ASA Tech Tips and News for February 18, 2022

Last week, one of the updates was the new view in Gmail, which allows users to easily toggle between the main communication tools:  Gmail, Chat, Spaces and Meet. This week I thought it might be a good idea to show you how to use Chat and Spaces in case you are not familiar with those communication and collaboration tools. Chat is simply a real-time instant message tool with some additional features, such as posting a file, having the chat in a pop-up window, opening a video meeting, and using bots to automate activities or take polls. Spaces allows you to organize a group chat, similar to Slack, to hold threaded conversations (conversations with the same subject, like in Gmail), collaborate on projects, assign tasks, share files, start a Google Meet, schedule events in Calendar, and add bots to automate activities. Working on Lent with an assorted group of teachers? Start a Space to organize your meetings, discussions and documents. As with all Google Workspace apps, they are available on your laptop/desktop or your mobile device. 

• Why Do I Have to Prove I'm Not a Robot?
• Infinite Campus Updates:
• Grade Book Updates
• Get Started with Google Chat - Beginner's Tutorial
• Google Spaces:  How to Get Started
• How to Use Google Chat Bots
• Ten Overlooked Google Docs Features for Students and Teachers
• How to Crop, Rotate, And Adjust Images in Google Docs
• 9 Ways to Use Newsela With Your Students
• That Emoji Might Not Look the Same on Your Friend's Phone

Why Do I Have to Prove I'm Not a Robot?

Why Do I Have to Prove I'm Not a Robot?, from How-To Geek by Benj Edwards

Have you ever wondered why you have to check an "I'm not a robot" box and then pass a visual test to prove your human online? Those are called CAPTCHAs and this article explains why they are necessary.

Infinite Campus Updates:

You should see these updates in the next week or two. 

Grade Book Updates:

• Tabs have been added across the top of the list, which allow the teacher to view just Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, and assignments with Submissions.
• The List can now be filtered by Term and assignments in the list can be filtered by All, any Unscored assignments, and any assignments that include a student flagged as Missing.
• If a student name contains a suffix (such as Jr.), it will now display.

Get Started with Google Chat - Beginner's Tutorial

Google Chat is Google's instant message app, which allows you to have a real-time conversation without being in the same room with another person or group of people. This is perfect to use when you need a more immediate answer than waiting for an email. It's also very useful for something as time sensitive as why you are sending a student to the office or another classroom. In addition to a conversation, you can also share files and images instantly. What other uses can you think of for Chat? Google Chat is visible right within Gmail, in either the old view or new view.  Feel free to experiment and send me a chat! Please note:  When the facilitator discusses Rooms, those are now known as Spaces.

Google Spaces:  How to Get Started

Google Spaces (formerly known as Rooms) allows you to collaborate with groups of people in your organization. It also has Tasks built in for project planning, where you can assign people to tasks, give them due dates, and keep track of them. Spaces seems to be Google's answer to Microsoft Teams or Slack. You can access Chat and Spaces from the Gmail interface with the new Gmail view, which was mentioned in last week's Google Workspace Updates post, or from the Google App Switcher (waffle). 

How to Use Google Chat Bots

Bots can be used in both Google Chat and Spaces. 

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Ten Overlooked Google Docs Features for Students and Teachers

Ten Overlooked Google Docs Features for Students and Teachers, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne

There are so many time saving tips in this video, such as how to easily use tables to line up rows and columns of text, making checklists, inserting special characters, changing the default text to something other than Arial, inserting a table of contents, etc.

How to Crop, Rotate, And Adjust Images in Google Docs

How to Crop, Rotate, And Adjust Images in Google Docs, from How-To Geek by Sandy Writtenhouse

Find out how you can format images in your Google Docs. 

9 Ways to Use Newsela With Your Students

9 Ways to Use Newsela With Your Students, from We Are Teachers

Newsela is a free database of free quality nonfiction articles for students from many trusted sources. These articles can be adjusted to meet different reading levels. 

That Emoji Might Not Look the Same on Your Friend's Phone

That Emoji Might Not Look the Same on Your Friend's Phone, from How-To Geek by Joe Fedewa

Did you know that emoji don't look the same on all devices, and in some cases can convey a different mood or meaning?