Friday, March 14, 2014

Google Add-ons


Google Add-ons Google has introduced a new feature for Google Drive. Add-ons, similar to scripts I suppose, are tools you can add to your Google documents to help facilitate certain processes. Track Changes - Allows you selectively take changes being made to a document. I’m not sure how well this would work with 50 people in a document, but I would have liked to try it the other day as I let 30 freshman have edit rights on a document at one time without impressing on them the need for respect and citizenship. (It was not a pretty site and made the document almost unusable as they started changing everything willy nilly.)  
Lucid Charts - I know some teachers in the district love this and I thought they might like the idea that they can easily go from document to mind map or flowchart with ease. 
Easy Bib - I’m sure anyone asking students to write research papers will appreciate the ability to create bibliographies. Format in MLA, APA, and Chicago style. 
Pro Writing Aid - Not sure if this will be any good, but any help in writing can’t hurt either, or maybe it can. I don’t know I’m a math person. Kaizena - voice notes now even easier. WorkFlows - At first this doesn’t sound helpful, but imagine this, “Student forgets to turn in work. Teacher grades everyone elses work and moves on to next assignment. Student turns in work and complains that the teacher still hasn’t graded it.” Enter Workflows, now student must add workflows to document and get teacher signature. Teacher is notified when work is turned in later or changed and can then go back and grade assignment.  
These add-ons are new and these are just the first ones out of the gate. Expect them to get better and new products to be offered on a daily basis.