This site is no longer active or maintained. It is an archive of trainings 2013-2019 at Pu'u Kukui Elementary School.
Google - Office Training - Let's Get Organized
Overview - What is Google Suite? - Google Suite is a suite of free online software tools that we use here at Pu'u Kukui (and throughout the DOE). It has tools similar to Microsoft Office or iWorks. We have our own sub-domain (puukukui.k12.hi.us) and every user has an account @ that subdomain (e.g., [email protected]). Adults in our subdomain have access to a variety of the suite tools including e-mail. Student access is limited. Since our students are younger than 13 years old they do not currently have access to e-mail.
We have set up all adult users so that when they access their Chrome browser they are automatically logged into their own Google account and we've set the home page in Chrome to open to our Announcements page. If you access from outside of the DOE your Chrome browser won't do this unless you set it to do so. If you access outside of the DOE follow these directions:
We have set up all adult users so that when they access their Chrome browser they are automatically logged into their own Google account and we've set the home page in Chrome to open to our Announcements page. If you access from outside of the DOE your Chrome browser won't do this unless you set it to do so. If you access outside of the DOE follow these directions:
- go to our school website (http://www.puukukui.k12.hi.us)
- click on Staff
- click on Announcements and you'll be prompted to login (use your google e-mail for the username and the password you were given for the password
- once you are on the Announcements page you can click on the tab that says Google Drive and you'll be in your Google Drive.
1-My Drive in left sidebar
6-Application Switcher (looks like a waffle). This is where you can choose other Google apps (mail, calendar etc)
7-Settings and Account - You can adjust your settings here and you can log out of your account when you're done working
- My Drive - your files and folders that you created or that someone shared with you that you added to your drive
- Shared with Me - If someone specifically shares something with you it will show up here
- Recent - the files that you've recently been working on
- Google Photos - this is a new feature where you can upload photos to your Google Photos cloud folder
- Starred - You can star regularly used files/folders so that you can quickly locate them
- Trash - Where stuff goes when you delete it.
- Quick Access - this is a new feature that spotlights documents that you've been working on
- Main space - this is where your files and folders are located (what's here changes based on what you're looking at). You can sort this view by Name and Date. You can also see the owner of the file/folder (this is important).
- List view - lists your files by name
- Grid view - shows a thumbnail of each file
- New Folder
- File Upload (you can upload documents here - (pdfs, word, excel etc)
- Folder Upload
- Google Docs (like Word - this is a collaborative word processor)
- Google Sheets (like Excel - this is a collaborative spreadsheet)
- Google Slides (like PowerPoint - this is a collaborative presentation)
- More - Google Forms etc. (Forms creates surveys and response forms)
6-Application Switcher (looks like a waffle). This is where you can choose other Google apps (mail, calendar etc)
7-Settings and Account - You can adjust your settings here and you can log out of your account when you're done working
One of the challenges with using Google Suite is agreeing on workflows that everyone will follow. Here are some suggestions to keep in mind as you learn more about how we've set up our school site with a main generic user.
Naming protocol - If you're working on personal files that you won't be sharing with others, the naming protocol doesn't really matter. But . . . if you're working on files that will be used by and shared with others we should be in agreement on how we will name files so that when people go to look for them, there will be some consistency. A suggested protocol has been:
Naming protocol - If you're working on personal files that you won't be sharing with others, the naming protocol doesn't really matter. But . . . if you're working on files that will be used by and shared with others we should be in agreement on how we will name files so that when people go to look for them, there will be some consistency. A suggested protocol has been:
- date file was created - file name - school year (e.g. 071117-googlenotes-17-18) without any spaces or capital letters. This lets someone search by date, file name or school-year
- when naming files it's a standard good practice to avoid capital letters, spaces and certain characters (like #,/,\) that are often used with coding
- it's always safe to use an underscore _ or a hyphen - if you need to break up words and don't want to put spaces.
- Open your Google Drive
- Navigate to the schoolfolder (explained below - you can find it in your Shared with Me folder)
- Navigate within the schoolfolder to the location where you want to place your work
- Go to the New button and create a new document/folder (blank or using a template)
- Share your new document/folder with [email protected]
- Make [email protected] the owner of your document/folder and adjust sharing settings
- Name your document following the naming protocol
- Work on your document
Schoolfolder - At Pu'u Kukui we created a user called schoolfolder and this is where we're beginning to store school related documents. Inside the schoolfolder we have the following structure that is designed to align with WASC groups. We can always add folders, but we don't want too many because it makes it hard to find information:
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Some of the folders have information organized by year and others have a combination of single files, current folders and folders organized by year. It just depends on the information that is being stored in the folders.
As office staff, you'll want to look at how office documents are organized under the Operations folder. So let's look at that more closely. |
Notice that the Operations folder has past year operation folders along with current folders, as well as single documents. We're still moving things around trying to put things where they make sense and can be easily found. This is a work in progress and your input would be welcome. Keep in mind that when we work with these files, they are not necessarily linear. We can put them anywhere and then link to them. For example we can put all forms and pdf documents in the forms folder and then link to them from other documents when we want people to be able to download and use them.
