New Google Contacts, Distributions Lists, and More

The NEW Google Contacts

Time to setup your distribution lists and organize your NEW Google Contacts.  

Created by Scott Aten, August 31, 2018

If you have converted your Gmail to the NEW look then you will have noticed that Contacts have changed as well. I have put together a series of video to help you navigate your way through the NEW Google Contacts as well as how to use them in Gmail. Many of you are probably putting together contacts of parents or setting up department distribution lists so this should be valuable information to get you started this school year.

• Intro to Google Contacts - Shows you how to get to convert to the new look of Gmail, how to find Contacts, and how to make a single new contact.
• Import Multiple Contacts - Using an Excel template, this video shows how to import multiple contacts all at once into your Contacts and rename the Label that gets created when you import them. This is perfect to bring in all your parent contacts quickly and easily. You will want to download this TEMPLATE to use with the video. Open the template as a Google Sheet and then download it to use in Excel.
• Use Contact Labels to Send an Email - This is essentially the Google equivalent of using a distribution list.
• Share Contacts by Exporting Them - Do you need to give a colleague one of your groups of contacts? This video shows how to export the group. They will then go back to the "Import Multiple Contacts" video to see how to bring them into their Contacts.
• Make a Contact from an Email - Built into Gmail is the ability for you to make a contact from an email you have received.
• Make Distribution Lists (Labels) from Gmail or Contacts - This video demonstrates how to make distribution lists (in Google they are called Labels) both from Gmail and Contacts.
• Adding a Contact to an Existing Group (Label) - Did you forget to include an email address in your group or has new come into a situation that you want to include them in a group? This video shows how to add them to a contact to an group or label that you have already made.

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

ProgressBook Updates

GradeBook items to be aware of for the start of school.  

Created by Scott Aten, August 16, 2018

Below are a couple items in ProgressBook GradeBook that I thought would be good to know for the start of school. Both items have a video demo as well as a quick reference card that you can print or save in your Google Drive for future reference.

• Updated Grid Features (video) - Quick Reference Card
• Weighted Grades 80/20 (video) - Quick Reference Card

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Google Classroom Updates

For the start of the 2018-2019 school year Google has updated Classroom.  

Created by Scott Aten, August 10, 2018

You will notice some significant differences in Google Classroom when you begin to create your classes for this school year. This post will help you understand all the new features and how to best utilize them for you class and students.

• New Classwork Page - Use this section to post assignments and questions. Using topics will allow you to group work into modules, units, or chapters.
• New Grading Tool - When grading things students have turned in through Classroom, you can now toggle between students. You can also save common feedback in a comment bank.
• New People Page - Replacing the "Student" page, the "People" page is the place to view the students in your class, from this page you can invite students to the class, invite co-teachers to the class, and guardians.
• New Settings Page - The gear found on most Google products is now present in Classroom. As always this refers to "settings". The changes you can make in settings include: Title and description of the classroom, the class code to join the Classroom, what students can do in the stream, turn on/off show deleted items, and turn on/off guardian summaries (there is also a link to see a sample of the guardian summaries).
• Copy a class - From the "Home" screen of Classroom you will see an option to "copy" from the three dot on each Classroom in your list. This is perfect for teachers who have several sections of the same class. Here is what will copy from an excising or archived class: Title, Section, Description, Course subject, Topics, and Classwork posts (copied as drafts with no schedule date). The following will NOT copy: Teacher announcements, Deleted classwork items, students and co-teachers, student posts, attachments that you don't have permission to copy. This process might take a while, so you will get an email notification letting you know when it is finished.
• Control notifications by class - Both teachers and students can turn notifications off for any class.
• Teachers can change grade point values when creating or edition assignments of questions.
• Teachers and students can see updated labels—assigned, turned in, graded—for the status of a student’s work.

The one thing that you will notice right away that is not available is the "About" tab. If you go to the "Stream" you you will see a link to "About" in the upper right corner of the Classroom. However, you can't add content to this section like handbooks, syllabus, or other resources like we have in the past. In all the groups I am a part of, this has been a complaint about the new Classroom. It may come back at some point, but for now we are going to have to find a different way to provide this material. The "Stream" now only allows you to add announcements Or reuse announcements from other classrooms. All assignment information is found in the "Classwork" section. In the Classwork section you will be able to add Assignments, Questions, Reuse posts, and create Topics. To do this look for the "Create" button at the top of the Classwork screen.

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team