February 2025 - Instructional Technology Newsletter

Long Time, No See.

As many of you know, I've been using and providing training for the various tools in the Google Education space for many years. There has been a significant shift lately in how Google is approaching their current tools and new tools that they are either acquiring or developing; AI is everywhere. Many of the recent updates to Google tools have been along the lines of "use Gemini in [insert Google app name] to do [a useful task that AI can do now]." In fact, last spring one of my blog posts was dedicated to the subject. You may recall the AI-pril 2024 - Instructional Technology Newsletter. In this newsletter I would like to bring your attention to the many new ways that Google is implementing AI into its workspace tools.

Google Gemini

Google has made some recent improvements to the generic Gemini app. The main improvement is the addition of Gemini "Gems." Gemini Gems are custom versions of Gemini that you can create to help you with specific tasks or provide expertise in certain areas. You can think of them as specialized assistants that you can tailor to your needs. For example, you could create a Gem that helps you translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, or answer questions about a particular topic. You can even upload files to give your Gem more context and make it even more helpful. Here is the link to my Gemini Tutorial playlist on YouTube.

Google Classroom AI

Google Classroom offers a suite of AI-powered tools designed to streamline tasks and enhance the learning experience. Teachers can leverage AI to generate lesson plans, craft engaging hooks to capture student interest, and create quizzes aligned with their instruction. Additionally, AI can assist in re-leveling text for varying reading abilities and generating vocabulary lists for specific topics. By automating these tasks, teachers can free up valuable time to focus on individual student needs and foster a more dynamic and interactive classroom environment.

Google Vids

Google Vids is a new AI-powered video creation app within Google Workspace that

allows users to easily create engaging videos for various purposes. It offers features like AI-assisted script writing, voiceover generation, and access to a library of stock images and videos. Teachers might find Google Vids useful for creating dynamic lesson introductions, recording video instructions for assignments, or producing engaging educational content to supplement their teaching. The app's collaborative features also make it easy for teachers to work with colleagues or even students on video projects. Here is a link to my Google Vids playlist on YouTube. This is what I am currently working on, so this playlist will have new tutorials added to it frequently over the next month or so.

Notebook LM

NotebookLM is an AI-powered tool that helps users analyze and synthesize information from various sources, including Google Docs, PDFs, and even YouTube videos. It allows users to ask questions about their uploaded documents and  receive AI-generated summaries, insights, and even suggested related topics. Teachers can leverage NotebookLM to quickly grasp the key concepts from lengthy research articles, efficiently create reading lists for students on specific topics, or even help students analyze complex texts by generating summaries and answering their questions about the material. This can save teachers valuable time in preparing lessons and provide students with personalized support in understanding challenging content. I do not have any Notebook LM tutorials yet, but my plan is to begin making them as soon as I am finished with Google Vids. To stay up-to-date, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss these tutorials when they begin being published.

Get a Gemini for Education License

After my introductory training session to Gemini last fall, the Superintendent agreed to provide a Gemini Education license to any teacher that wanted one. They offer many more features in the Workspace environment than the typical version available to everyone. If you're interested in obtaining such a license, please reach out to Superintendent Brooks.

March 2024 - Instructional Technology Newsletter

South Shore Summer of Learning

It's getting to be that time of year again. On June 6 and 7, 2024, the Indiana Department of Education Digital Learning Team, in partnership with Duneland School Corporation will be hosting the South Shore Summer of Learning event at Chesterton High School.

South Shore Summer of Learning

The event will highlight keynote speakers Thomas C. Murray and Kim Strobel, as well as several other high profile speakers.

There are two ways that you can experience the South Shore Summer of Learning event; you can sign up as an attendee (and earn PGPs for license renewal). Or, if you are feeling daring, you can sign up to present on a topic that interests you (and earn PGPs for license renewal).

Summer of Learning events are a great place to hear from experienced educators and engage with new ideas about the art of educating students.

Google Updates of Note

Google Slides recently added the Speaker Spotlight to the Insert menu. The Speaker Spotlight allows you to insert a live camera image of yourself as you present your slide deck. There were a couple of features for Speaker Spotlight that I found rather interesting. First, when you insert the spotlight, you can choose which shape you want your image to appear in; square, circle, square with rounded corners, etc. Second, when you insert the speaker spotlight, it is only inserted on the current slide. This is so that you are not forced to have it on every slide just by inserting it once. It is inserted on the current slide and that's it. Third, one of the options is to have it inserted on every slide. That way, if you do want it to appear throughout your presentation you can still do that. You can see this feature in action here.

