Effective Use of Google Tools In the Teaching & Learning Process 

Course Objectives 

1. Getting to know basic Google tools for educational benefits.

2. Getting to appreciate the uses of each of these tools in driving an e-learning experience.

3. Getting to know how these tools can be combined to set up a complete VIRTUAL CLASSROOM 

4. Applying it instantly this new session.

5. Becoming an expert in the game 

Course Outlines 

1. Introduction 

2. List of basic Google tools 

3. Educational benefits of each tool 

4. Other benefits for schools and teachers 

5. Implementation: Guided tips for success 

6. Combining the tools in building a basic e-learning platform 

7. A practical video on one of the tools 

8. Links for helpful materials 

Introduction 

Google Incorporated is a multi-billion dollar tech company- a global brand leader in education and business. 

The Google brand has so much global visibility that it’s very hard to find any citizen of the world in the literacy bracket who has never benefited from a Google service. 

Expectedly, the turn of the century and it’s paradigm shift to a more technology-driven system has helped in no small way, to expand the reach of its benefits in almost every area of human endeavour, be it tech-consciousness, business, general educational and learning. 

In today’s training, we are going to see how some of these basic tools can enhance e-learning takeoff in schools, profiting both the teacher and learners alike. 

There are so many Google Tools available for e-learning experience, but we are going to consider the basic few. 

List of Basic Google Tools 

1. Google Mail (Gmail) 

2. Google Drive 

3. Google Forms

4. Google Doc 

5. Google Slide 

6. Google Sheet 

7. Google Hangout 

8. YouTube 

9. Google Classroom 

How to use Each for Educational Benefits 

1. Gmail 

Google Mail, popularly called Gmail is a leading email service provider owned by Google. 

To enjoy the benefits of all the Google tools either for education or business, one must have a Gmail account. To create one, go to https://gmail.com. 

a. Gmail offers a seamless communication platform among teachers and students, parents and school management especially for schools using other Google tools for e-learning experience. The entire Google tools are synchronized. 

b. The best part of Gmail as an educational assistance is the application of e-mail signature. With e-mail signature, every mail from the school to clients etc can be an opportunity to promote new offers, drive traffic to a school website, give publicity to school events, sell digital products, the list is endless. It works same way for individual teachers. 

2. Google Drive 

This is a free cloud storage platform for every Gmail account holders. With this free cloud storage, schools can pursue a paperless system, which has become a 21st century norm. 

a. Google Drive can be used by schools to permanently secure their important files. 

b. Teachers can create folders for each of their students in Google Drive. This makes sorting student’s files easy. 

c. Google Drive is used to create hyperlink for every kind of file- audio, video, graphic, text etc.

d. With Google Drive, Newsletters, students' results and every form of regular dispatch to parents can easily be hyperlinked and sent to parents for easy perusal. With this, there is no need wasting paper and ink on these materials.

3. Google Form 

a. Google Form can be used as a secure database platform to collect both staff and students' data. After collection, it can easily be exported to Excel sheet. 

b. Teachers can use Google form to create automated, customized worksheet for their students as assessment tool. 

c. Schools can use this tool as email subscriber tool by enabling email collection the first time parents or clients register for an event. 

4. Google Doc 

This is a Word processing software just like the Microsoft Word. 

a. Google Doc has a default template for creating a lesson plan- a very important tool for teachers 

b. Every document prepared with Google Doc is automatically saved in the Google Drive, meaning it can always be retrieved. 

5. Google Slide 

Google Slide is a presentation tool like the Microsoft PowerPoint. 

a. Teachers can share presentation on any subject/topic with their students.

b. Presentations created with Google Slide is saved automatically in Google Drive with a shareable link, meaning it can be sent across to even absent students or parents. 

6. Google Sheet 

This is a spreadsheet package owned by Google.

a. Schools can create unlimited database for their staff and students.

b. Google Sheet is the best tool for processing students’ final result. 

c. Every work done with Google Sheet is automatically saved in the Google Drive and can be retrieved at any time. 

7. Google Hangout 

If you know and appreciate the use of Skype, then you will enjoy Google Hangout. It comes free with every Gmail account. 

a. Schools can schedule a webinar-like meeting (video conference) with staff, clients and other stakeholders. 

b. Teachers can easily engage their students within and off the classroom for a rich academic interactions. 

c. It serves as a chatting tool. A lot of persons can be involved at the same time. 

8. YouTube 

YouTube is part of the bargain for running with Gmail. 

a. With YouTube, schools can hold live sessions to promote events or school program.

b. YouTube offers a brand visibility for schools and teachers. 

c. Videos can be created on any topic and uploaded to YouTube. 

9. Google Classroom 

Google Classroom is a complete e-learning package for schools with low budget. Google Classroom works seamlessly with all the Google tools to produce a thrilling e-learning experience for schools. 

