Using A Google Form from Google Docs

I made a form for my students to fill out at the beginning of the term that will include all their vital information in one place and keep it in a spreadsheet. So I can get their email addresses, see how many times they failed the level, see their reported IELTS Score, hobbies, age, student number, and much more all in one simple spreadsheet. How do i get to google docs you ask? If you have a google account (which are free), follow these steps:
1. Download the file below to your desktop.
2. Access Google Docs with the tab on the very upper left corner where it says "Documents"
3. Click "Upload" then "select files to upload"
4. Choose the file from your desktop then "Start Upload"
5. Click "Back to google docs"
6. check the item and click "share" from the box you can choose how to distribute it (email as attachment or get the link to share)

To access the information after students have filled it in, just click on the "Bio Sheet" item and the information will come up. Here's a video to show you how. If you have problems or questions, feel free to email me.

Photos

Can I display my photos across the bottom of the screen rather than in sequential order?

Answer: Good Question. With the 'PICTURES' feature from GADGETS you can only post single photos and place them in your side or bottom bar (check the side and bottom bar now for current photos called test pic 1,2,3) If you notice the bottom bar there is a side by side row of pics as well, this is a gadget called Picasa Photostream. Your google account can easily access picasa (another google brainchild) where you can upload your pictures and have them viewed by others. It will display whatever is your most recent album. So, if you have some pics you want to have the students view in class, you can upload them to picasa and then they will appear automatically on your blog as long as you have the photostream gadget installed either in the sidebar, bottom bar or under the blog. Within the gadget setup you can also adjust the size of the photo and choose to let students access your other photo albums or not. To set up PICASA just go to GMAIL and click on the PHOTOS link at the top left of your screen. It's pretty easy to set up and use but if you have problems, let me know and i'll run a quick tutorial on it when i get a chance. - Don

Step by Step Setup a Blog for Class

A. Pre-Class day 1 - Set up a FILTER and LABEL in Gmail.

1. Go to your gmail account for class and click on SETTINGS>FILTERS>CREATE A NEW FILTER

2. Type a unique filter name that your students will be able to easily type CORRECTLY (ex. abc123, Prada, Gucci, etc.)and type it into the "SUBJECT" box

3. Click NEXT STEP

4. Click SKIP THE INBOX and APPLY THE LABEL and from the dropdown box NEW LABEL

5. Type a Label name like FALL A 2009 L7

6. Click CREATE FILTER

B. Create a blog

1. Go to www.blogger.com

2. If you have never created a blog before, you should see a button CREATE A BLOG . (If you have a blogger account, just click CREATE A NEW BLOG from the dashboard window)

3. In the ‘new blogger window” you will need to choose the name people will see in your blog entries and comments.

4. In the next page, you will choose your blog title and URL (you must CHECK THE AVAILABILITY of the URL but not the title)

5. Choose your template and click CONTINUE

6. et voila, you have created a blog

C. In Class DAY 1 - Instruct all students to go to http://www.gmail.com/ and create a gmail account (available in arabic as well) and send an email to your gmail address with the filter name you chose in step A2 as the SUBJECT.

D. Pre-class Day 2

1. Send a reply to each students email so they will be added to your contacts list.

2. Send a blogger invitation to each student with these 7 steps:

a. Go to blogger dashboard

b. Click SETTINGS>PERMISSIONS

c. Click ADD AUTHORS

d. Click CHOOSE FROM CONTACTS

e. Click once on each student’s email address and add to the list

f. Click DONE

g. Click INVITE and you have now invited everyone but they have not accepted (to be done next IN CLASS)

E. In class Day 2

1. Have one student connect to the overhead

2. Have her follow these easy 4 steps to show the others

a. Open the email from you with the invitation (should be on top)

b. Click the link in the email

c. Fill in her gmail password

d. Click ACCEPT INVITATION

3. Have other students follow along

Finally

At the same time, view your Settings>Permissions page to make sure all students are becoming authors. Troubleshoot students who may be having trouble. Once all students have accepted the invitations you will see their names in the list as ‘authors’ whereas you will be the ‘admin’ Any students who have not accepted the invite or have had technical problems will continue to be in the lower list of ‘invited’ Also, remember that you can add authors anytime by clicking SETTINGS>PERMISSIONS>ADD AUTHORS and adding their email address (separated by a comma if there is more than one) and clicking INVITE.

Blogger-ing WITHOUT Gmail

Some asked if it is possible to make a blog if you don't have a gmail account. It IS possible and the video below shows how. This is the same step your students would have to go through if you sent them an invite to their Groupwise address. They would be creating a 'google account' before they actually can use the blogger. Again, I advise all students to sign up for Gmail simply because it makes things easier to administer each class if you start everything fresh. Obviously, that's up to you.




Note: the tool used for recording the screenshot and audio above is called camstudio 2.0. It makes an .avi file of whatever you like from your screen along with audio or onscreen text. A tool that has a lot of possible classroom applications and better...it's 100% Free and pretty easy to download and use. You can get it here. - Don