Catch Plagiarism with Draftback

Catch Plagiarism with Draftback

by | Apr 10, 2019 | GSuite

Plagiarism is a serious consideration in any classroom, and it can be tough to conclusively catch. Obviously, teachers can copy/paste the segment in question and do a Google search of the content and you may learn something, but that can be a slow, arduous process.

What if you could watch the writing process your student went through on a time-lapse video? You actually CAN, and it’s awesome!!

With a Chrome Extension called Draftback you can watch your student’s writing process as a time-lapse video. Simply install the extension linked above, and you can have an instant replay of the assignment’s work!

Plagiarism becomes very obvious when you see a sudden large paragraph appear on the time-lapse replay!

Recreating your “Desktop” in Chrome

Recreating your “Desktop” in Chrome

by | Mar 28, 2019 | GSuite

 

It’s a bit different, but just as effective.

 In addition to being able to use colours on folders to assist with organizing, there is another handy trick.  You may have already discovered this, but if you haven’t tested this out yet, it’s how I replaced my desktop when I became a Google Educator.  You can right click on anything in your Google Drive (folder or individual document) and you will see that one of the options in the fly-out menu is “Add to Starred”.

     

    Anything that you add a star to will appear on the left side of your drive when you click the link that says “starred”. As a teacher, I always starred the unit I was currently teaching so it would be quickly available, then I would unstar it at the end of the unit and apply the star to the next topic. If you look at the following image, this is what my “Starred” drive presently looks like:

    When I was teaching I always kept other frequently used documents in there (the Google doc with the ongoing staff meeting minutes, the list of classroom phone numbers, the detention room supervision schedule). Essentially it was the functional equivalent of my windows desktop.

    And one last thing – don’t forget it you swipe upward from the lower portion of your touch screen chromebook you have shortcuts to a myriad of your Google resources – there are shortcuts to things like Drive, Kami, Read and Write and many other extensions, including extensions you’ve added yourself.

    What are Extensions & Add-ons?

    What are Extensions & Add-ons?

    by | Mar 26, 2019 | GSuite

    I think we’ve all heard the phrase “There’s an app for that!!” – the GSuite/Chrome environment is part of that vein of thinking. If there is something you have in mind to do with your document or presentation or even spreadsheet, it’s likely that with an extension (those are for Chrome) or an add-on (those are for the individual pieces of software such as Docs, Gmail Slides…), you just might be able to do what you have in mind – perhaps more!

    Generally speaking, extensions are installed into the Chrome Browser and give you an advantage or extra features in more than one application (for example, if you install the Bitmoji extension you will have the Bitmoji icon to the right of your Chrome address bar where your other extensions are (like Read & Write), and you will also have it in the Compose menu of your cesd73 Gmail account.  Add-ons are specific to a particular application. An example of an add-on is Pear Deck – it is only valuable in Google Slides. It would be useless to have in Gmail, Sheets or elsewhere.

    To find extensions for your Chromebook, go to the Chrome Store (easily found by searching “chrome store in the future) and search around. 

    To find Add-ons for the software you are using, open that software (so, open Slides for example) and look at the menu titles. One of the menus in all Google Software is “Add-ons” – in that menu you can get new add-ons (now would be a great time to add Pear Deck onto your slides account), or you can manage the add-ons you already have installed.

    This is where you really harness the power of GSuite for Education. The stuff you don’t need for your particular class are not slowing your Chromebook down, and the stuff you do need can generally be found – – and more!

    Insert a Page Break – New Feature in Google Docs

    Insert a Page Break – New Feature in Google Docs

    by | Feb 26, 2019 | GSuite

    As has been mentioned previously, one of the great things about Google is that when a new feature is rolled out, you immediately have access to the new tool(s) without having to pay any money, update any software, or troubleshoot anything. It just becomes availabe to you. 

    So, recently new in Google Docs is the ability to insert a page break. The image below illustrates for you how to access this much needed feature!

    Overnight, Automatic Notebook File Conversion

    Overnight, Automatic Notebook File Conversion

    by | Feb 5, 2019 | GSuite

    Overnight, Automatic Notebook File Conversion

    In an effort to ease the stress on teachers to convert their .notebook files to .pdf files (animation is lost, but content preserved), Myles in the CESD technology department wrote a script (aka program) to automate this process. Instead of YOU converting your files, you put them in a folder and they will be converted through the night. To access this amazing tool, you’ll need to do the following:

    1. Dig out your old windows laptop and dust it off.
    2. Boot it up, and go grab a coffee. Try to maintain your patience while it boots up, the old sack of silicon chips and circuits is now in its senior years.
    3. When eventually it’s ready to cooperate, click on the start button
    4. Open Computer

    The folder you are looking for is called DIVISIONSHARE.

    5. Open it, and you’ll see a bunch more files.
    6. Scroll down the list of files – you’re looking for a shortcut. It’s named “Smart Notebook Conversion”

    7. Double click that shortcut and you’ll see a list of folders that other CESD teachers have created.

    8. Create a folder with your name.
    9. Drag any SMART files you’d like to have as .pdf files for future use into your folder.
    10. Go home for the night.
    11. Have a nice supper.
    12. Spend time with your family.
    13. Walk the dog.
    14. Watch some TV, or play a game, do a puzzle or read a book.
    15. Relax.
    16. Go to bed. Sleep well.
    17. In the morning when you go to work, open that folder with your name on it and drag your .pdf files out of it.
    18. Load your .pdf files into your Google Drive.
    19. If you wish to, pick up a flash drive or external hard drive and save all your files – notebook, word, excel, pdf, jpegs onto it and toss it in the bottom drawer of your desk. You never know if a few months from now someone will have written a Chrome extension that can read a .notebook file (whoever does it could make themselves very rich – GSuite is the new platform for Ed Tech entrepreneurs, and the resources are increasing daily!)