UNIT 5: Organize Activities for Yourself and Others

In this unit, you’ll learn:

• To create and share Google Calendars
• To set reminders and notifications for events in your calendar
• How to manage multiple calendars
• To manage to do lists in Google Tasks and Google Keep
• To integrate Google Tasks with Google Calendar
• To add media and share notes in Google Keep

Calendar, Tasks, and Keep are three applications I have not used but I'm curious how they are used, and how students can benefit from them as well.

First up is Calendar.  Between smartphones, and Outlook email/calendars which many schools use/support, I'm not sure how often I would use this.  However, in a few minutes of use, I'm realizing that a teacher can create a calendar and share it with students, providing a more visually appealing and MEANINGFUL deadline schedule.  Anytime I've created a rubric, and a schedule for students, I find myself going to a daily planner and plotting out when things will happen, and looking at a desk or wall calendar before adding info into a gradebook.  Instead of bouncing around between different calendar formats, just create a class calendar!  You can add guests to an event, and you can attach files, so if you are creating an event for a peer review, students have access to the rubric and checklist from home while preparing, as well as once they get to class, without having to print copies and then recycle the copies.  Events can be color coded, so if you teach more than one course, or multiple sections, you can glance quickly to see what is coming up without always having to read the details.

Google Keep is another useful app, but not one I'm likely to use just because of my own habits.  I like the feeling of sticky notes, physical little bright squares that I can have in my real space.  I keep a few notes on my smartphone for grocery lists or to do lists.  I personally do not want all of my apps trying to help me merge work, grad school, and home life in every aspect.  Some people need it.  I like keeping it separate.  I can see the appeal of having cloud accessible sticky notes though.  Say you are brainstorming ideas, sticky notes all over your desk, and even within a few books scattered across your desk.  Maybe the notes end up in the wrong place, someone borrows the book, or you forgot to copy it into a place you will take with you when you leave - Google Keep to the rescue!  Make a note you can get anywhere you can get Keep (which is both an app for mobile devices as well as for a variety of web browsers).  Notes can have images associated with them, and can be tagged with labels, and colors!  Google Drive does not allow files to be labeled or tagged, though a description can be made (however it doesn't really enhance search capabilities as my tests today showed me). 

If you have a checklist or agenda for a class, and need to create files in your Drive, you could create a Note/List and label the list.  It would require you to look through your lists first to find the labels to files you want, but the index would also be cloud-accessible.  I still prefer handwriting sticky notes because it activates my memory better - so if I lose the note, I'm not as messed up, but also it keeps me sharp, and I find I check off more items without needing to keep looking at the Note.  If you love sticky notes, hate handwriting, and love to label and archive things, then Keep is the answer you may have been searching for.

Finally, Tasks is an aspect of both Gmail and Calendar that allows you to create lists and set events with both the functionality of a Calendar as well as Gmail access to conversations and contacts.  I don't think a person needs to use every option in this unit to stay organized, however any one may be more appropriate to a specific lifestyle.  If I didn't have access to a school email account and had to rely on my personal Gmail account, the Calendar would be a welcome option.  If I didn't have access to a desktop, and used a Chromebook with apps, the Tasks and Keep feature would help me as a student stay in tune with my class needs and stay on top of my assignments. 

My school uses both GAFE and Schoology.  Some of the functionality of GAFE I do not use because I'm required or encouraged to use the similar functionality in another program...however GAFE is free.  And free will always take people a long way through necessity even when it might not fill every need.