Over the past few years, Google has expanded their offering of apps and tools beyond the search engine. Many of these - including Gmail, Google Docs, and YouTube - are clearly beloved by many and have made their way into higher education learning environments. However, within the vast digital landscape of Google apps and tools, there are some wonderful, lesser-known hidden gems that can make your life easier and productive.
Google Drive, although not so much a hidden gem itself, has several of these lesser-known treasures that you may not even know about right at your fingertips. Below is a short guide on how to access and enable third party apps and tools that integrate with Google Drive.
been known for the creation of electronic productivity documents that can be access from any computer through "the cloud" and can be shared with others for collaboration. More specifically, Google Drive lets users create and share documents, presentations, spreadsheets, forms, and drawings in the cloud.
After logging on to your Google account and navigating to Google Drive, click on the create button. So where are these lesser-known Google gems? Click on the connect more apps button.
Your immediately presented with a list of third party applications.
Google Drive, although not so much a hidden gem itself, has several of these lesser-known treasures that you may not even know about right at your fingertips. Below is a short guide on how to access and enable third party apps and tools that integrate with Google Drive.
Getting Started
Google Drive, formerly Google Docs, has predominatelybeen known for the creation of electronic productivity documents that can be access from any computer through "the cloud" and can be shared with others for collaboration. More specifically, Google Drive lets users create and share documents, presentations, spreadsheets, forms, and drawings in the cloud.
After logging on to your Google account and navigating to Google Drive, click on the create button. So where are these lesser-known Google gems? Click on the connect more apps button.
Finding and Enabling Google Drive Apps
As with any instructional technology, the tools you select serve a specific productivity or learning outcome. You can begin scrolling through the list of available apps or simply use the search box in the top right-hand corner. You can also search by category as shown below.
Apps with the green banner and small white check-mark indicates they're already installed within Google Drive.
Let's select Pixlr Editor as an example. Pixlr Editor is an easy-to-use online photo editing tool. After clicking on the Pixlr Editor logo, you're presented with additional information about the app.
Click on the connect button. The confirmation window will appear. Click OK.
You are then taken back to Google Drive where you will see a small callout box indicating Pixlr Editor has been connected.
How Do I Use the Google Drive Connected App?
Just like documents, forms, and spreadsheets, third party apps in Google Drive function the same way. From Google Drive Click on the create button, then Pixlr Editor. Take note how connected apps are listed on the right side as shown below.
You may see the following message. Click accept.
Pixlr Editor will now open in a new browser tab or window. You can think of Pixlr Editor as a simplify version of Adobe Photoshop. Instead of running from your local desktop, Pixlr Editor works right within your Web browser.
From Pixlr Editor's main menu, you can open up an image to begin the editing process.
When you save your work, select Google Drive as your location and then OK to confirm your selection.
As a result, you have a saved edited image listed in Google Drive.
To edit the image in Pixlr Editor, simply click on the image file, select the small arrow icon next to the Open button and select PIxlr Editor.
What Other Google Drive Tools Are Worth Exploring for the Classroom?
Here are a few of my personal picks to get you started.
- WeVideo - An online video creation and editing application. This can be a great tool for students to work on video projects collaboratively synchronously or asynchronously.
- Lucidchart for Education & Lucidchart Diagrams Online- Both tools are great creating flowcharts, mind maps, Venn diagrams, and ideal for group projects. Multiple users can edit these Web-based charts and changes are saved in real-time.
- Movenote - An online presentation application that allows you to create voiceovers. This can be an optional tool for creating flipped lessons right within Google Drive.
- Any Files to PDF - As the title implies, you can convert any printable document in Google Drive into a PDF file.
- GeoGebra - A popular free dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education that brings together geometry, algebra, spreadsheets, graphing, statistics and calculus in one easy-to-use package. Interactive learning, teaching and evaluation resources created with GeoGebra can be shared and used by everyone at www.geogebratube.org.
- VideoNot.es - Currently compatible with YouTube and Coursera, students can watch videos and take notes on the same screen. This can be a great tool for flipped lessons where students can take notes while watching videos posted online.
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