Shorten URLs with goo.gl

When using the class sets of Chromebooks or iPads it can be hard to get links out to your students.  You can send them a document using Doctopus or post links on a webpage, but sometimes you find something in the middle of class and you need a quick way to send out a link.  

Goo.gl is the answer.  You can go to the goo.gl website and paste in a link to the web address you want to shorten.  

To make things even simpler, you can download the goo.gl shortener Chrome Extension which will show up right next to your Omnibox.  Then, all you have to do is be on whatever website you want to share, click the extension, and it will give you the short URL.  This short URL is much easier to write up on the board to share with students.  (Just be careful with some characters such as a capital i and lowercase l.  You can always click the link again to get a different short URL that is easier to read.)

Or, you can get a QR code which you can project or you can copy (Control C) and paste (Control V) it onto a document.

This should help you share links with students and get students to the right spot much quicker.

Sound the Alert!

Alerts is not one of Google's most well known tools, but I have found it very useful.  

Google Alerts allow you to automatically receive email alerts for search queries that you set up.  

As a teacher, I use Alerts to notify me of current events that relate to the topic I am currently teaching.  For example, during my last unit, evolution, I set up an alert using the keyword speciation.  I wanted to find current and relevant news articles that I could share with my students, but I didn't want to spend the time to keep searching the web.  Anytime google found this keyword, it sent me an email with a link to the website.

If your students are doing a research project, you can teach them how to set up alerts to get new information about their topic.

I think that Alerts would be a useful tool for school administrators to get emails each time their school is mentioned on the web or in the news.  Here is an example of a Google Alert email that I received about my school.  

It is pretty easy and quick to set up.  Just go to http://www.google.com/alerts and fill out the form with your search query.  You can change the settings to customize the search and the amount of emails you receive.  You can even set it to search blogs, news, videos, other websites!

I would love to hear other creative ideas on how you would use Google Alerts.  Please share in the comments below.

Copy and Paste - Using Your Clipboard History

Have you ever needed to copy and paste more than one thing at a time?  I am usually working with multiple tabs open on my Chrome Browser, and many times have multiple links or names that I am trying to paste into one document at the same time.  And it drives me nuts that sometimes I "lose" something in my clipboard when I copy something new. 

The clipboard is the place where the things you copy are stored.  You can add things to the clip board by pressing Control C on a PC, Command C on a Mac, or right clicking on something and choosing Copy.  To paste what is on your clipboard you will press Control V on a PC, Command V on a Mac, or right click and press Paste.  

I'm sure you are used to people saying "There's an app for that"....  Well, now there's an extension for that!  Clipboard History is a great Chrome extension that stays up next to your Omnibox (URL address bar) and keeps a history of all of the things you have copied.

This is a list of things I have "copied" and I can click on any of
these to bring it back to my clipboard to paste into a document.

To Use Clipboard History:

1. The first thing you need to do to use Clipboard History is download the extension.  Click on the Clipboard History link and click on the blue "+Free" button.  
2. After you have installed it, all you have to do is click on the icon of the orange clipboard up on the right of your screen, next to the Omnibox (address bar).  
3. Then click on the information you previously copied and want to use again, and it brings it back into your clipboard and allows you to paste that information into whatever you are working on.

You will love this extension.  It will save you lots of time and make things just a little bit easier for you!  Just to write this blog post, I used the extension three times!