I wrote an article on 55 ways to benefit from Google Classroom. Check it up here. 

Other Benefits for Schools and teachers 

There are so many benefits, not strictly educational, for schools and teachers running with these Google tools. 

1. Every video in the YouTube channel can be monetized. 

2. Google Forms can be used to sell products and promote events. 

3. If you run any form of ongoing promotion, Google form can be used as an email subscriber tool to build customer base. 

4. You can use Google Hangout as a webinar tool with business partners and potential clients 

5. Creating an email signature with Gmail is a powerful marketing tool. 

6. With Google Drive, you can organize as well as secure your important files. 

7. Google Drive also helps you to create a shareable link for every document. It means you can easily publish an eBook and sell directly to your customers without going through a third party. 

8. The list is endless. 

Implementation: Guided Tips for Success 

For schools to effectively run with these Google tools and benefit maximally from them, three things are needed, namely: 

1. Dedicated Team: Effective use of these Google tools as e-learning tools would require the formation of a dedicated team to drive it. Such team must be adequately equipped to produce result for real. 

2. Decisive Training: The entire teachers, including the management staff should be adequately trained on the use of these tools. 

3. Diehard Tenacity: Consistency and progressive implementation is key to driving an effective e-learning structure in schools with these Google tools. 

Combining the Tools in Building a Basic e-learning Platform 

While these Google tools can as well profit schools that are not yet pursuing e-learning, the best way to optimally profit from them is to integrate them as part of an e-learning experience. 

Every school on a low budget can effectively set up an e-learning structure with these Google tools. 

This is the step-by-step guide in setting up a basic e-learning structure with Google tools: 

1. Create a Google Classroom: This is the main platform for your virtual learning. 

2. Use Google form to create a kind of registration form. This automatically creates a database for registered students. 

3. Send a class code from the Google Classroom to all the registered students in your database to join the class. 

4. In the Google Classroom, detail the class description, class rules and every other information necessary. 

5. With Google Doc, you can create your lesson plan. 

6. With Google Sheet and Google Sheet, you can create and attach a note. 

7. You can also attach video lessons from your YouTube channels or from external sources. 

8. Create worksheet with automatic grading using Google form and attach it to the class. 

9. You can schedule the submission date for any assignment, and you can easily know those who did not submit at the right time. 

10. You can send group message to all your students at once, or send individually. 

11. Use Google Hangout to chat with any or all of your students at once. 

12. You can also video-conference with your students using Google Hangout. 

13. Save all your class work in Google Drive cloud storage. 

14. Create shareable link for every type of file using Google Drive and send to parents and students at will using their registered email address 

15. Create folders for each student's work, group work and other important documents 

16. Use the Google Sheet to present students’final result. 

17. You can also co-teach with other teachers in one class. 

18. The list is endless. 

A Practical Video on one of the Tools. 

This will be sent to email address (Gmail only). Drop your email here in the comment box or contact chimaeducator@gmail.com to request for the video.

You can also join our online Google Classroom to access 20 FREE videos on Creating and running with Google Classroom. Go here to Sign up FREE

Contact us: 

Twitter: @ChimaEducator 

Facebook Page: African Tech Teachers Network

WhatsApp/Phone: +2347066894406 

Email: chimaeducator@gmail.com 

*** We trail teachers on the use of digital e-learning tools for today’s education. 

HIRE US… 

Google form as one of the most powerful Google tools needed for both educational and business benefits remains one of the best tools for data gathering for teachers and students.

Google Forms lets you create a survey with lots of different kinds of questions:

    Short answer
    Long answer
    Multiple choice
    Check boxes
    Drop-down menu etc.

Here are 10 ways to use Google Forms in the classroom and in schools:

1. Opinion surveys — Want to get to know your students better or learn about their preferences? How about parents? Create a simple survey. Add a short answer question for the name, or if you want to keep it anonymous, leave it out.

2. Late work submission (with email notifications!) — When students use this form, they can provide assignment details and a link to any digital work to turn in. You can receive an email when they submit the late work form. In Forms, use the “Responses” tab and click the three dots menu button. Select “Get email notifications for new responses”. It will automatically send an email to the account you used to create the form. 

3. Lesson plans — Want to quickly create detailed lesson plans with standards, learning objectives, activity descriptions and more? Add all the parts you want included in those lesson plans in a Google Form. (Add all of the individual standards as check boxes.) Then view your own form and start filling in information. Use the Autocrat add-on to turn your responses in the Google Form into custom-created documents. You’ll have a document with all of your lesson plan information for each day! These are great for turning in to administration, leaving for substitute teachers or filing away for next year. 

