#104 Useful Google in Education links this week

Add Bitmoji Google Sheets. Merge cells and use the Bitmoji Chrome extension to get the image address and insert into a cell.

On Wednesday Google released an update to Google Expeditions that allows students and others to guide themselves on Google Expeditions. Expeditions are Google's Virtual Reality experiences that can be viewed through the Expeditions app on phones placed in Google Cardboard Viewers. The new "solo" mode in Expeditions (currently only for Android) lets students view Google's virtual reality Expeditions without guidance from a teacher. In the "solo" Expeditions students can choose "Explorer" mode and they will see highlighted information included about the places they're viewing in virtual reality.

February , 2017
As you probably all know by now, the old version of Google Drive template gallery is going away very soon and only the new version will be available. New template galleries embed a wide range of interesting and professionally designed templates users can utilize to create different kinds of content in Docs, Slides, Sheets and Forms. We have already reviewed some samples of good Google Docs templates teachers can use in their instruction (i.e., for creating lesson plans, designing brochures and newspapers, making project proposals and many more). In today’s post, we are sharing with you this selected collection of Google Forms templates to use for a variety of educational purposes. More specifically, you can use them to create forms for : event registration, event feedback, exit ticket, worksheet, course evaluation, assessment, and contact information.
To access and use any of these templates, go to Sheets Template Gallery and click on 'More' on top right hand side and search for name of the template you want:

littleBits is an award-winning platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks for creating inventions large and small. Today we’re thrilled to announce that Google for Education selected the newest littleBits kit for its new STEM tools for Chromebooks program, which will help schools everywhere integrate powerful STEM/STEAM learning into their curricula. At littleBits, we want ALL kids inventing and developing STEM/STEAM skills to prepare them for the future, so this is huge.

Use this cheat sheet to get to grips with Google Classroom

We’ve established that I have an obsession with Google Forms. It’s easy to connect & manage data from students, parents, etc. Last week, I posted on how to use Google Forms for teacher walkthrough observations--targeted at either administrator walkthroughs or peer walkthroughs. This week, I’m going to share how I use Google Forms in my classroom and school.

TAs many of you know, I have a major obsession with Google Forms. Last school year in a Faculty Advisory Committee meeting, we were discussing our district’s walkthrough evaluation form, and how it did not adequately address our school’s focuses and goals. Once I realized I could customize a Google Form and use Autocrat to generate personalized walkthrough evaluations for teachers, I literally started bouncing in my chair. (One of my colleagues lovingly calls this “Tiggering” because I get bouncy when I’m excited!) I began a semester-long project creating the walkthrough Form, iterating on it, and troubleshooting technical problems.

Richard Byrne says: 'Over the last few weeks I received a bunch of questions from readers who are leaving one school district that uses G Suite (formerly known as Google Apps) and going to another. The questions, all phrased slightly differently, have essentially asked how to save and or move data from one G Suite account to another. There are two things that I have recommended. First, you can download your Google Drive files as I demonstrate in the video in this post'

I’ve been using Google Docs for quite a while. I love Google Docs. It’s easy to use. I can collaborate with any other “Googler” without being in the same room. I can create and share grocery lists with my husband. (Ok, this may not be vital, but it is great for me!). Here’s my workaround for adding backgrounds in Google Docs…complete with screenshots! Here’s the trick…USE GOOGLE SLIDES!
Open a Google Slides presentation. Access “File” then “Page Setup.” Read on...

Our big news during ISTE 2017 is that we’ve released a public beta of Book Creator for Chrome that you can start using today! You can go to app.bookcreator.com, register as a teacher and start creating books right away. Have a play and let us know what you think!