Digital Madlibs with Google Forms

Today I was working with a group who wanted to collect information through a google form , but who also wanted a nicely filled out template that they could reference if needed.  So I went to investigate.

About 1 second into looking at Google Form Add-ons, I found Form Publisher.  Said it would take form submissions and turn it into a document by filling out the template.  I decided to test this in the most professional method possible.  Madlibs!!

If you want to fill out the Form to see what it does, click here.  To view the template and the output, click here.

Form - Create the form with the questions you would like to ask.  Obviously this has more power than Madlibs...but I like Madlibs.

Doc Template - Create the Document or spreadsheet you would like this to fill in.  Use the <<question title>> (case sensitive) to create a field filled in by the form.

Start the Form Publisher Add-on - It pretty much walks you through the steps.  I set mine up to name the document based on the First Name entered in the form.

Walking through the Google Classroom Updates

So I open up google classroom today and I see this message.

So I read and create a new class.  When I get inside the class, there is no Announcement/Assignment button at the top of the stream.  Seriously, what the heck?  They also took away the question mark in the lower right hand corner and added a PLUS sign...

TOUR TIME.  You can now do an announcement, an assignment, or ask a question.  Cool, I think.  When I click on the + sign there are 4 options.

I can reuse posts from other classes.  SICK.

So I Try them...

• Reuse Post - here you choose your class, pick the post, then grab the information and assign it as if it were created today.  It even grabs the document and gives you the same options as if creating an assignment for the first time.
• Create Question - You can attach documents to ask questions, and have the student responses compiled in one place.  You can choose to let students see each others' answers and comment or not.

• Move to Top - Once an assignment is created, you have the choice to move the assignment to the top.  Nice for loading assignments then rearranging them.

Then I opened a class I had already created, with assignments.  I click on an assignment and the page had changed... Good and Bad.

• Good - Looks so much cleaner and there are thumbnails of the documents on the right of the page.
• Bad - No folder button.  I liked going to the google drive folder for the sole purpose that I could single click a document, click the preview eye, and quickly scan through documents.  Please request that is put back.  When you click the documents, you get a new tab for each.

From the Student Side

• When a Student opens an assignment, they can see both the instructions, and their assignment on the same page, a nice change from before.
• Less buttons when you open an assignment.  Students click on the Add button and they have the following menu.

All-in-all, I like the changes.  I do wish there was an alternative to the folder button, but I can live.  It is a large improvement.

Infographic Trap

I enjoy an infographic as much as the next person.  I think they have a lot of information and they are a different way of presenting information.  There are times when I hate them.  There are plenty of slide show presentations on how not to do slide show presentations.  Too much text, bad color choices, etc.  Today I saw an infographic that broke every single one of those rules, but its ok if its an infographic, right?  Wrong.

In fact, the infographic that I saw today was simply a bunch of slides on a page.  Even worse, it was grey writing on a red background, not the easiest to read.  It was text and titles, then a line, then more titles and text, then a line, rinse and repeat.  It was missing much of the graphic from the infographic.  Yes there was a graph here and there, but it was just a slideshow.  So what is the point of an infographic if all you are going to do is scroll down the thing and stop between each set of lines and talk about what is there.  That is a slide show.

I began to think, what is the difference between a slide show, a prezi, and an infographic?  There are plenty who will disagree with me, but they have pet pieves that which I would disagree with as well.  So here is my break down.

Slideshow:  Linear presentation or story.  Like the pages in a book, they have an order for the most part and follow a logical book-like path.  You go from one slide to the next.

Prezi:  A semi linear story.  Many times these presentations reveal larger parts of a story, have twists and turns, can be a mystery, etc.  I have seen great prezi's that zoom in on different aspects of a larger picture to show interrelations of concepts and information.  If you have not seen these, just google amazing Prezi and you will find some pretty cool stuff.  I call these semi linear because they do follow a path set forth by the presenter, but the audience has no clear idea what is coming next.

