The Principal Becomes the Student
I've previously dabbled with the Google suite of apps and used Google Drive out of necessity in my professional life but to be honest I still feel more at ease and in control using Microsoft Office products to create.
Today's first DFI (Digital Fluency Intensive) session had moments "Whoa! Can I keep up?" and "Yeah, I've got this!" I have to say that in this first session I have learned truckloads & today's day out of school has not felt like a chore.
Here's a few of the things that Dorothy Burt, aka Mrs. Manaiakalani, has put me (and my esteemed colleagues) through in our very first DFI session:
1. 'Marie Kondoing' our google drives. Yes, these are in desperate need of a tidy up and reorganization. It will make life simpler, faster & easier. Make folders, colour code & have calendar years on them. Simple!!!
2. Useful tips and tricks. This included keyboard short cuts. Mental note - remember to use control+shift+V if inserting a chunk of text into my blog (or elsewhere) if I don't want to muck up the formating.
3. I learned about the explore tool in google docs. This is damn diddly useful if you need a quick google search, need a definition or a quick image. You don't even have to leave the google doc you're working on. I didn't even know the explore tool existed or at least had never noticed it lurking there on the right side of my google docs page.
Below is an example of something simple I have created on google docs. It's actually a table which has the top row with merged cells and the borderlines are the same colour as the background so you don't know they're there. The rationale behind using a table but hiding it is to keep things orderly. Dorothy introduced to a neat website that removes the background from photos. This website is remove.bg I used this tool on the image of the hands beside the 'Respect Myself' words below.
Well, that's it for now. I did learn a lot more than that but these will be my key takeaways, along with using google groups for ease of communication, following today's intensive learning.
Nga mihi,
Perky
I absolutely agree Perky... today produced a few real gems of knowledge and more than a few "Cripes...WHAT??" I am most impressed with your poster of our three school rules! Very creative indeed.
ReplyDeleteKia ora Perky,
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear the gems you have picked up today. Your 'simple' google doc is also a very effective poster that I can imagine you using with staff and learners. Have you considered adding a link to the remove.bg so it is one click to get to it?
Maria
Kia ora Perky,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the 2 extremes of emotion felt to day in feeling not being able to keep up or feeling smug and having it under control.
I have already started Kondo-ising my Drive and it is long overdue.
Did you create the word cloud in your school rules poster? If so - what tool did you use?
Looking forward to more DFI mahi next Friday.
Mā te wā
Cheryl (TT)
Well this looks really good. I also liked the copy paste without formatting.
ReplyDelete