Greetings, Fellow Aiken County Educators,

Would you like a free, easy way to collect data from students, parents, colleagues and anyone else who has Internet access? If so, I recommend that you explore Google Documents. You can log in, create forms to collect data, view the data online and export it to a variety of useful formats.

This is great for online assignments, collaborating with colleagues on school-related projects, etc. It’s easy, it’s free, and it just works. All you need is a free Google account and you are good to go.

Google Docs are not blocked at school.

I have created a little tutorial for you to help you get started with Google forms.

Please post your comments below.

Best regards,
Art

Greetings, Fellow Aiken County Educators,

Are you looking for a quick, easy, free way to collaborate with colleagues, students, parents, etc., at your school or anywhere else? I have been using Google Groups to do that as part of Aiken High School’s student exchange program with our German partner school and it has worked quite well (http://groups.google.com/group/aiken-hs-gapp). I am able to send messages to the group, put up web pages, upload files, publish images, etc. And I am able to control access to ensure student privacy.

The bottom line is this: It’s easy, it’s free, and it just works. All you need is a free Google account and you are good to go.

Google Groups are not blocked at school.

I have created a little tutorial for you to help you get started with Google Groups.

Please post your comments below.

Best regards,
Art

Greetings, Fellow Aiken County Educators,

If you are not a Photoshop expert, how do you edit the images you use in your lessons? One quick, easy, free online application you can use to jazz up your images is called “Be Funky.”

To see what you can do with “Be Funky,” browse to http://www.befunky.com/ and view the rotating banner on the front page.

You are welcome to download this free step-by-step tutorial that will walk you through the process of uploading a picture to “Be Funky,” editing the picture and saving it to your computer.

Please feel free to add your questions, comments, suggestions, etc., to the comments below.

– Art