Google Drive Search Tips

If you are like me, you have quite a few files in your Google Drive.  Eventually, it can become challenging to quickly find files you need.  I've got folders, and I've got color coding, all that is wonderful, but sometimes I need a file quickly and I just don't remember where I stored it.  If you'd like to learn how to create folders and use color coding in your Google Drive, see my post about Google Drive Organization Tips.

The little search bar in your Google Drive can be pretty awesome when you know how to harness its power.  You can just type in a word and hit search, and most times you will find what you are looking for, but I want to share some tips to help you search more effectively.

The first tip is to use the drop down menu.  Many people don't even know it is there.  Type in what you are looking for and then click the little arrow at the very right side of the search bar.

*Update: There are now even more options in this drop down menu!  Try it on your Google Drive to see all the new additions.  This post will be updated in the near future to reflect the changes.

You then have three search options - File type, Opens with, and Ownership.  You don't have to use all three, but you can if you need to.  When you click on the "File type" drop down, it will give you several options for what type of file you are searching for.

When you choose the "Opens with" drop down, it gives you options depending on what apps you have installed in your Chrome browser.  Yours will be different than mine, but all the basic Google Apps will be there.

When you choose the "Ownership" drop down, you get three choices.  Owned by anyone means you don't care who created the document.  Owned by me means you created the document.  Not owned by me means you did not create the document.  This last option is helpful if you are searching for something you know you didn't create. 

Once you make your choices, you can click the blue magnifying glass button to start the search.  Let's say I wanted to search for a document, that opens in Google Sheets, that is owned by me.  This is what it would look like:

Once I click the blue button, I'll have my results!

You might notice that as you choose from the drop down menus, it changes the text in your search bar.  This is because you can also tell Drive what you are looking for by using specific typed commands.  Here are some of the advanced search options you might find helpful:

Option	Purpose	Example
Quotes	Put quotes around something to search for that exact phrase.	“right angles”
OR	You can use the word OR to find a document that has at least one of those words. This is helpful if you can’t remember the exact verbiage you used in your file.	drawing OR illustration
Minus sign	If you want a file that has a certain word but not another word.	geometry -triangle
owner:	You can use this to specify the owner of a document.	owner:bob@teachingtechnix.com
from:	You can use this to specify who shared a document with you.	from:bob@teachingtechnix.com
to:	You can use this to specify who you shared an item with.	to:bob@teachingtechnix.com
type	You can use this to specify the type of file you are searching for: document, folder, spreadsheet, presentation, PDF, image, video, drawing, form, script, or table.	type:PDF
after: before:	You can use these to specify a date range. You can use them together, or individually (use the date format yyyy/mm/dd).	after:2014/12/15 before:2015/01/03
title:	You can use this if you know the exact title.  Use it in combination with quotes if your title is more than one word.	title:“Right Angles”
app:	You can use this if you are searching for an item that can be opened by a specific app.  Use it in combination with quotes if your app is more than one word.	app:“Google Docs”
All of this information came from the Google Support site.  You can see the page I used by clicking here.

I know these search options have been extremely helpful to me when I need to find a file quickly, especially if I'm not exactly sure where I stored it in my Drive.  I hope you find them just as helpful.

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Log Out Remotely

Did you log into your Google account somewhere other than normal and realize you forgot to log out?  Have you noticed anything suspicious going on with your account?  Click here to see a blog post by EdTechTeam with some great security tips for you!  Thank you, EdTechTeam!

I want to highlight one of their tips.  Tip number 3 - Log Out Remotely.  If you have logged into your Google account somewhere and you realize you may have left it logged in, there is a quick and easy solution.  Log into your Gmail account and scroll all the way to the bottom.  On the bottom right, you will see some small text that says "Last account activity: 27 minutes ago" or however long ago you had some activity on your account.  Underneath that is a little link that says "Details".

Click on the "Details" link and it will pop up an account activity window.  This window will tell you if your account is actively open in another location.  It also lists the type of access, location and IP address of the computer that accessed your account, as well as the date and time.  All mine just said United States of America, so it isn't super specific, but it is still good information.  I blanked out all the IP addresses in this picture for my own security purposes.  You can see the button near the top that says "Sign out all other web sessions".  Probably not a bad idea to do this every once in a while.  

I hope you will take a second to check out the EdTechTeam blog post I mentioned.  You can never be too safe online.  

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Just Do It

"That's so cool!  I'd like to try that."
"Yeah, that seemed neat.  I should check it out."
"I really need to learn to do that."
"I'll try it after report cards...after parent conferences...after this project is graded...maybe during summer...maybe once my year gets started..."

Sound familiar?  We've all said it.  I know I have.  To address this issue, I'm going to borrow some advice from our friends at Nike.  JUST DO IT!

