Lots More Fonts for Google Drive!

Until a few days ago, even as I was increasing my daily use of Google Drive, I assumed that font choices were limited.  Then I read a blog post about fonts over at the Education Technology and Mobile Learning blog (a great resource to follow).

Guess what?  We can use hundreds of fonts with our Google documents.

You can follow of the steps, with pictures, at the blog.  I’ve followed them on my laptop. They’re easy, and I and noted the steps here.

Point your mouse to the font list at the top of the page.  Click and hold and your font list opens.  Mouse down to the bottom of the fonts list where it says Add Fonts. (See image at left.)

Another window opens. (See image at right.)

In this window,  all of the fonts you can add-on are to the left-hand side  and the list of what is actually on your Google drive on the right side.

Peruse the list on the left and click on the fonts you want to add. At the top right you can filter the fonts in all sorts of different ways.

Click OK when you have selected the fonts that you want to use.  Once you choose them for one document, they seem to remain in the list for other documents. More on this later, if updates are required.

Users can go back again and again.

One way to filter the fonts is by Date added, so it may be that more new fonts will be uploaded occasionally.

Still to discover is whether fonts will show up no matter what computer you use.

Several Google Drive tutorials are listed in right-hand column of this blog.

Neat Google Searching Tips!

Learn more about Google search lesson plans here.

Every time we search on Google we get millions of hits.  Here are some tips that can streamline your results. Remember that most Google searches are not case sensitive. Give these a try.

• Exclude a word.  For example:  grocery stores -Safeway
  No Safeway hits will be included in your results.

• Search a specific country’s Google site. Sometimes it is good to search through Google links in a specific country rather than for world.
  http://www.google.co.uk, — (notice there is no com, just “co” for country and the country two letter tag)

• Connect an area code with a geographic area.
  Enter the area code in the search box and Google will give you links that tell you about the area code and where it is from.

• Use the word define.                       

50 Ways Google Docs Helps Educators and Schools

The Google Docs collaboration features are a boon to 21st Century students and educators, and to anyone who needs to work with others to complete a task.

The process of brainstorming, sharing, and eventually developing stronger and more examined ideas is a primary focus of teaching and learning. Google Docs makes these collaboration tasks easy to do.

Just about everything we do these days is about connecting and developing personal learning networks.

In a recent speech given at the BigTent conference in The Hague, Hillary Clinton noted:

The Internet is not exhaustible. The more people who are on the Internet contributing ideas, the more valuable the Internet becomes to all the other users.

The Edudemic blog recently posted tips and ideas about using Google Docs in a school community. Some of these are common sense thoughts, but others are powerful suggestions that can help teachers use materials more effectively (and save lots of time).

Favorite Ideas

• making PDF documents editable
• sharing documents with people in any other location
• collaborating with other editors, right down to assigning pen color
• using Google Doc templates

10 Great Ways to Get More From Your iPad

This terrific article in PCWorld has all kinds of information that can help a person do some powerful things with an iPad.

• stream movies from your PC to the iPad
• use it as a secondary monitor
• connect USB speakers and keyboards
• connect more than a camera

…and more.