is so much more than a search engine!

I Google Add news, games and more to the Google homepage

Images

Search for images on the web

Maps View maps and directions

News News now with archive search, Search thousands of news stories

Note Book

Clip and collect information as you surf the web

Patent Search Search the full text of US Patents

Product Search

Search for stuff to buy

Scholar

Search scholarly papers

Special Searches Search within specific topics

Go mobile Maps for mobile View maps and get directions on your phone Mobile Use Google on your mobile phone SMS Use text messaging for quick info

Make your computer work better

Pack A free collection of essential software Web accelerator Speed up the web

Communicate, show & share

Blogger Share your life online with a blog -- it's fast, easy, and free

Calendar Organize your schedule and share events with friends Docs Create and share your online documents, presen-tations, and spreadsheets G –Mail Fast, searchable email with less spam Groups Create mailing lists and discussion groups Knol Share what you know Orkut Meet new people and stay in touch with friends Picasa Find, edit and share your photos Reader Get all your blogs and news feeds fast Sites Create websites and se-cure group wikis Sketch up Build 3D models quickly and easily Talk IM and call your friends through your computer Translate View web pages in other languages YouTube Watch, upload and share videos

Alerts Get email updates on the topics of your choice

Blog Search

Find blogs on your favorite topics

Book search Search the full text of books

Checkout Complete online purchases more quickly and securely

Desktop Search and personalize your com-puter

Earth

Explore the world from your

computer

Finance

Business info, news, and interactive charts

Goog-411 Find and connect with businesses from your phone, for free

Google Health

Organize your medical records online

Tool Bar

Add a search box to your browser

Web Search Search over billions of web pages

Web search features

Find movies, music, stocks, books, and more

Code

Download APIs and open source code

Custom Search

Create a customized search experi-ence for your community

Labs Explore Google's technology play-ground

Video

Search for videos on Google Video and YouTube

Wow, how fantastic, just think how you could impress your international learners.

Mark an assignment with a comment written in their language. This is simple to use, just type your message, choose the language then click on translate. The translation is instant.

This could also be a useful tutorial tool, i.e. to encourage equality and diversity you could set a topic where your learners will learn key words of a different language.

There is also the option to search the web in a different language.

This brochure has been produced to highlight many of the little known free applications of Google. These are available to anyone. Just set up a Google account. This is both quick and simple to do, access the Google search engine click on “my account” then complete the form provided. Now all of the wonderful resources will be available to you.

From the Google search engine, click on more to find the resources listed in this brochure.

My Google account

Google Translate

All about Google Doc’s Google doc’s consists of four applications 1. Documents 2. Presentations 3. Spreadsheets 4. Forms Documents and spreadsheets – these provide the opportunity to produce a docu-ment and share this with others. The ad-vantage being that several people can work on them simultaneously. The person that creates the document has the option of whether to let people collaborate or just view. This could have so many uses, e.g. 1. when a group of learners or staff need to work together on the same project, all invited parties can keep adding to this document no need to e-mail backwards and forward. 2. You could choose to encourage your learners to complete an assignment using Goole docs, once complete they then share with you for marking. Once shared you can access this assign-ment at anytime and see if the amendments have been completed. N.B your learners may not like this! Presentations – here you can deliver and discuss a Power point presentation on line. Your learners could also use this facility when collaborating on a presentation. Forms – Surveys and test questions can be produced here, all data is collected and returned in a spread sheet. It is quick and simple to use and allows for a variety of question formats. Once a form has been created, both HTML code and a URL are created. The URL will enable you to link your form to any online document and the HTML code will give you the option to imbed your form possibly on a Wiki or a Blog or even the V.L.E. Once your questions are created the tracking and marking is done for you.

Google Documents

Picasa3 on your P.C. Picasa on your P.C. Once you have down loaded Picasa 3 onto your P.C it will automatically find and organise all of your images. These images can then be viewed with Picasa viewer which will allow you to see your pictures at the same time as the files you are working with. From here you can edit and simply upload your pictures to your Web Album. All of the above functions are just a mouse click away. One of the most exciting assets of Picasa 3 is its editing facility. It is possible to alter and improve your images in many different ways, you can even remove blemishes using the retouch icon. There is also the facility to effortlessly create a video (photo story), here you can include text and sound, then upload directly to your Web Album where both an embed code and URL are generated, providing the ability to share. Photo Story has already proven to be an excellent teaching resource. Because it is fast moving it demands instant attention from learners, added sound can also help motivate. Add test questions related to the images. You learners may also enjoy creating their own photo story, this could be a record of an activity or field trip etc.

