Getting in the Driver Seat with Google Drive

East Central ISD is a Google Apps for Education district. Students enrolled in ECISD are given access to their own Google Apps account, including tools such as Gmail, Calendar, and Drive. Google Apps tools, along with Edmodo, form the foundation of our learning management system.

As we move into our second year of Google Apps, district users are becoming increasingly comfortable with Gmail and even Google Calendar. On the other hand, many educators and students do not realize the valuable resource at their disposal in the form of Google Drive.

1. Web-based Word Processing - Google Drive allows users to create text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Documents can be exported in a variety of formats including Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
2. Collaboration - Documents created in Google Drive can be "shared" with other users. The owner of the document determines the access of other users, which includes view only access or editing rights. Multiple users can access and edit the same document at the same time. All edits are automatically saved and are viewed in "real time".
3. Digital Locker - Each student and staff member has 30GB of storage available within their Google accounts. Documents that have been created in Google OR that have been converted to Google Drive format do not count toward this 30GB of storage. File formats that can be stored within Google Drive include .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf, .jpeg, .png, .mp4, and .mov.
4. Mobile Applications - Google Drive apps are available in both iTunes and the Google Play store, allowing for ease of use on mobile devices.

For more information on how you can more effectively utilize your Google Drive account, contact the ECISD Instructional Technology Department.

What "App"ens To My Work Now?

An issue faced by all educators who teach with the iPad is the manner in which students (and teachers) will export content that they have created.
If you have an iPad then you know that there is no simple answer. Depending on the app that you are using to create your content, your options may or may not include:

• emailing,
• saving to camera roll/photo library,
• uploading to an external site and sharing a link,
• posting to Facebook/Twitter/YouTube,
• uploading to cloud storage such as Evernote/DropBox/WebDav,
• or opening in another app. 

The EC Technology Operations department has identified, and in some cases developed, several options for teachers here in East Central ISD.

1. Google Drive - All students in ECISD now have Google Apps accounts which include Gmail, Calendar, and Drive. As part of our learning management system, Google Drive provides our students with a "digital locker" in which they can store and access content shared with them and created by them.
2. ECTV - ECTV, East Central ISD's very own video streaming server can be accessed both in and out of the district. In addition, all teachers can log in to ECTV to upload videos created by teachers and/or students.
3. Documents by Readdle App - The Documents app allows you to copy, move, and store documents, images, videos, and audio files. The app features built in viewers and players that allow you to read/view/listen to your files within the app itself. One of its best features is the fact that you can transfer files from iPad to iPad or from iPad to computer using WiFi.

These are just a few examples of solutions for sharing content created on an iPad. Depending upon what you ultimately want to do with your content, you may need to use a combination of the above - eg. save to camera roll, then upload to ECTV OR save to camera roll, then open in Documents app OR email, then save to Google Drive OR open in Documents app, then save to camera roll/Google Drive.

Ultimately, the most important step is to evaluate apps BEFORE you share them with your students. Nothing is more disheartening for a student than for them to spend hours working on an assignment, only to discover that the finished project is destined to remain inside the app.

Remember - EVALUATE, then CREATE!