Google is continually updating their tools and apps, so new features can pop up at any time. Here are a few new features that became available since the beginning of February:

• Create shareable video presentations in Google Slides
• Latest improvement for page setup in Google Docs
• Easily drag and drop an image to replace the background in Google Slides
• Playback improvements to videos uploaded on Google Drive

Grants

The MSD of Boone Township has recently partnered with Monthly Education Grants Alert (MEGA) Magazine to give us access to a monthly publication of education related grant opportunities. The publication is filled with grant opportunities; some with specific deadlines and others with rolling deadlines. The publication is searchable using the keyboard shortcut ctrl+f (find), so you can search through the document looking for specific keywords instead of reading through every description. When you find a grant that makes sense, there will be a link to the grant's website where you can find more information about applying.

Low Key PD

I recently finished the set of tutorials for Google Slides. That complete collection of tutorials, as well as all of my other tutorials, can be found on YouTube.

Winter 2023 - 2024 Instructional Technology Newsletter All-In-One

What's Noo From Google?

While we were all away from school over the winter break, Google was busy at work releasing a bunch of new features for their suite of products. One new feature in Google Docs specifically is the ability to create pageless documents. A pageless document is a document which is not confined to the normal restrictions one might expect for a document which is intended to be read in print. That is because pageless documents are designed to be used for documents you do not intend to print. Don't worry, though, a pageless document can easily be changed back into a paged document. But oftentimes we create documents which we expect to be consumed on a screen. If that is the case, there is not much need for things like page breaks and margins. You can see an example of a pageless document here.

Another new feature that has been available for a little while already is Smart Chips. Smart Chips can be inserted into a Google Doc and add a tremendous amount of interactivity to the document. Again, think about documents you believe would be consumed on a screen. You can add chips for dates, contacts, files, map locations, and more. You can see an example of smart chips here.

And you may also have noticed "Building Block" elements in Google Docs recently as well. Building block elements build on the idea of having templates available for when you make a large number of documents all with the same (or similar) structure. The old workflow would require you to create a template and save it to the template library for reuse later. Or, less conveniently, repeatedly make a new copy of the template when you need one. Building blocks do essentially the same thing but the workflow involved is much faster. You can see an example of Building Blocks here. And if you are feeling adventurous, you can make your own custom building blocks and save them to your personal building block library.

Low Key PD

New Low Key PD tutorials continue to be added to the already extensive YouTube collection. So far the collection includes tutorials for Slides, Drawings, Jamboard, Forms, and Docs. Tutorials are typically short (1 - 2 minutes) and cover one basic feature at a time. They are also grouped into playlists by the specific app to make it easier to learn a lot about one Google App in a short time.

Vouchers

Since vouchers for taking the Google Certified Educator Level 1 and Level 2 exams must be ordered in bulk, this presents a challenge when only a few teachers are ready to certify. Because of this, there is a new process for paying for the Level 1 and / or Level 2 certification exams. From now on, teachers should pay for the test out of pocket and then follow the following steps in order to get reimbursed for the cost:

1. To file for a reimbursement, complete the claim voucher and attach the invoice.  The office should have the claim form.
2. They would then send that to Karen for processing.  The board meets the 2nd Tuesday of the month.  Once the claim is approved the check will be sent to the teacher.

L1 and L2

Congratulations to our newest Level 2 Google Certified Educator, Abby Kaeb!

Speaking of the Levels 1/2 Google Certified Educators, the Google Classrooms for these courses are available to anyone who would like to pursue them. If you would like to level up your Google skills by obtaining a GCE badge (and the $250.00 stipend that goes with it) please let me know so I can add you to the appropriate course.

February 2023 - Instructional Technology Newsletter

Google Docs

Google Forms

Low Key PD

The Hebron Instructional Technology YouTube Channel now has complete tutorials available for Google Docs and Google Forms will be finished by the end of February. What do I mean by complete? Pretty much every menu option in Google Docs is explained either in its own tutorial video or as part of another video covering multiple menu options. For Google Forms, every question style in Google Forms and pretty much every possible setting and option is explained in its own tutorial video, including themes, quizzes, response analysis, and so much more. 

These playlists give you the opportunity to learn specific skills for Google Docs or Google Forms or engage in a deep-dive study to maximize your learning. More Google apps will follow in the coming months as the tutorials are produced.

ParentSquare

Earlier this year MSD of Boone Township rolled out ParentSquare, an online community site for Hebron Schools students, parents, and employees. Links to the ParentSquare platform, the ParentSquare quick start page, and the ParentSquare YouTube channel have been added to the Hebron Schools bookmark folder.

ParentSquare allows teachers to communicate with both students and parents en masse with notes, messages, calendar events, and much more. Many parents have already activated their ParentSquare accounts and are staying in the loop with active teachers. Are you one of them?