ITS Blog

Aviary - Digital Editing Suite

posted Feb 15, 2012 9:31 AM by Ryan Case [ updated Feb 15, 2012 9:33 AM ]

Aviary is a suite of FREE web-based design tools which classrooms can use to create, edit and share digital assets. Aviary offers the power and capabilities of leading desktop editors and design tools, with the freedom and flexibility of browser-based applications. Whether you are trying to edit a screen capture for your website, record a podcast or design a cover for a school report, Aviary has the right tool for you.

Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/v/H21-Fm6C_uk

Access Avairy's Editing Suite by signing in to Gmail and clicking "More" at the top left corner of the screen. Or Click Here.

Prezi - Make your presentations ZOOM!

posted Feb 13, 2012 1:14 PM by Ryan Case [ updated Feb 15, 2012 7:41 AM ]

Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connections between them. The result: visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery.

Watch a video about Prezi: Click here

Check it out. www.prezi.com

Gmail Tip: Contact Groups

posted Feb 6, 2012 11:11 AM by Ryan Case [ updated Feb 6, 2012 11:15 AM ]

With contact groups you can easily organize your contacts, making it easier to email a specific set of people. For example, if you created a contact group called "Soccer club", you could just send a message to that group, rather than sending out an email to 50 different people. Never leave somebody off an email again!

To create a contact group:

Click Mail at the top-left corner of your Gmail page, then choose Contacts.
Select contacts that you want to add to a group, click the Groups button. , then Create new.
Enter the name of the group.
Click OK.

To add contacts to a contact group:

Select the contacts in the Contacts list.
Click the Groups button.
Select the group you'd like to add the contact to, or select Create new to create a new group.
If you have multiple addresses saved for a contact, you can choose which address should belong to the contact group by opening the contact and clicking the small arrow next to the group you'd like to modify.

Note: These instructions work only with the standard version of Gmail. If they don't match what you see in your Contact Manager, we suggest that you upgrade to a fully supported browser or click standard versionin your account.

Google Docs Tip: Organize with Collections

posted Feb 6, 2012 6:33 AM by Ryan Case

Collections are a combination of the best features of labels and folders. A file can have multiple collections, much like the labels in Gmail. Collections can also be stored hierarchically, like folders on your desktop. In addition, collections can be shared.

Creating a collection

To create a collection, follow these steps:

Click the red Create button at the top left of your Documents List.
Select Collection from the drop-down menu.
In the screen that appears, place your cursor over the field labeled New Collections and enter a name.

The collection you created now appears in both the My collections section on your left, and in your Documents List. If you want to create a second collection inside the first, then use the drop-down arrow to the right of your collection and select New - Collection

Add color to your collections

Brighten up your Documents List by adding some color to your collections. Select the collection and choose Change color.

Gmail Tip: Spam!

posted Jan 26, 2012 8:06 AM by Ryan Case

Gmail's spam filters automatically diverting messages that are suspected of being unwanted messages into your 'Spam' label and keeping them out of your inbox.

If you find a message that should be marked as spam, just move it to '[Gmail]/Spam.' This is just like clicking 'Report Spam' in the Gmail web interface and helps us to improve our spam filters.

If you find a message wrongly classified as spam, you can unmark the message. Just select the message, and click the Not Spam button that appears at the top and bottom of your current view. Unmarking a message will automatically move it to your inbox.

If you find that some senders' messages are consistently being mislabeled as spam, you can prevent this by:

Adding their email addresses to your Contacts list. Gmail will deliver messages from members of your Contacts list to your inbox, unless we know with high confidence that they are spam.

Some messages sent from contacts which are very clearly spam can be sent directly to your Spam label. More importantly, in some cases messages from contacts will not be sent to Spam but will be marked with a red warning banner if the content is suspicious - for example, your friend's or contact's account has been compromised and used to send phishing messages.

Creating a filter so the messages are never sent to Spam.

Gmail Tip: Right Side Chat

posted Jan 19, 2012 6:46 AM by Ryan Case [ updated Jan 19, 2012 6:55 AM ]

Some of you have discovered Google Mail's Chat. With Chat, you can connect with others via instant messaging (IM) and video. By default, Chat contacts are shown below your labels in the left sidebar. If you have a lot of labels, you have to scroll way down to see Chat contacts. Right Side Chat is a Google Mail Lab that moves Chat contacts to the top of the right sidebar, making them more accessible.

To enable Right Side Chat, click on the gear in the upper right of the Google Mail window, select Mail Settings, and click on the Labs link. Scroll down through the Labs (alpha order) to locate Right Side Chat. You can also enter "right" in the Labs search field to show the Right Side Chat Lab. Click the Enable radio button. Finally, at the top or bottom of the window, click the Save Changes button. Right Side Chat will be enabled and you'll be returned to Google Mail.

Notes: Google Mail automatically adds people you email frequently in the wbschools domain to your Chat contacts. To manually add a person to your Chat contacts, click into the Chat search field, enter all or part of the person's name, hover over the person's name in the auto-complete list, and select Show In Chat List. To remove a person from your Chat contacts, hover the mouse over the person's name, click on [video &] more from the window that pops up, and select Never Show. For more information on Chat, seehttp://mail.google.com/mail/help/chat.html.

Android 4 Schools: Apps and Devices for Schools

posted Jan 3, 2012 7:17 AM by Ryan Case [ updated Jan 3, 2012 7:19 AM ]

www.android4schools.com is a blog that reviews of apps (mostly free ones) that are appropriate for use in K-12 settings and makes some suggestions about how those apps could be used by students, teachers, and school administrators. It also reviews Android-powered tablets for use in K-12 schools.

http://www.android4schools.com/