Tuesday Tech Tidbit

If you haven't used Google Keep , then get ready to have your life changed. Google Keep is a simple note-taking app included in the Google Workplace suite. You can jot down virtual sticky notes that can then be categorized and labelled. I use Google Keep to store my thousands of passwords.  Every time I create a new account with something online, I add the login information into my note called Passwords .  You can also generate checklists in Google Keep.  As you complete tasks, you can check them off your list. Notes in Google Keep can be color coded.  They can also be tagged with labels that you create. For example, I have a label called Professional Development.  Anytime I add a related note to my collection, I tag it so it can easily be located in the future. Google Keep also offers collaboration. You can share a note with someone and give them editing privileges.  All contributors can add content to the note, check things off the list, add images, etc. ...

Does your Gmail inbox look like a tornado touched down? I have some easy suggestions to help you gain control over your inbox and employ a system of organization that will make your digital life much more manageable.   Don't delete emails. Archive them. When you delete emails, they are gone forever. With some messages, you might regret this down the road. The Archive button removes an email from your inbox but does not delete it. Use labels .  Labels allow you to assign a name to your messages.  This makes them easy to locate. Use filters .  Filters allow you to automatically perform certain functions to emails as they arrive in your inbox.  You can mark certain messages as read.  You can automatically archive certain messages so they never appear in your inbox.  In the video below I demonstrate these Gmail features.  Let me know if you have any questions about organizing your Gmail messages.

The Chrome browser on your computer has some handy built-in features to help you organize your daily workflow.  One example is the pinned tab feature.  If you visit certain websites as a regular part of your daily routine, you can pin that website as a tab at the top of your Chrome browser.  I use this feature all the time, as it helps me quickly access websites such as Google Calendar, that I use all the time.   Pinned tabs take up less real estate than a full tab.  You can fit a handful of pinned tabs in the same amount of space that would normally take one tab.   To use pinned tabs, you should first sign into the Chrome browser.  Click on the profile icon in the top-right corner of Chrome to turn on sync and sign in with your school email and password.   The video below demonstrates how to use pinned tabs. 

Happy Tuesday! After recovering from spine surgery, I'm back with another tech tidbit. Google Workspace recently added a feature to Google Docs that allows users to add drop-down menus to their documents. Drop-down menus are a useful way to keep track of lists.  Let's say, for example, that you are keeping track of your students' progress on a class project.  In a Google Doc, you can generate a list of students.  Next to each name you can insert a drop-down menu that includes a status (progressing, complete, etc.).  As your students progress through the project, you can update the status next to their name on the document. Google includes a couple of pre-selectable drop-down menus.  But of course you can customize your own menus as well.  You can find the drop-down function under the Insert menu.  Or you can prompt one by typing @dropdown in your document.  Drop-down menus only work on the full browser version of Google Docs.  If you try to u...

  Wakelet is an amazing website that allows users to curate and share online resources.  Think of it as a glorified bookmark organizer for your web browser with a collaborative twist. With Wakelet, you can create online collections of bookmarks.  Each of these collections have their own web link that can be shared with others.  Online users, such as colleagues, parents, or students, can subscribe to your Wakelets.  As you add more resources, they instantly have access to them.   Wakelet is a perfect way to organize a collection of resources for a specific class or a specific topic of study.  You can share the link of resources on Google Classroom.  You can even invite others to edit your Wakelet collections.  Departments can curate resources together! There are communities of educators on Wakelet who freely share their resources.  You can start subscribing to their group collections to expand your Wakelet library.   Wakel...

Gmail has a little secret.  You actually have a limitless amount of email addresses that you can use with your Gmail account. Wait, what? Have you ever wanted to register for something online but already used your email address once and couldn't use the same email address a second time? Then I have a secret for you. It's called Gmail Plus Addresses . Gmail actually provides you with an unlimited amount of email address possibilities, all tied to your one inbox.  Allow me to elaborate. My email address is robitaia@hudson.k12.oh.us (or simply robitaia@hudson.edu).  But Google's little secret is that I can also receive emails to my inbox if someone adds a + and something else before the @ symbol in my address.  For example, if someone sent an email to robitaia+1@hudson.k12.oh.us, I would still receive it to my inbox!  Or robitaia+period1@hudson.k12.oh.us. Awesomesauce! I can use this address to register for a trial for some cool online resource. Maybe more than on...

Gmail provides some handy ways to organize your messages, which makes it easier to search through your emails down the road.  Using labels you can tag messages based on the sender.  This makes it easy to display all emails originating from a particular person.  Filters allow you to program Gmail to apply certain rules to messages.  For example, you can program Gmail to automatically apply the Andrew Robitaille label to all messages originating from me.  Labels and filters are easy to configure, and they make your emails much more organized and easy to sift through.  The video below demonstrates how to apply labels and filters to your Gmail.