New Look for Apps - What's New in Google Apps

New Look for Apps - What's New in Google Apps:
If you have a personal google account, you may have already seen these changes. 

The "new look" is mostly cosmetic and fairly intuitive, but just remember - Google is always changing and improving! Keeps us on our toes! 


Update:  It's here! http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-look-for-google-docs-and-sites-now.html
"You’ll see clean menus and toolbars, prominent action buttons, and colorful presence that pops when you’re editing with others.
Some of the changes:

• We made it clearer that your document is always saved, by showing “Saving...” right after you make a change and then “All changes saved” once it’s fully saved.
• We added an icon to the Share button so you can tell if your document is shared at a glance.
• If you’re looking for options that were previously under the Share button (e.g. “Email as attachment...”), you can now find these in the File menu.
• By default, the documents list automatically fits a comfortable number of documents on your screen (large desktop monitors show more, smaller laptop screens show fewer). We also added density options to give you more control."

Any thoughts or concerns about the upcoming new look?  Feel free to comment below.

New Contacts interface in Gmail

From Google Apps Blog. Google Apps update alerts: New Contacts interface in Gmail Note that this is about how Contacts works within Gmail, not necessarily when you open Contacts in a separate window.

As we roll out Gmail for students, this could be helpful information for students and staff.  How do you think this could help with using Gmail for instructional purposes?

Looking for some more resources for Gmail?  

Take a look at how to "Become a Gmail Ninja"

Communications Blitz about Jeffco Google Apps!

A huge thank you to the Jeffco Communications department who has been working with Ed Tech Services to spread the word about Jeffco Google Apps! How?

• To principals in the Leadership Memo, including these important Talking Points

• To all employees in the Messenger Weekly

• And to all district parents in Chalk Talk including the awesome video below.

Want to know more about how Jeffco Google Apps and Jeffco's Acceptable Internet Use Policies?  Click here for directions on how to find them.
And don't forget to dig around in (and share!) the information and resources on the left side of the Jeffco Google Apps Resource Site.

If the embedded video isn't showing:  Click Here for Windows Media or here for QuickTimeversion)

Blogger Buzz: Blogger’s fresh new look

For those of you using Blogger.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger’s fresh new look: Posted by: Chang Kim, Product Manager As you may have heard , things are starting to look a little different across many Google products—a...

Introducing Appointment Slots in Google Calendar

This might be a possible solution for some of you using Google Calendar to schedule resources and spaces in your schools. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

"Appointment slots in Google Calendar: Posted by Irene Chung, Software Engineer Google Calendar has become indispensable for organizing my own time and sharing my schedule with..."

"Every Google Calendar has its own personal appointments sign up page; you can embed it on your website or give the URL directly to friends and clients. You can find the URL for your appointment page at the top of the set-up page, which you can access via the Edit details link."

Docs Blog: Comment-only access in Google documents

Docs Blog: Comment-only access in Google documents: In the past several months, we’ve added new discussion and commenting features to improve collaboration in Google documents. As an engineer...

This could be really useful for gathering feedback from people without needing to give them editing rights to your doc.

Fix those Google Security Certificate Errors!

Error I used to get in Google Apps

Tired of having to tell your browser that you really do trust Google Apps?  IT has provided a fix.  This will work on personal laptops, ipads, phones, etc. that staff or students use on the JeffcoGuest network.  In most schools, you should not see this security certificate problem on your Jeffco machines, but some users have reported problems with the Jeffco Firefox install - and this should fix that as well.

Open this link in the browser (and device) that has the certificate issues … follow the instructions and you're good to go.  (those instructions are different on different devices and different browsers - just click "okay" or "I accept" or "yes" or whatever it asks).

http://jeffcopublicschools.org/security/Root-ESC-CERT-SRV-CA.crt

Here are screenshots of what it looked like on my iPod Touch:

Error I used to get in Google Apps

The window that opened when I clicked on the above link from my iPod 

The next screen (after I clicked "Install")

And the next (after I clicked "Install" again)

After that my Ipod and Google Apps got along nicely.

When I clicked on the link in Firefox on a computer - the steps looked different - but the concept is the same:  I had to check 3 boxes and click a button - and then it was all good.

http://jeffcopublicschools.org/security/Root-ESC-CERT-SRV-CA.crt

Student Safety and Privacy on Google Apps

Received  an email from a school about a parent who was concerned about the type of information their student was being asked to post to a class project website.
Remember to keep the kids safe, follow policies and laws, and think about your parents and their potential concerns.


Safety and Privacy
There are certain things you (or your students) should never post to the web - especially as part of school projects.  The Jeffco Web Agreement - as linked on slide 11 of the Jeffco Google Apps Intro Presentation helps lay some of that out.  Look particularly at page 3, # 3 - Student Information and photos  "Above all, schools are urged to protect student safety and to be respectful of student privacy."


Use the power of "sharing" settings in your Google Site (and docs, etc.)
With safety and privacy in mind, you can set your site, and now your pages, to be shared only with specific people - as viewers or editors.

Better control in Google Sites with page-level permissions - Docs Blog

Going Google! Examples from schools

Lots of great stories from schools about how they are using Google Apps.  Ralston Valley High School is one.  They have some great examples of how to integrate several Google Apps tools into the classroom to help teachers and students do their work more efficiently.  Jen Jonson is the Teacher-Librarian and Jenny Braketa teaches math.  The links show examples of Google Forms and Google Sites, including embedded videos from Google Docs.  

Take a look at these examples and feel free to ask questions and shower them with complements below!

• Jen Jonson

Google Sites & Video

Google Forms for Online Work Collection

      Example Spreadsheet

• Jenny Braketa

               Blogging About Trig
               Math Pre-assessment
               Managing Student Govt.