lesson Plans 

Teaching Copyright - http://www.teachingcopyright.org/

Media Education Lab - http://mediaeducationlab.com/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education

Copyright Friendly Images

Morgue File - http://www.morguefile.com/archive/

The World Images Kiosk - http://worldimages.sjsu.edu/

Pics4Learning - http://pics4learning.com/ 

Image Base - http://imagebase.net/

Public Domain Archive - http://publicdomainarchive.com/

Pixabay - http://pixabay.com/ 

Public Domain Video Clips

FedFlix - https://archive.org/details/FedFlix