When it comes to those things we view as extras in our teaching, they often get pushed aside for "later", but later never seems to come around.  The problem is that many of those extras that have to do with technology can no longer afford to be seen as extras.  They are necessary.  Innovation in the classroom is necessary.

My advice to you today is to just do it.  Pick something that you've been wanting to try or look into that is related to technology and take an hour, or more if you have it, and check it out.  Plan for how you can use it with your students next year.  Go for it.  Take the time.  Do it now.  You won't regret it.

Having just finished the CUE Rock Star conference, I have a few ideas for you on things you can check out in case you have misplaced your "I need to check into this later" list.

Student Response Tools
Want to increase engagement and get every student involved?  Hear every voice?  Check out these online student response systems.  They are easy and oh so much fun!

• Kahoot
• Socrative
• Go Formative
• Google Forms fits in this category too, but Google Forms is so much more.  Google Forms is a teacher's best friend.  My students used it almost daily.  If you are only going to look at one tool this summer - this is the one you should look at.  Here is a link to my Google Forms 101 blog post.  There are some links at the bottom of the post to give ideas on how to use Google Forms in the classroom.  I've got more Google Forms posts planned for you as the school year gets closer.  

iPad Apps for Teachers and Students

• Paper 53 - Amazing drawing app for making art as well as sketch notes.  This app is free.  Available only for iOS.
• Explain Everything - This is a whiteboard app which allows you to draw like you would on a whiteboard and make a video recording.  It allows you to import images, video, text, etc. and include them all in a video with your voice over.  Very handy to make instructional videos or for students to create movies and show evidence of learning.  This app is worth every penny of the $2.99!  Available for iOS and Android.
• Tellagami - This allows you or your students to take a photo, a stock picture, or a background you create, and make a little animated character to go in it.  You can record your voice and make your character "talk" and turn it into a video.  It's pretty neat!  This app is free, but does offer in app purchases. Available for iOS and Android. 

Other Cool Stuff

• Doctopus - This is an awesome free tool with a strange name.  To quote the Chrome Web Store - "Doctopus gives teachers the ability to mass-copy (from a starter template), share, monitor student progress, and manage grading and feedback for student projects in Google Drive."  If you don't use Google Classroom or Hapara to manage student work in Google Drive, then Doctopus is a pretty handy tool!  It is an add on that you put in Google Sheets.  It used to be a script you had to install for each individual sheet and it was pretty messy.   It is much nicer now that it is an add on and you only have to do it once.  Here is a little video about how it works.  The New Doctopus  I'm not generally a huge fan of video tutorials, but this is a good one and is only about 12 and a half minutes long.
• Videonot.es - This allows you to make notes to go with a video and synchronize the notes with the time in the video where they are applicable.  You can click on the notes and it takes you to that part of the video as well.  This seems really cool and it can connect with your Google Drive so you can store your videos there.  
• ThingLink - This is a fun one.  This website allows you to take a picture, and make it interactive.  You can place little "buttons" on your photo and make text pop up, a video can play, or it can even be a link to a website.  This has many possibilities.  You can create one on a certain topic for your students to explore, or you can have the students make one as part of a project of some sort.  
• Padlet - Padlet is a great collaboration space.  It gives you a sharable poster board so to speak.  You can share the link and others can then post things on it that are like little digital sticky notes.  They can share ideas as a brain storm, post links, photos, or videos to "turn in" an assignment of some sort.  There are many possibilities for this tool.

Ok.  That should be enough to at least get you started with something.  No excuses now.  Take the time to check out those things you've always thought of using, but have never taken the time to learn.  Just do it.

Thank you for stopping by the TeachingTechNix blog today.  I hope you found something helpful.  See you again soon for more helpful tech tips! 

It's Not the Tech, it's the Teacher

I'm writing this today from the CUE Rock Star conference in La Jolla, CA.  If you have the chance to attend a CUE Rock Star event, I'd highly recommend it.  Limited attendance allows for great ratio between speaker and attendees.  This provides an amazing opportunity for learning and networking.  You can check the website here to see if there are any events coming up in your area.

My biggest thought today is a thought I've had during all the ed tech conferences I've attended lately.

It's not the tech you use, it's how you use it.

So if you feel like you can't possibly keep up with all the new apps and tools out there - that's ok.  You won't be a terrible teacher because you don't know all the cool new tricks.  Should you have a good foundation with the basics of what is out there?  Absolutely.  If your students have Google Apps, commit to learn all about Google Apps.  You can do amazing things just by utilizing the basics in meaningful ways.  Then you can work on learning more a little at a time.  Technology won't automatically make you a good teacher.  Don't lose sight of the instincts that make you good at what you do.  Just because we have all this amazing technology at our fingertips, it doesn't mean that we give up everything we know about good teaching, throw out all the textbooks, hand each kid a device, and sit back to watch the test scores rise.

