Great resource links, tips, news, and updates shared by our Google+ community members from July 20 – 26, 2015.
Using Google Keep to raise questions to teachers (instead of hands) – plus.google.com
+Melissa Valence shared: Google Keep is one of my favorite tools. In my classroom (no access to hangouts with kids) we use it as an alert to the teacher. The student makes a ‘post it’ with a question or need and shares with me. It pops up on my screen and I know they’re looking for help or reassurance on something. Great way to connect with students without having them wave their hand in the air!!
Getting tech-resistant educators to embrace change – www.ecampusnews.com
Spot-on article about the difficulty of professional development for school-wide technology change (going 1:1, for example) shared by +Bram Moreinis
Automatically update a cell with the current date and time – plus.google.com
The =NOW() function is a quick shortcut to enter the current date & time to your Sheet. It’s dynamic and will update every time you open your Sheet. If you’d like to make the date & time ‘stick’ after using this formula, select the cell and use Edit->Copy followed by Edit->Paste Special > Paste value only.
More about =NOW() here: https://goo.gl/p2JpIa
Goodbye Google+ Photos, hello +Google Photos! – plus.google.com
In an effort to ensure everyone has the best photos experience we can deliver, on August 1st Google will start to shut down Google+ Photos — initially on Android, and soon thereafter on the Web and iOS.
Google Classroom API Update – plus.google.com
Admins: the new Classroom APIs are here to make your job even easier: http://git.io/gam
Introducing the Google Drive plug-in for Microsoft Office – googledrive.blogspot.com
Using the new Google Drive plug-in, people using Office for Windows can now open their Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents stored in Drive, then save any changes back to Drive once they’re done.
11 Quick Tricks To Become A Chrome Omnibox Power User – www.makeuseof.com
The Omnibox in Google Chrome is useful for more than just searching with Google or visiting a link quickly. Omni literally means ‘universal’ and the Omnibox can be used for almost every task on the Web or otherwise, be it searching a site, setting a timer or sending a tweet.
h/t +Brenda Dzwil
Google Photos for Android – now with improved album management – plus.google.com
Google is releasing an update to Google Photos for Android (v1.2) with more control over album content and photo descriptions. Here’s what’s new:
– Change cover photos on your albums
– Add and remove photos from an album from the same screen
– Add, edit, and view descriptions for individual photos
– Tap-and-hold a date header to select all photos from that day
– Pull down anytime to exit search
– Bug fixes and performance improvements
These updates are rolling out to the Play Store: https://goo.gl/BajWpo
Customize the App Launcher to make frequently used apps more accessible – googleappsupdates.blogspot.com
As previously announced, it is now possible to customize the App Launcher by moving app icons between rows and screens. While Google Apps admins will not be able to customize the App Launcher for their employees, individuals will be able to configure the App Launcher on their own—making it easier for them to access the apps they use most.
