Waffle Bytes

Google Calendar has a little-known feature (at least in our area) to help you mark your out-of-office time.  This feature is handy as it will automatically decline any invitations that are sent to you once you have set it. The following video shows you how to create an out-of-office event, and what it looks like and does.  Note that just like a regular event you can set it for a partial day OR multiple days. Video on creating an Out Of Office Event If you prefer written guidance, here those are with screenshots: 1. Click on a date to add an event.  In the pop-up window that appears, type in the name of the event- 2. Select the "Out of Office" button that is an option below the event name- 3. Update the following information as needed: Starting and ending dates and times (it can be a partial day, full day or multiple days as needed) The customized message you want sent to people that invite you to events The visibility of your event by others able to...

There are several new options you can use to do a bit more customization to your Google Forms.  Here's an overview - You still click on the art palette  icon to see the theme options: The updated screen gives 4 options you can modify: 1. If you want to set an image at the top of your form, you can pick one from the gallery, upload one, or select one from your albums: 2 & 3.  Once you have set the header (or if you stay on the basic theme), you will have several colors you can choose from for the theme color, and the background color.  These are adaptive to the picture you choose if you selected an image: 4. Choose the font style you want to use:

There is a new feature in Google Sites that is going to make a lot of people happy!  You can now add custom links into the navigation.  You want a link to your SIS?  You can do it at the top level now! Now, when looking at the Pages window, instead of a "New page" icon, there is a plus sign:  Hovering your mouse over that + will pop up (currently) two options to choose from, the "New page" icon and a new "New link" icon:  Selecting the "New link" icon, you will get a pop-up window where you can give the website you wish to link to a name and copy in the URL.  When linking, note that you can also select an existing page on your site (which will allow you to order the pages in the navigation menu differently, or even have a page linked in two places in the menu).  You also have the choice of whether it opens in a new tab, or over top of the website itself: You can then grab, drag and move the link as a main level or sub-level to any o...

It's worth noting a new option in Slides - the ability to add some template Diagrams!  It is a fast way to get a great looking diagram in your slideshow.  There are several options, and you have the ability to edit it to suit your style/needs. Here's how to use it - 1. You will find this option under the Insert Menu: 2. When you select it, it will open up your options in a drawer on the right-hand side.  There are 5 different types of diagrams you can create: 3. When you choose which type, you then get additional options in how that type of diagram is displayed: 4.  There is also an option for how many steps/layers/levels are a part of the diagram: 5.  Once you click on the template diagram, it will load onto your current slide: 6.  You can customize the diagram by clicking on various parts of it: 7.  Occasionally a couple parts are grouped together.  In my example the line on the color bar and the corresponding text are...

There is an addition in your "More" area when creating items in Google - it's called Google My Maps. This is a great place to create some customized maps which can be saved and shared just like other Google items in Drive.  Some applications - creating a map of schools in your league mapping traveling routes viewing where students in your class are clustered a map of local historical sites mapping locations in a novel students are reading The easiest way to create a map is to use or create a Google Spreadsheet with the data.  Make sure to use headers on your spreadsheet for importing purposes! My friend Joe Rommel over at Berrien RESA has blogged here about how to import this into a Map - Your browser does not support iframes.

Whenever you are working with a website, there is definitely a better way to make formatting changes that involve fonts & colors.  And this way does NOT involve using the little icons on the formatting toolbar - which is the obvious way since it is there visible when you are editing your pages! The proper way is to make those changes so they will set them for the entire site.  With Google Sites, it means making them in the Manage Site area.  When in the Manage Site screen, in the menu on the left is the option Themes, Colors and Fonts - this is what you want to select. Once there, you will see the following: Here's what all these areas are: Theme - you can see which theme you currently have selected, and change to another theme Page Areas - you can select which area of the page you would like to modify Page Parts - this list the various parts/options that can be changed Format - this shows the formatting that you can modify Preview - a preview windo...

Even if your site is using a default header and footer on it, there are many times you want to customize this.  Here is how: 1.  First go to the Gear in the upper right side, select Edit site layout from the menu -   2.  This will change what the top of your site looks like - it adds several buttons for the features you can customize.  When the buttons are "shadowed" they are enabled, when they blend with the background they are disabled.  Clicking on a button toggles it between disabled/enabled. 3. Mousing over an area that has been enabled will turn the area white and display a message that says Edit.  Click on that area to actually edit it. 4.  With the header, once you click on that area you will get the following pop-up with the settings you can change in the header area.  Most of these are about the logo.  (To change the actual title you change the site settings): 5.  To change the footer, you click on that ...

So, it isn't really a functional update, but it is one that is going to be popular - the ability to customize your form theme.  Why?  It's about branding - finally I can create themes that are branded to my organization or projects.  Not only is that valuable for those that are filling out the form, but it is valuable for me so at a glance I can know what the form is associated with.   Here is how it works -  1. You click on the Change theme button on the toolbar.  A menu of themes will appear on the right side of the window. 2. Pick the theme you would like to customize by clicking on it (you can use the Basic, or you can find a pre-created theme that is close to what you want to use).  When you click on it, a new "Customize" option pops up underneath the name. 3. Clicking on the "Customize" brings up a list of items that can be changed on the theme.  Click on any of the items to begin customizing.  4. As yo...

Dink  - "Become a Master Animator" Basics : Dink is an app for creating animations.  The user creates the animation using stop frame (or stop motion) animation, allowing the user to customize on a frame by frame basis.  Creativity is only limited by the user, as the user creates all the content. Educational Uses:   If you are looking for an app for animation that is easy for students to pick up and learn very quickly, this app may be the one.  I was able to create a simple 15 frame animation - with layers - in under 15 minutes.  That was without looking at any tutorials or examples.  Very easy to learn and use.  Overall, very powerful....however, you might want to read the drawbacks before purchasing for your classroom set of devices. Drawbacks in Education:  The link to MyDink.net within the app is a serious concern - not the site itself, but that it connects to animations created by others and many of these are not appropriate fo...

  Unbeknownst to many, there are various question types that can be added to Moodle to make quizzes more flexible - and more like some of the question types students may see elsewhere (read that - national testing...).  I'm going to demonstrate various question types over the next several weeks. Open University has created a whole host of question types.  Today we are looking at the "Drag and Drop Into Text" question.   Here is a video overview of how to set it up and use it: (This question types working on Moodle 2.1 forward; I am showing it running on Moodle 2.4. This addition must be added to your Moodle server by a Moodle Administrator.) Moodle Plugins - Drag & Drop into Text   Drag & Drop into Text   Documentation

Another easy customization that can be added to your Moodle 2 site is header/footer information specific to your site.  Again, prior to Moodle 2 you had to hack into a theme and add this information (requiring knowledge of PHP, HTML, and CSS).  Now, it is a customization that can be added to any of your themes using the web browser and logging in as the Moodle Administrator.  Unlike creating a custom site menu, if you do want to "pretty it up" you do need to know (or lookup) some HTML. Here's the video (if you prefer written instructions, they are below): To add a custom header and/or footer to your site, login as the Moodle Administrator.  In the Site Administration area, click on the Appearance link, then select Additional HTML. This will give you and area to type in the information you want in the header, body and/or footer area on your Moodle site.  (For most if not all themes, the BODY information is displayed immediately after the HEAD informa...