Infographic:  Nonlinear presentation of data.  A presentation of data and facts related through design elements used by the author.  However, although the author tries to guide the audience around the graphic, it is up to the audience how to proceed around the graphic.  A great graphic is not dependent on advancing slides or moving along a path, motion is determined by audience focus and design.  The idea is that what info can the audience get from first glance, from a slightly deeper view, then by a deeper view.  With each subsequent view of the graphic the reader moves deeper into the argument in the graphic and the interrelated information in the graphic.

Regardless of what you use to present, make sure you use it in a way that is appropriate for what you are doing.  Don't just make an infographic because you recently learned about canva, venngage, or piktochart.  It may take away from your presentation and actually make what you are saying more difficult to understand.

Flipping through papers using the great eye of google drive

Opening and closing documents is not a cumbersome activity, but when you have over 200 students it can be a pain. Throughout this year of training teachers in google drive and google classroom during 14,000 chromebook rollout the issue of saving time has been a carrot to help teachers buy in to the program.  So far the favorite tip has been that of the great eye.

In google drive, rather than double clicking a document try a single click. In the upper right of the page are options to get a link, share, remove, and THE EYE.  Click the eye to preview a document. Scroll through, mark the grade in your gradebook, then click the arrow on the right to get to the next document in the folder.  You cannot edit or comment in this mode, but if you want to comment in a few documents click on "open" at the top of the preview, do your thing then close that tab, preview kept your spot. Since it doesnot completely open the document, things open fast.

If you have assigned something in classroom, open the assignment folderand go through the preview of documents. The titles (with student names) are in the upper left, all documents for a class are in the same folder. For those who enjoy comparisons it is like flipping through a stack of papers like the good old days except it is minus the loss of trees and the process can be completed at any point to show that assignments, especially writing are iterative and nonlinear, that students should be constantly working, editing, and rethinking as they work toward the mythical final draft.

Google Docs - Research and Hyperlink shortcut

Here is a great trick for turning text into a hyperlink quickly.

To all you right-clickers out there. You probably have figured out that you can highlight a word in a google doc, right click (2 finger click on chromebook), and select Research "(highlighted words)."

Highlight, Right-click, Research

Leave the words highlighted.  Once you find the link you want, click insert link and the words become a hyperlink.

Using Public Data Explorer to show the significance of historical events

Online data visualizations can show things that are interesting.  Watching the life expectancy or fertility rate over time in different countries can bring students to question what was happening in that period of time.

Why introduce students to a topic with a story?  Have students look at the data with public data explorer.  By watching the visualizations of the data you can guide students to ask questions about why data points are moving, then have students find the answers to these questions through the wonder of the internet.

Today, I had students looking at wealth distribution versus GDP over time.  I just wanted students to come up with trends.  Students started by following a country and noting when something interesting occurred on the graph.  They then noted the year and search the internet for events occurring in or around that country.

After all students collected historical and graphical data, students looked for trends across all information submitted by other students, regarding other countries.  Students looked for general correlations.  Nothing that we found would be considered ground-breaking, but through the process students learned about many countries and seemed to understand the idea of distribution of wealth as it refers to the economic health of a country.

It was a fun lesson and a great way to reinforce reading graphs of complex information and data in context.  It was interesting to see that the students following Japan felt that every economic disaster correlated to an earthquake.  They later found out that every event in Japan correlates to an earthquake.

My Maps

So I have been playing around with My Maps lately.  Kind of a forgotten Google thing.  I know there are those that use it, but I think it is a fun tool.  If you haven't tried it, here are some things you can do with it.  If you have no idea what it is, My Maps is a place where you can personalize maps with locations, details, names, and pictures.  You can also share your maps with others.

If you have never been there, Google "My Maps" and it should show up near the top.

Things to do on My Maps

• Add Layers - had a teacher add a layer for each of the European Explorers, so the points would be colored differently.
• Share the map with students - Rather than color and draw the route, allow students to plot a voyage on the map using points and lines.
• Add Points - click the point, then place it on the map.  You can name the point, add pictures from the internet, type in information, add links to other information, etc.
• Add Lines - Connect points to show a route.  Connect multiple points (like the Indiana Jones maps if you remember those).  Name the route and add details about it.

You could use My Maps to trace the routes of explorers, military movements during wars of the past, travels of literary characters, and I am sure there are many more.