I just discovered something today with Google forms.
It is possible to take a Google form theme and make it your own!
If you use the default theme, there is a CUSTOMIZE button.
From the customize menu, it is possible to truly personalize a Google form. Images for the top of the form need to be 800x200. Otherwise, the image will be rejected. Font type, size, color can be changed for all textual items. A plain color or a background image can be used on the page. The color of the form background can be changed. Below is an example of 'personalizing a form'. The header image is one of the Google choices.
Blog - A website
that allows users to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various
topics in the form of an online journal while readers may comment on
posts. Most blogs are written in a slightly informal tone (personal
journals, news, businesses, etc.) Entries typically appear in reverse
chronological order. (Wiktionary)
Blogger vs Wordpress
Blogger and Wordpress are companies that host blogs. This blog is hosted on Blogger. The NVTekLib blog is hosted on Wordpress.com while Mrs. Meyer, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Hermreck have blogs hosted by the district on nvraiders.org.
Blogging is easy. If you have something to say and can word process, you can blog. With your usd115.org Google account, you can create your own blog at blogger.com. If you would prefer a hosted Wordpress blog, contact Marcia to get an account. Or, you can create your own accounts on Google or Wordpress. Once you've logged in, simply create a title, web address and pick a theme. Now you are ready for the hard part -- coming up with something to say.
Web Site - A collection of HTML and subordinate documents (pages) on the World Wide Web that are typically accessible from the same URL and residing on the same server, and form a coherent, usually interlinked whole. (Wiktionary)
A Google site is similar to a blog. Like most web sites, a Google site will change periodically where a blog usually allows readers to access older posts. Blogs make it easier to allow for interaction than a web site.
Google sites come with your usd115.org Google account. From your email, simply click on SITES at the top of the screen. select a name for the URL and you are ready to begin.
A Google Site or a blog can be used to communicate with both students and parents by posting handouts, assignments, due dates and links to resources.
Collaborate - To work together with others to achieve a common goal. (Wiktionary)
Wikis in Plain English
Collaborate
Wikis and Google Docs allow a group of people to manage a project. A wiki can also be used as a project or class website. By controlling how they are shared, a wiki or Google Doc could either be used by a small group or readily available to anyone on the Internet. These tools are great for incorporating cooperative learning into the classroom.
Imagine a school with no textbooks as we know them. Imagine your students connected to the Internet, to each other and to you with their digital device -- every day / every class. Imagine kindergartners creating a video and posting it on their own web site.
What may seem like sometime in the future is happening now and being proposed as a reality within the next five years. The challenge has been laid before us -- not only in terms of hardware but also in terms of how we engage students.
You are invited on a journey - a journey to hopefully turn this mountainous challenge into something achievable. This journey will cover various learning resources for you to try with your students. Posts will describe the tool along with examples of how the tool is being used with students.
As you use a tool, please share your experience with others by adding a comment to the page for that tool -- describing how you used the tool, your student's reactions and your impression of the effectiveness of the tool in achieving learning goals. By leaving a comment, you will help everyone have a better understanding of how the tool could be used. Hopefully, these comments will spark ideas for further implementation of digital tools.
This journey is for novices as well as 'old hands'. Come along for the ride and prepare for that constantly connected learning environment.