4. Autograded quizzes — If you create a quiz or other assessment with closed-ended questions, Google Forms will autograde it for you. Create your quiz and click the gear (settings) button. Choose the “Quizzes” tab and turn on “Make this a quiz”. You have some options in that window. Then, go through your questions and select the correct answer (your answer key).

5. Quick grade log — To quickly mark a grade for simple assignments, create a Google Form with every student’s name, put each student’s scores into that form. Later, pull up the responses and transfer them to the grade book. 

6. Flipped classroom assessment — The flipped classroom comes in many different shapes and sizes, but many teachers have students watch a video and then answer some comprehension questions afterward. This is easily done in Google Forms. Create a form with a YouTube video (created by you or found on YouTube) and questions. 

7. Special information gathering (for exercise, nutrition, reading, etc.) — If students need to submit information in logs to track progress over time, Google Forms can capture that information easily. Create a form with the student’s name and all the information he/she needs to submit. Each time he/she submits, it’s logged into a spreadsheet where students can review that data and submit it to you.

8. Inter-file transfers among teachers — Teachers can use Google Forms to share their learning, too! During professional development, direct teachers to a Google Form where they can share their ideas, reflections or experiences from the classroom. Provide a link to the spreadsheet of results to everyone in the group. That way, when everyone’s done, each teacher can see everyone else’s ideas all in one place!

9. Answer with an image — With younger students, you can ask questions and provide answers with images! Teachers can cue students verbally and they can answer by choosing the correct picture. When creating the form, just click on the answer to edit it and click the image button at the right. 

10. Creating a Database for your students — The combination of Google form and Google sheet can be used to create a database for your class. And one good thing about this is that your files are hosted in the cloud.

You can see that there are so much to do with Google forms.

To get a practical tutorial on all these instructions and other Google tools, SUBSCRIBE TO OUR 9-IN-1 VIDEO PACK ON GOOGLE TOOLS...

21st century educators should explore every possible means to benefit from the digital revolution making wave across the globe today.

The key word here is leveraging technology to monetize their talents as well as enhance their professional engagement.

In this case, video creation comes into mind. 

I have already written a post on how to profit from video creation. You can read it up here.

#1. Joyoshare Screen Recorder

Features: Easy-to-use. You can set start and stop time in your recording. Video can be saved in the following formats: MP4, AVI, FLV, WMV, SWF etc. You can also record online video calls, live streaming videos, gameplays, webinars, webcams etc. It can also record audio (system sound, microphone voice, streaming music, online radio, music games etc) and convert to MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, M4A, M4B etc. 

#2. Tinytake

Features: Free screen capture and video recording solution. Capture images and videos on your screen, add comments and share. Up to 120 minutes recording time. Works with windows 7 and higher versions; requires a minimum of 4gb of RAM. 

#3. Ispring free cam

Features: Free screen recorder with a built-in audio/video editor. Videos can be uploaded directly to YouTube or saved as WMV.  It has high quality resolution, records voice overs and computer sound; It contains no watermark; it does not record webcam. No time limit. 

#4. Atomi active presenter

Features: It can capture all your screen, no watermark, no recording limit time, add transition effects like photo slides and annotations to your videos. Import to MP4, FLV, AVI, WMV, WEBM, MKV formats. 

#5. Screenpresso

Features: Captures screen as screenshots and records same to create HD videos. Allows recording audio and webcam along with the screen, in MP4 format that can be changed to WMV, WEBM, OGG; offers sharing features for numerous services including email, FTP, Evernote, Google drive, Onedrive, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox etc.; only 3 minutes for free users. For all windows version. 

#6. Ezvid video maker

Features: For desktop screen recording; allows on screen drawing. Autosaves the videos during recording, create slideshows with the capturing, offers audio recording and voice synthesis features, upload directly to YouTube, 45 minutes recording limit. 

#7. Icecream screen recorder

Features: Screen can capture automatically when preset; draw on screen; only 10 minutes for free users; can record both video and audio; supports WEBM, MP4 and MOV formats; can also screenshot. 

#8. SRecorder

Features: Free with no limit in time record. You can save your video on your PC or share directly to social media. 

#9. Dvdvideosoft.com

Features: Records onscreen changes, speech from mic, mouse movement; records in MP4; save in BMP, JPEG, GIF, TGA or PNG. Video downloader.

#10. Screencast-o-matic

Features: A screen recording software that helps you record both desktop screen and webcam easily. You can upload recorded video directly to YouTube or save as MP4, FLV, AVI. Free users enjoy only 15 minutes. Pro users have unlimited recording time for an annual subscription fee of $18.

To learn more about each of these tools, click on each heading to access the homepage.  As a teacher or any kind of online content creator, you are sure to find these powerful tools very useful. Many of them are free, yet offering high quality contents.

Enjoy.