DFI - Reflection 2 - Workflow

So many new things learnt today that I will definitely use!

• Google Meet
• Google Keep
• Gmail
• Calendar
• Tidying Tabs
• Embedding a video onto a blog. 

Google Meet

Create via Google Calendar. Up to 250 people can access a Google Meet. 

Lots of etiquette to consider. It is meant for 1:1 use. If multiple people in one room, use headphones. 

Check angle of camera, lighting, hair etc.
It is definitely a good idea to record a meeting to look back on later on. Below is a video of a Google Meet completed today with a colleague. 

Sharing your screen is great. By pushing present screen, it gives you options (whole screen, google tab). Select the screen you want to present. 

 

Google Keep

This is great for making lists and setting reminders. A brilliant part of this is uploading a photo and select 'grab image text.' This copies all of the text for you so you can edit it.
You can use the App to record voice memo reminders. I don't think that you can do this via the computer.

Gmail

It was great to start personalising and organising my Gmail. I have now organised my emails that they show specific labels first. At the top are my important/unread emails, then my emails that I need to follow up come up, then the rest of them. This will help me organise emails better and hopefully remember to reply to specific emails later on. 

Unsend was a great part of Gmail to learn about. I now have 30 seconds to 'unsend' an email if I have been a bit 'send-happy.' 

Calendar

I never quite realised how user-friendly the Google Calendar is. You can colour code multiple calendars and you can select which calendars show on your whole calendar. This will be great to get into the habit of using as I do not always have my diary on me, but I do have my phone on me :).

Tidying Tabs

There are quite a few different options to tidy the many tabs that teachers have on their pages. Many tabs open at once causes a higher use of your battery power. Keeping less open at once is beneficial. 

We looked at:

• One Tab
• Great Suspender
• Tab Snooze
• Toby Mini
• Bookmarks
• Cluster
• Workona

I downloaded the One Tab extension. This moves all tabs on screen into one single table. This is displayed in a list format and you select the list to open all of the tabs. This will be great for digital planning as I have now saved all my planning tabs and titled them 'Weekly Planning.' Each week I can go into One Tab and select this to pull up all of my planning templates to have easier access to them. 

Toby Mini is another great tab organiser as you can share this with others. 

Embedding a video onto a blog

1. from video, select three dots, select open new window. 
2. select three dots, embed item
3. copy code
4. in blogger, select html, paste (can adjust size in here)
5. select compose

Overall another great day at DFI. I have downloaded many of these google apps and created a folder on my phone to try to encourage me to use these. Very keen to use Google Keep for writing reminders. Bring on never forgetting an event again!.......hopefully not wishful thinking!

DFI - Reflection One - Core Business

Today began with a recap of the history of Manaiakalani which was first founded in 2006. Focusing all about the model of Learn, Create, Share.
Today we went through a few different parts of Google Chrome.

• Google Groups
• Chrome
• Folders
• Docs

Google Groups - More collaborative than Google Contacts

This is a collaborative way to share and communicate. It is set up as a sort of blog and you add people to this via a single email address. You set them as either an owner, manager or member. Posts automatically send as emails. If people are added later then they will have access to all of the previous information. You can directly add people (they have no choice to join) or you can select to share invite which will send them an email to join. Sets default so that you do not have to see other email addresses.

Google Chrome - Making this your own

You need to keep your account separate from others by having it up as a whole new web page, not just on a new tab.
Use book marks for easy access. Select -CONTROL- and the number of tab to jump through tabs.
You can customize your Google home page with images.

Drive

Need to keep this well organised! When creating a folder, straight away select a clear title, Adjust permissions so everyone can see it and order this. 

Colour code files. 

Put * at the front of title to be the first one to come up. 

If folder is set to 'anyone can view' then all documents within will automatically be set as the same. 

Docs - Handy Hints

So many cool things that you can do with Docs! 

Handy hints: 

• When copying and pasting on the internet, select 'paste without formating.' This will paste it with the hidden code. 
• By using the title, headings, and table of contents, a large document is much easier to access and navigate. By selecting this the URL changes for each section for people to access. 
• Selecting tools and using Voice Typing is great. Make sure to adjust to the correct language. 
• Adding comments on the side. Add + then persons name to add emails. 
• Use tables to make Docs tidier to view. 
• Use Explore (bottom left) to access internet/drive search without leaving current tab. 

Remove.bg

Great website to remove background to pictures. This makes these much tidier to view and work with!

Thoughts: 

It was interesting to think about getting into the mindset of keep all Docs accessible to others. There is nothing to hide in teaching and it is important to make this accessible to others who want to share it. Sharing a very important part. "It's like teaching with your windows and doors open to protect yourself. 

Reminder to self: recap these new skills later. Practise them so I can remember where to find things and how to work this.