Big Blue Technology

How to stay productive and make the best use of your time using Technology (but not email!) 1. Using Google Forms to collect data Too often you are immersed in a project and people are constantly emailing you about things that need to get done. When you create either a google form to collect data or a google sheet that people edit, you can channel all of those concerns into one file that you can check and work on daily, when you schedule time for the project. The beauty of the Google Form is that you can have people take surveys and the data is translated automatically with the click of a button to a sheet. On the other hand, the sheet allows users to edit it and see which concerns or issues have been addressed already and lends some transparency. In Google Forms you can show your respondents the results, but the spreadsheet allows you to see everything at once. You can also insert comments & tag a person so they see a response or that you asked a question. It cuts down on emai

Get More Out of Your Browser Recently I held a training and everyone said the same thing - PINNING TABS IS AWESOME! It seems like such a small feature, but because it is very popular, I wanted to share it out.  The other topic is the Omnibox, a rarely understood but very cool feature of Google Chrome.  This led me to think about how underutilized the actual Web Browser is in our life. We are so excited to get to the content online that we do not pay attention to the tool that gets us there. These two features will allow you to work smarter, not harder! Pin your tabs! The nice thing about Google Chrome is that you can customize it to do many things. My favorite feature is that if I go to the waffle to choose a new GSuite App to use, they open in a new tab. I often have 7-10 tabs open. However, that means that I sometimes close a tab by accident! 😱😬 Have no fear, Pin Tabs is here! Go up to the tab and hover over it with your mouse. Right click. A world of options opens up!

The SPS website is live now and that means we have a whole host of new features to explain. The big one is our new calendars. Our calendar links directly from Google Calendar to our website. Gone are the days of posting events on the website and on the calendar and not having them connect. Everything is related which saves us precious time that we can spend on teaching and learning. Click here to see the video that shows you how to navigate our calendar. It is important to remember that the district calendar feed is on by default for all viewers. However, you will need to click in the left hand corner to the filter menu to choose which other schools to follow. Enjoy and have a great week!

Twitter is an amazing resource for educators and administrators.  Basically you have limited characters to share out a message. The messages can have #hashtags on them. You can click on a # and see all the things people have posted about this topic. You can also follow people that inspire you. You can use an app on your computer called Tweet Deck to view multiple #hashtags or people into columns. There are things called Twitter Chats that happen on every subject everyday. For example, I follow a chat called #mssachat the second Tuesday of every month at 8PM. Anyone can join. This is a group of Massachusetts school administrators who tweet with the same hashtag and answer questions. For example, one question might be "What are the best practices for the first few days of school?". Principals and schools leaders will chime in and you can see what they are sharing out and learn what is happening in other schools. It takes no time at all to join, to watch, and to learn. Often

Summer is finally here which means we might have extra time on our hands! Now is the time to take control of your Google Drive and organize it for the upcoming school year.  There are SO many ways to organize your drive. You need to find what works best for YOU.   (image from trustedreviews.com) 1. Think about your top level folders. Envision Google Drive as filing cabinet. My top level folders are not shared, but inside I have shared folders. For example, my top level folders are Technology, SHS, and Lytania. The Technology folder has shared folders like District Tech Team and District MCAS. However, I have items I am working on that I do not yet want shared, sitting inside my top level folder. The SHS folder has all of my shared folders- one is with guidance, one is with the main office, and one is projects I am working on with Frank & Bob. These folders have items that are truly shared - everyone can work on them. The most important folder though is the folder I s