You can also create a collage either from a selection of templates or free hand. This facility will enhance any learners project. Hours of fun to be had by all. Picasa 3 is an outstanding piece of free software that most learners would enjoy being creative with. It is simple to use and the results are instant. Have fun experimenting.

Picasa on the Web Picasa is a piece of software that is both contained on the internet and held within your personal computer. Picasa Web Albums allow for easy uploading, access and storage. Comments or captions can be placed with each image, making a fun and informative slide show, both a web link and a HTML embed code are generated for each album produced. The

link could be e-mailed to your learners for them to view prior to the lesson. When creating a web album you are given the option to keep it private or to share with the world. I prefer to keep every thing private and then send a link to those I would like to see my images or alternatively I have used the HTML code to embed collages that I have created into my Blog. You could also use this code to imbed into a wiki, your web site or the V.L.E.

Placing content online enable you to reach a wider audience and your learners can show their friends and relatives what they have been working on at college.

“i Google” this is your personalized Google space here you can choose what you would like to appear on your home page, from quote of the day. (often a great discussion topic, useful during a tutorial) To the weather in China, latest news or your Google mail.

Picasa3 Web Album

i Google

Google Mail offers:

Instant messaging right inside Google Mail.

Powerful spam protection.

Built-in search for finding your messages and a helpful way of organizing emails into "conversations"

No pop-up ads or untargeted banners - just text ads and related infor-mation that are relevant to the content of your message

Talk face to face with Gmail voice and video chat.

See and hear students and colleagues right from within Gmail. All you need is a webcam and a small download that takes seconds to install

G-Mail

Messaging Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Talk are all powerful tools that can save you time.

Google Talk is a form of instant massager, it is contained within your computers bottom tool bar and only pops up when some one starts to talk. You have the option to leave a busy message if you don’t want to be disturbed. The great thing is that you can set up group discussions and you can also send files and pictures. Conversations can be saved or not you have the option. Just send an invite to your friends or colleagues. Students could use this facility when there is the need to collaborate on a piece of work. Its free!

Google Talk offers: Web-based chat that you can use anywhere, without a download A contact list that's synchronized with your Google Mail account Free, high quality PC-to-PC voice calls when you download the Google Talk client

Google gadgets powered by Google are miniature objects that can offer cool and dynamic content that can be placed on any web page.

• Add Google gadgets to customize your desktop • Get news, weather and more anywhere on your desktop To access these gadgets just ask Google to search for them. They will take seconds to down load. Ideal gadgets for work include:- currency converter, calendar, to-do-list, calculator, Wikipedia, news and Blogs. There are thousands to choose from.

Google Desktop gadgets are included within the following categories:- News, Tools, Communication, Finance, Fun and Games, Sport, Life style, Technol-ogy and Holiday. Once you have decided on your gadget choice click down load. Here are three examples.

You can also use Google gadgets to en-hances a Web page, Wiki or Blog. Pick a gadget from the Google Web page Gadget directory, customize that gadget then copy and past the HTML into the pages source code. Its that simple. Again here are some examples on offer

Desk-top Search • Search your computer as easily as you search the web with Google • Find and launch applications and files with just a few keystrokes

Google Gadgets

This is a free website creation tool (similar to and a good alternative to PB wiki)

First decide on a topic, this could form evidence for completed tutorial work, or a subject assignment. You could even use Google sites to create a Web Quest!

Collaborative creation of a website is a great way of bringing project work into the 21st century. You can invite your learners as “owners”, “Collaborators” or as “viewers”. Have fun deciding on the theme from a large selection of formats.

It is simple to create new pages, tem-plates can be selected from the following list, Web Page, Dashboard, Announcements, File Cabinet and Lists.

You can also insert any item from Google gadgets including maps or a calendar. Or an RSS feed to a related topic E.G

Each learner can be made responsible for the content of their own page. This can then be worked on anywhere with an internet connection. Again you have the option of keeping your site private or going public, if you choose to go public you can even make money as Google give you the option to allow them to place adverts on your site, how much money your group earns depends on the amount of hits they get!

Google sites

What is the difference between a blog and a Wiki? • A Wiki is a Web site where invited guest can calibrate equally. • The term “Blog” stands for web Log, they can be used to provide commentary or news on

particular subject or function as more personal online diaries. Comments can be left from a viewer but full collaboration is not a requisite of a blog.