*Take a few minutes to double-click on each folder to see what is inside. What would you put in the forms folder?
Now go and click on list view for all the folders and the documents, and your view will look like the image below. Notice that we can now see the owner of each file or the folder. Ideally, we want Puu Kukui to be the owner of everything that's going to stay in the schoolfolder.
*Take a few minutes to double-click on each folder to see what is inside. What would you put in the forms folder?
Now go and click on list view for all the folders and the documents, and your view will look like the image below. Notice that we can now see the owner of each file or the folder. Ideally, we want Puu Kukui to be the owner of everything that's going to stay in the schoolfolder.
How do we make that happen? When you create a document, it is created in whatever folder you have open, and you are by default the owner of whatever you are creating. We need to follow a workflow to immediately identify the schoolfolder as the owner and you as an editor. This way, the file/folder stays with the school if you should happen to leave. Can you find the folder in the image above that needs to be changed? The only one who can change this is the owner. If she were to leave our school and if her account is deleted, we lose access to everything in that folder. So it is important to make sure to reassign ownership of documents/folders that need to stay at the school.
To change the ownership of a file/folder to the school folder, you have to:
You can easily share anything you create in Google Suite and you can assign the level of access that you want others to have. If you look at the sharing window you'll notice it is divided into two sections. One (the upper section) section is generic and the other (the bottom section) section is more specific.
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Google Docs - Google Docs is the Word Processor that is built into Google Suite. If you are creating a document that you will be using just for yourself go ahead and create it within your own Google Drive. However, if you are creating a document that will be used for the school, consider beginning in the schoolfolder and remember to give ownership to schoolfolder. Using Google Docs lets you pull up your work on any computer or device that has Internet access and it also lets you collaborate with others when you're creating documents. Docs has blank documents ready for you to use or you can choose from their Template library.
Google Docs - cheat sheet
Google Docs - getting started
Google Docs - switching from Word
Google Docs - cheat sheet
Google Docs - getting started
Google Docs - switching from Word
*How do you see our office staff approaching collaboration on Google Docs? When would you want to use the collaboration features of Docs?
Google Sheets - Google Sheets is the Excel of Google Suites. You can create workbooks with one sheet or multi-sheets. You can build your own or begin with a template. If you create your own and want to use it as a template you can submit it as a Template for our school and then it will show up in the Template Gallery. Like Docs you can share and collaborate on your sheets.
Google Sheets - cheat sheet
Google Sheets - getting started
Google Sheets - switch from Excel
Google Sheets - cheat sheet
Google Sheets - getting started
Google Sheets - switch from Excel
*Why would you use Google Sheets instead of Excel?
Google Forms - Forms are one of my favorite features within Google Suite. With Forms you can collect information and have it automatically summarized for you and/or placed into a spreadsheet for you to use or download. You can begin with a blank form or choose a template. If you have forms you like, you can save them as templates for our school. The hardest part about doing a form is thinking about the format that you want to use for your questions. The type of format you choose has an impact on how the information is presented when it is summarized.
Google Forms - cheat sheet
Google Forms - getting started
Google Forms - tips
Google Forms - cheat sheet
Google Forms - getting started
Google Forms - tips
*How might you use Google Forms within the school office?
Google Calendar - You can set up your own personal Google Calendars and you will also have access to several school calendars (e.g. Master Calendar, Cafeteria Duty). On the Announcements page we have a tab that says Create Event. When someone clicks on that tap it generates a Google Form that is used to add an event to the Master Calendar. If you have editing rights and you try to add an event to the Master Calendar you need to make sure that you choose the Pu'u Kukui Master Calendar from the list of calendars or your event will be placed on your personal default calendar. This is often what happens when we have open calendars for teachers to use to schedule spaces on campus. The event gets put on their personal calendar rather than the Master Calendar. The Master Calendar is shown on the Announcements Page. An easy way to access your personal calendar is through your Google Drive.
Google Calendar - getting started
Google Calendar - tips
- Log into Google Drive (Pu'u Kukui Website > Staff > Announcements > Google Drive
- In the upper right hand corner you'll see the Application switcher (looks like a waffle)
- Click on the App Switcher and choose Calendar and your Calendar will open.
Google Calendar - getting started
Google Calendar - tips
Google Mail - As DOE employees we're asked to not use our personal emails for school business. You have been given a Pu'u Kukui gmail account and occasionally you'll receive mail in your account. The easiest way to access the mail account is through your Google Drive.
Google Mail - getting started
- Log into Google Drive (Pu'u Kukui Website > Staff > Announcements > Google Drive
- In the upper right hand corner you'll see the Application switcher (looks like a waffle)
- Click on the App Switcher and choose Mail and your mail account will open
Google Mail - getting started