Google Drive and iPad - it never gets dull in the cloud

Are you using an iPad or iPhone and connect from there to Google drive?

(if you are not, some of your students will!)

So far you had only 2 basic options:

- use a browser (such as Chrome) and use the 'desktop' version of Google drive (same as using your laptop)

- use the 'Drive' App on your iPad/Phone (and live with the limitations of cumbersome editing)

Google has changed it's philosophy, and now offers (3 so far) separate apps for accessing and working with 

content in your drive from a mobile platform.

New: Google Drive to view

   and 

   Google Sheets to edit

   Google Docs to edit.

Are we there yet?

Nope, not completely. Of course, we will want to see an App for Google presentation slides (soon!)

and there are still significant differences between the mobile and desktop user experience.

Now, what are some of the improvements with this splitting of Apps?

Commenting:

Now possible, and one can see the workflow in all docs. (Add comments and resolve them)

Working off-line:

Hurrah. Typing and learning in the bus, on the beach, now possible!

Whenever one comes back into a wireless network, files and content will be synced again.

4-Digit passcode:

You can set (and it's recommended!) a 4-digit passcode to protect the contents of your Google Drive folder.

The code can be different on each device you own, giving you the option to - e.g. - secure a device that is also used by your children.

As comments suggest, Google is aiming here to compete better with it's close competitors

(Microsoft with Office 365 in the cloud, and Apple with iWork in iCloud). Separate apps can do

this better, hence the split up of the single Google Drive app. 

An easy trick: How to get rid of unwanted mail messages in Google mail

What to do with unwanted mail (that isn't necessarily spam):

While you can't currently block messages from specific addresses or domains, you can set up a filter to send those unwanted messages directly to Trash.
To set up a filter, follow these steps:
• Click the down arrow in your search box at the top of the page. A window that allows you to specify your search criteria will appear.
• Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, click the search button. Clicking the down arrow again will bring    
          the window back with the same search criteria you entered.
• Click Create filter with this search at the bottom of the search window.
• Choose the action you'd like for these messages by checking the appropriate box. (In this case, I suggest checking "Delete it.")
• Click Create Filter.

Happy filtering . . .

New Google Tips - great videos for key features to each product

https://www.google.com/get/googletips/

As they state: "A fun way of poking around. New cards coming all the time, come back often!"

This is indeed a very nice website, where you can learn more about some features by poking the cards.

Enjoy

How to get rid of unwanted mail messages in Google mail

What to do with unwanted mail (that isn't necessarily spam):

While you can't currently block messages from specific addresses or domains, you can set up a filter to send those unwanted messages directly to Trash.

To set up a filter, follow these steps:

• Click the down arrow in your search box at the top of the page. A window that allows you to specify your search criteria will appear.

• Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, click the search button. Clicking the down arrow again will bring    

          the window back with the same search criteria you entered.

• Click Create filter with this search at the bottom of the search window.

• Choose the action you'd like for these messages by checking the appropriate box. (In this case, I suggest checking "Delete it.")

• Click Create Filter.

Happy filtering . . .

New Statistics in EduBlogs

It gets better all the time! Since April 15 (that's where the statistics gathering started)

Edublogs shows - in an easy way - basic statistics about visitors to a/your blog.

If your students are Edubloggers, then you really should show them these slick visitor statistics.

Go to your dashboard, and select the statistics option (it's pretty new!)

It will show basic (clickable) info about your visitors in total:

And it provides info about views to single pages:

Great feature: Saving your Google Mail and documents from Google Drive

Good news!

It is now possible to save (a copy of) all your Chadwick Mail and Google drive data.

This is great, especially if you are leaving, and just want to keep a copy of all things. After downloading,

you will need to upload the data into a mail application on a laptop, and then you have the local

standard options (search, delete etc.). It can - if you choose - maintain your folder/label structure as well.

As you can see from the screenshot, you can download many other things as well.

Here are the steps involved:

Download a copy of your Gmail data (Mail, Drive data and even more):

Go to your Google account settings, 

find and select Data Tools and continue to select the data you wish to save-keep. 

Mail will be saved in the Mbox format, meaning you could open it easily with Apple Mail (on your laptop) or Outlook (for Windows).

Here is a link with more specific info

Google Drive Data question:

What is the difference with copying the files from Google drive 

(when you sync your drive data from the cloud to your laptop, see screenshot below)?

The data download as described above, will give you readable documents on most platforms.

Meaning, Google Docs will be converted to docs you can read in MS Word, Pages or OpenOffice.

When you would copy the data from your synced Google drive, you maintain the Google document formats

(and that then again means, you can easily upload them again, into another account)

Bottom-line: An excellent new feature that Google offers here, and it might be a time saver for you.

 

Easy blogging for kids with Easy Blogger Junior

❝ Easy Blogging for kids ❞ to Edublogs

Just discovered this - pretty amazing - App (for iPhone, or better iPad) that will make blogging for your young students very easy.

Instead of you doing the work, it's time to hand it over to the students themselves! 

From PreK to  . . . they will master this one with little to no extra help.

The App supports a shared iPad environment, an outstanding feature.

It was developed by 3 fathers/educators, and they have given it a lot of thought. 

The best is to watch the short video that explains all features, you can find it at their homepage:

http://www.theeasyappcompany.com/app/easy-blog-jr/

It will allow your students to pick their name from a gallery, and then they will be guided in simple steps towards creating a blog post.

The App supports pictures, movies and text.

Ready to go for it?

Here is the iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easy-blog-jr/id716354615?mt=8