Spring Clean Google Drive

It's almost spring, right? The weather is beginning to warm up, the days are a little longer and winter is quickly fading into the background. Spring brings welcome changes and sometimes specific to-dos - such as SPRING CLEANING. 

🧹 It's time to clear out the old, so you can welcome the new! ✨

Guess what also needs spring cleaning? You guessed it - picture clues maybe? Your GOOGLE DRIVE!

Cleaning out your Google Drive... it's a thing! We are going to dedicate the next several blog posts to specific tips for making this as painless of a process as possible. Follow along each week and your Google Drive spring cleaning will be ✅ed OFF your To-Do list, which gives you more time to plant flowers, sing in the rain, watch baby chicks hatch, send EdTech cookies, or whatever brings you spring JOY! 

Spring Clean Google Drive Task #1 - Gather your supplies!

This week we are going to get a good picture of what is in your Google Drive by looking at some data and sorting your items in specific ways. 

🫧 First, let's see what your Storage says:

🫧 Sorting this way will help you see items that you no longer need. For example, there is an 'Untitled document' with 0 bytes of storage in my Drive, which tells me it is possibly blank and just needs to be deleted.

 🫧 Additionally, when I look at what files are using the most storage, I see some videos from 2017 which are most likely no longer relevant and can also be deleted.

🧼 Next, let's look at your oldest files.

🧼 Sorting this way will let you see what is the oldest thing you have acutally modified. This will help you determine if these files are still needed. 

 

🧽 Now that you have a better idea of how to view and sort things in your Google Drive, stay tuned until next week and we will put those cleaning gloves ON and begin our second task of cleaning up files and folders!

Integrate Technology with Purpose: SAMR

SAMR is not just another acronym, it could possibly be one of the most important ones now that most districts have one to one devices for their students. Students have the power of technology in their hands on a daily basis, how do we as educators use this tool to make our instruction more powerful and create future ready students?

My favorite visual of SAMR is ordering Starbucks using the SAMR ladder. I substituted my home made coffee with a roasted from beans freshly ground in a Starbucks cup. Then I leveled up to augment my coffee by adding ice, cream and sweetener. I then modified my coffee with whipped cream, caramel syrup and maybe an extra shot of espresso. Finally, I completely redefined my coffee with a Frappuccino using almond milk with an extra shot of espresso, extra pumps of vanilla, whipped cream, and pure yummy.

SAMR was the brainchild of Ruben R. Puentedura, Ph.D. The world was in need of a framework that allowed educators to take the amazing instruction they provide daily and purposefully integrate technology to promote student engagement, and he provided a framework that works like a ladder for technology integration. The beauty of it is you do not have to always get to the top of the ladder, you just have to find the right step for your lesson and your students.

What is SAMR?

SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. Teachers can start at the first level with Substitution and work up to the Redefinition stage.

Substitution:

This level encourages teachers to simply substitute something they did with paper and pencil with a basic application like word processing. For example, instead of students writing with a pencil on notebook paper, have them type their essay in a word processing application on their device. Instead of using a whiteboard and expo marker, have students use an online whiteboard application.

Augmentation:

The next step calls for the technology substituted to provide a valuable and functional change. What can you do now with this word processing application you could not do with the pencil and notebook paper? Many word processing applications allow for voice dictation, spell checking features, exploring for quotes, etc. You not only made the substitution, but the use of technology allows the students the ability to do something they could not previously do as easily without technology.

Modification:

Level up the technology integration to the next level of modification by redesigning the lesson based on the features of the applications or technology that we did not have previously without it. The use of multimedia, videos, images. Students can gather information from websites across the globe with varying perspectives. They then use that information to create visual creative media to show their process and the learning. Then they can showcase their learning on another platform for viewing.

Redefinition:

The final level of SAMR calls for technology to take lessons and students beyond where they previously were able to go. Students can now collaborate within applications to work together in the classroom, across the district as well as across the world. Students can explore and extend their learning beyond the classroom and produce products that showcase their learning in a multitude of ways from one device.




Technology is a tool we as educators can use to take our lessons beyond pencil and paper and the walls of our classrooms. When purposefully integrated into the curriculum and robust pedagogical practices we already are experts in, there is no limit to what students (and teachers) can do.

Canvas: the Perfect Match! ❤️

 

Valentine's Day is next week and if you need a steady, dependable Valentine, may we suggest Canvas? DWW might try to win your love, but we promise Canvas is your perfect match! ❤️

Don't take our word for it though - check out these HOT tools that pair perfectly with Canvas!

Note: this training was recorded live on our February 8, 2023 episode of KIC Start Your Learning. In case you missed it, we wanted to recap just some of the reasons why we think Canvas is your PERFECT MATCH!

Canvas & Google play well together!

💗 First, be sure to connect your Canvas & Google accounts through Accounts > Settings.

💗 Next, use the Google plug-in tool to embed docs, slides, sheets and more for student resources!

💗 Finally, use the Google Assignments LTI 1.3 external tool to assign student activities that can be completed and turned into Canvas and graded through either Google Assignments or Canvas Speedgrader.

Canvas & Microsoft are in LOVE! 

❤️ Connect your Microsoft account by clicking Office 365 from the course navigation menu and signing in. Access One Drive and add links to PPTs, Word Docs, Excel & more.

❤️ Use the Office 365 Cloud Assignment to assign student activities that can be completed, turned into Canvas, and graded using Speedgrader.

Discovery Education (DE) & Learn 360 resources look beautiful embedded on Canvas Pages, Assignments, Quizzes & Discussions!

💟 Search for DE content & resources directly from the Discovery Education link in course navigation.

💟 Embed DE or Learn360 content & resources directly into Canvas Pages, Assignments, Quizzes & Discussions from the plug-in.

All you need is 'Adobe & Canva' paired with Canvas for 'true love'.

💘 Students can really show their learning creating Adobe projects from either templates or scratch.

💘 Use the Adobe Creative Cloud Express LTI to have students turn in Adobe Express projects to Canvas & to use Speedgrader for grading & feedback.

💘 Click Canva for Education from course navigation or from the Canvas plug-in to create in Canva from a template or scratch & then send straight to Canvas.

When Canvas & Nearpod are matched together - they are in their 'happy place'!

💙 Use the Nearpod external tool to embed Live Participation or Student-Paced Nearpods directly into Canvas with NO joining code!

💙 Use Canvas Speedgrader for amazing reports from Nearpod on students participation & accountability.

Find the link to these slides here and/or our KIC Start Your Learning video here.