It's true that there are many new devices, websites, and apps out there that allow teachers and students to do incredibly creative things.  How we structure our lessons and assignments should be changing in dramatic ways because of it.  If we allow the available technology to transform the way we think about what students can and should be doing for their assignments, learning can be impacted in amazing ways.  The hard thing is, this can easily lead to you feeling overwhelmed by all that is out there.  It can make you feel like you are doing everything all wrong when you see some of the advanced things others are doing.  Should some of those things be goals for you?  Yes.  Should you expect to do them tomorrow with confidence and ease?  Not necessarily.

I say start with the basics.  Whatever platform your students are using - Google, Microsoft, etc. - learn it, and learn it well.  Unless you have a good feel for what you can do with it, it won't begin to change the design of your lessons and assignments in truly meaningful ways.  Start with the basics, use those great teacher instincts about what will help your students connect with the content, and never be afraid to ask for help.

Technology alone is fun and interesting.  Technology in the hands of a great teacher becomes incredibly powerful.

Google Classroom

A few of my colleagues have asked me to do a post about Google Classroom.  I've played with it a little bit, but I do have to admit I haven't really used it yet.  We use Hapara Teacher Dashboard at our school and I thought I didn't need Google Classroom because of that.  I'm finding now that while I don't NEED it, they can be very powerful when used together and I'll be exploring that next year.  Regardless of whether or not you use Hapara...cough cough...if you have Google Apps you really should...cough cough...Google Classroom can be a really effective tool.

Instead of making a post about Google Classroom, I'm going to send you directly to the master.  Alice Keeler is one of my Ed Tech Heroes.  She is a Google Certified Teacher and a Google Classroom rockstar.  If Google Classroom can do it, she knows how.  If you are on Twitter, follow her - @AliceKeeler.  Even if you aren't on Twitter, you can check out her blog, Teacher Tech.  She even has a book that she co-authored, 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom.

She has an entire section of her blog focused just on Google Classroom, which you can access by clicking here.  Check it out, look around, and be inspired!

Thank you, Alice, for sharing your knowledge!

Handy Keyboard Shortcuts for Google Chrome

Sometimes using the mouse just takes up extra time.  I've got some handy keyboard shortcuts for you today that will save you some time and effort when working in Google Chrome.

Control-T (Command-T for Mac) - This will open a new tab.

Control-W (Command-W) - This will close the active tab.  The active tab is whatever tab you are currently working in.  This can come in especially handy if you are working through a whole class of Google Docs.

Control-Shift-T (Command-Shift-T) - This will reopen the last tab you closed.  This is really useful if you accidentally closed a tab, or realize you needed one more thing from the document or web page you just closed.  Google Chrome remembers the last 10 tabs you closed.

Control-Tab (Works for Mac also!) - This will switch you to the next open tab (moves you one tab to the right).  If you are on your last tab, it will take you back to the first one.

Control-Shift-Tab (Also works for Mac) - This will switch you to the previous tab (moves you one tab to the left).  If you are on your first tab, it will take you to the last tab.

Control-1 through Control-8 (Command-1 through Command-8) - This will take you to tab in that position across the top of your screen.  For instance, if you want the third tab from the left, you push Control-3 (Command-3).  If you are like me and often have more than 8 tabs open, Control-9 (Command-9) will take you to the last tab, no matter how many tabs are open.

This one does use a mouse - but I use it quite a bit, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Press Control (Command) while you click a link - This will open the link in a new tab.  You can then click on that tab to see the new webpage.  This works especially well if you are doing a Google Search.  You can open several of the links that look promising as you look through the results and then click through the tabs to view.  It also means you don't have to hit the back button to return to your results because they stay open in the original tab.  If you want it to open the results in a new tab and have it take you to directly to that tab, you can press Control-Shift (Command-Shift) while you click the link.

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Keyboard Shortcut for Adding a Comment in Google Docs

Like I've said before, I love using Google Docs with my students and leaving them comments as feedback on their writing.  Leaving comments for students is great, but there is a bit of clicking involved.  These keyboard shortcuts have shortened up the process significantly, especially if I'm using a device with a touchpad instead of a mouse.

If you aren't already familiar with making comments on a Google Doc, click here to read my introductory post.

To make your comment - position your cursor or highlight the desired text and then press Control-Alt-M (Command-Option-M for Mac).  This will open up the comment window.  Type in your comment and then hit Control-Enter (Command-Enter for Mac) to submit the comment.  Simple I know, but it saves so much time when you are grading multiple documents in one sitting.

Try this out next time you leave comments on a doc.  Trust me, you'll never go back to using the mouse!

Stop in again soon for more handy tech tips!