How to activate your Ardtornish Google account

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116101841851812348659

By adding me to a circle (hover over my name and an ADD option will appear) you instantly notify me that you have joined.

Google Calendar For Android is Getting Prettier

Finally Google Calendar is now almost visually pleasing. Google's vision to make Calendar even friendlier for all the Android users in the world has got a little closer.
The schedule view has improved again, with images and more immediate information.
Events from your Gmail are now automatically inserted into your calendar so those flights that you book will be in your schedule as soon as your confirmation is received.
Also with assists the ease of putting in events will become so much faster and user friendly.
In all it's starting to become a personal secretary in our pocket.

How good is Steve Dotto? (+dottotech)

Every time I watch a tutorial of his I learn something awesome. He makes simple online learning so fun yet really informative.
He goes at a 100 mph but with the beauty of modern learning he can be paused and you can immediately put what you learn into practise. 
Keep it up +dottotech, you keep me moving forward.

Some People are so Visual

Came across this wonderful visual presentation of current iPad apps. Great to see that so many of the apps are already being used in our community but there are a few there that you may not have come across.

An entertaining Way to Learn about Google Forms

With our whole community now having access to Google Apps I though it may be a good idea to share Dottotech. These wonderful tutorials walk viewers through so many aspects of Google in an engaging way.

In this tutorial i have highlighted today, Dottotech will show you how to create a form for your class. You will be shown how to create a sample sign-out form, how you can design the lay-out of a form and place questions within in it. Then you will learn the sharing options and how to collect responses.

Even Clearer Instructions

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116101841851812348659

or watch and follow the Youtube video below

Blogging with Google Blogger

I hope that these videos assist you with the set up of your class blogs.

Uploading your first template

Creating a Second Page and Linking them through the menu

Adding Useful Links to Your Page

Using Advanced Settings to Personalise Your Template

Turn Your Notifications On

If  you are not receiving notifications via your phone despite entering your phones details please ensure that your Notifications are turned on.

Clearer instructions

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116101841851812348659

If you prefer to use online Youtube type tutorials then you can also follow my step by step tutorial.

You will need to move between the 2 tabs 

(1 being your own tab to create your Google account and the other for the tutorial)

Once you have completed all of the tutorial steps you are invited to join our Ardtornish+ Community by clicking on the link below.

Ardtornish+ - https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116101841851812348659

Then join the community by clicking on the red join community button.

Congratulations and welcome.

Here We Go 2014

Week 1 down.

• Firstly all 1057 domain members are successfully syncing from our school server to our Google Administrator Platform. (644 parents, 368 students & 45staff)
• 149 students successfully logged in and using.
• 58 invited and now accepted authors of a class Book Blog.
• 6 teachers and their classes now with Teacher Dashboard classrooms.

What a week considering there was only 4 days and lets face it Week 1 has enough to do already. So helpful that students are excited to use this new learning platform (some students have used it for 2 years and still excited to have their own account). It's also been wonderful to have a teaching staff that wants to explore and invest their time in this expansion and adjustment of a tool that we are already using.

The only hitch came in the form of some annoying password hitches with the students.  Saying this, any problem can become a great learning experience. The fact is that now myself and 4 other staff members know how to quickly change a password when requested. Through the Admin console it couldn't really be much easier.

Next:: This week: The Staff