Digital resources can also include PowerPoint activities, SMART Board or Promethean Board activities, Nearpod lessons, and so much more! For this blog post, I am just focusing on using the G Suite apps with students. This typically and commonly includes Google Docs, Google Slides, and of course, Google Drive. (Google Drive is like the house that holds all of your digital resources! Docs and Slides both live inside Drive!) All of the resources are meant to be used on devices, and not to be printed! This means minimal prep, saved paper, and less printing! It also eliminates the "Do you have an extra???" headache!
There are a few things you'll need to think about before getting started using digital resources in your classroom. Download the checklist below to help you get organized. (This is for teachers using the G Suite apps! If you don't have access to the G Suite, don't worry! Scroll down for other ideas on how to share digital resources with your students!)
Now that you've purchased and downloaded a digital file, one of two things will probably happen. You'll either be forced to make a copy of the file to place in your Google Drive, or you'll need to manually do it yourself (if you have a "View Only" version of the digital resource). Take a look...
There are lots of different ways to share a digital resource with your students! And luckily, Google Drive and different Cloud services make sharing with your students easy! Let's focus on four ways to share a digital resource with your students:
-With a QR code
-Through Google Classroom
-With a shortened link
-Or you have other options, like SeeSaw
Using QR codes to share a digital resource is a great option for teachers not using Google Classroom. I've done this many times in classrooms I've been working in, and it's so easy, I've even done it on the fly with no prep at all!
This is BY FAR the preferred and easiest way to share a digital resource with your class (or really any resource!). If you have access to Google Classroom, I highly recommend you use it to share with your students!
This is also an option for teachers who do not have access to Google Classroom. In this video, I'll show you how to grab the link you need to share the resource from Google Drive, force your students to make a copy of it (if that's what you'd like to do!), and shorten the link so it's easier for students to type the URL into their web browser.
This is useful hack when you're wanting to share a resource with students or colleagues, and you don't want them messing with your master copy. It eliminates the step of having others have to manually make a copy of the resource.
Of course these are not the only ways to share resources with your students! These are just ways that I am familiar with and have had experience with! There are probably a hundred other ways to do this! You'll just need to find a method that works for you and your students!
If you don't have access to Google's Apps for Ed (this includes Drive, Docs, Slides, and Google Classroom), I would suggest checking out SeeSaw! It's free, parent/student/teacher friendly!, and is another great option to share digital resources with students!
If you're a school using Microsoft OneDrive, you'll just need to export a Google Slide Doc as a PowerPoint file, and it should work for your students as well!
Like I said, there are many different ways to share digital resources with your students; these are just a few. I hope you've found this helpful, and if you haven't already, I hope you'll consider starting to use digital resources with your students! Digital resources can definitely be a game changer, especially when the tasks we start asking students to do with them leads to higher level thinking, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and so much more! (More blog posts coming soon! ;)
Ready to get started!??! Download the Selfie Scoot activity you saw in these tutorials and get started with your students! You won't regret it! And if you aren't 1:1... it's okay! This activity can be done with partners or groups (and sometimes the collaboration that comes from students sharing devices is even more powerful than if students were working 1:1!)
What's your favorite way to share digital resources with your students?
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