Google blogger is very popular with educator’s, often when searching the web for subject specific information I have found what I am looking for in the form of a blog. To set up your blog, you will need to name your blog , then follow the tabs as below. Here you can see I have named my Blog “Private to share” I have used this blog to record a picture diary for the events of last year. The pictures that I have chosen to include have been

made into a collage using “Picasa3” and then uploaded to Picasa web albums, here an embed code is created making it very easy to insert the collage, This is a quick and simple way of sharing with friends. Yet another “free” resource waiting to be taken advantage of by you and your learners!

Blogs have now gone Mobile. Post from anywhere! When you send text or photos from your mobile device to go@blogger.com they're automatically posted to your new blog.

Blogger Mobile works with any device that can send email via MMS.

Blogger

The uses for Google maps in education are endless

Use Google Maps to:

• Mark your favorite places on your map

• Draw lines and shapes to highlight paths and areas

• Add your own text, photos, and videos

• Personalize, annotate and share your map

Plan a route from A to B either by car , walking or public transport, it will advise on the length of time for your journey and the distance to travel.

Featured content: From here you can select an item that you would like the map to pin point e.g. schools, banks or eating establishments. If you also click on Pi-casa or Video then you could watch a video or see a pic-ture related to the same venue. You can further per-sonalize this by selecting yet more gadgets as shown below.

Click on “My Map” to create your own personalized map, Here learners could complete a project where they each annotate a location with information previously resourced or record findings from a field trip.

The finished resource can then be shared using the generated URL .

Street View

Click on the yellow man and drag to the location where you would like to see a close up view N.B not all locations have a street view yet!

Google Maps

Once you have planned a route from A to B you may wish to view this from the air, once Google earth has been down loaded to your computer all you would need to do is click on “view in Google Earth” then tell Google Earth where to start and finish your journey, then click the play icon. See below

There are many extra feature’s here like the choice of different lighting or whether to view the stars. The flight simulator choice I find the most exciting. Be warned it is very difficult to work I always crash and if you go into a spin it can make you feel quite sick!

Could be an interesting challenge to set your more adventurous learners!

Google Earth

To use Google Video as a search engine, click on the video tab then complete the search box. This resource will then instantly find any video relating to your requested topic, from a who host of sites including: MTV.com, Comedycentral.com, Flowg.com, Youtube.com etc. Once you have found the video of your choice, copy and past its URL into your Smart Notebook lesson for quick and simple access.

Alternative you could copy and paste the embed code (if provided) into a Blog, Website, or the notice board page of the V.L.E.

It is also possible to upload your own videos, to Google Video, however this function will soon be removed (excluding Business users). All is not lost, as Google also own “You tube “ your account can simply be transferred over. When you upload a video you are given the choice whether to make your video public or not and asked to place it with a category e.g. education, this is to enhance any searches.

There are many advantages to uploading your own video, storage space being the most obvious, however the generated embed code and URL make sharing and viewing anywhere in the word a reality. You also have access to statistical data stating when viewed and from which country, also how many downloads have taken place.

Please be aware that it is fine to embed or link to a video from the internet as these are both a form of streaming, however downloading is not legal even though it is possible.

Google Video and You Tube

Google sketch up 7 is a fully functional program that you can use to build 3D models. It includes a subset of features of Sketch Pro 7 the profes-sional version of the software.

Once downloaded it only takes a short time to get to grips with, I would suggest you watch some of the many tutorial videos.

Model anything you can imagine. Redecorate your living room, Design a new piece of furniture. Create a skate park for your home town. Then export an animation and share it on You tube. There’s no limit to what can be created on Sketch up7. How useful could this be to construction and joinery students?

You can build models from scratch or you can down load what you need from Google 3D ware-house. Here people like you have opted to share their creations.

You can also build models of actual building and have them placed on Google Earth, steps to follow:-

1.Take pictures & make notes. 2.Build a model & upload. 3.Google check to see it is ok. 4.You building appears in Google Earth.

Advantages:-

• Everyone—present your models to millions

• Architects/Designers –show case your work

• Visitors Bureaus—Promote your town

• Students & Educators—show off your premise and talents

• Urban Planners—Communicate proposals

Google SketchUp7

For training or more information on any Google application

Please Contact

Toni Thompson E-mail Toni-t@boston.ac.uk Or

Brian Lambourne E-mail Lanbo@boston.ac.uk ——————————————————————————- The future is already here, copy & paste this link

into your web browser to find out more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMGR9q43dag