Drive: Advanced

These Google Drive Advanced lessons will cover advanced features of Drive and prepare you
with a deeper understanding of how they can benefit teaching and learning. With a deeper
understanding of these tools, you can begin to publish folders and files for colleagues,
students, and parents, and increase communication for your class and school.
You will learn how to:

Publish folders to share with parents and students

Use Drive to showcase student work

Play video files within Drive

Share and manage large files

To start, review the Advanced lessons below and conduct all activities. It is recommended
you have another browser or computer screen available to practice the step-by-step exercises.
Lesson 1
Publishing Folders to Share Content with Parents and Students (5 mins)
There are several ways to share content with parents and students using Google Drive. As you
have learned previously, you have several options to share files and folders with others. Here
are some possibilities for sharing:

Publish entire folders with information

o

Summer reading guides

Beginning of the year info packets for parents

Class syllabus and information

Use Drive to create and organize student portfolios

You can also use Drive to make your students work accessible. Review the image below to
create a folder structure for your students for assignments. To learn more about creating and
grading assignments, check out the Learning Centers Google Classroom Basics module.

Hand out/Hand in folder organization (see image below)

Lesson 2
Playing and Sharing Video Files with the Drive Viewer (10 mins)

Play your video files in Google Drive

All of your uploaded videos can be found with the Videos filter. The default view is List
view where you will see titles, ownership, and modification dates of your files. The Grid
view option will display thumbnail images that can help you see all of your content without
having to click each file.

How to play a video and find information about the file

Once you have uploaded your video to Google Drive, you can watch it with the Google Drive
video player. Simply click the file from your Documents List, and click the Preview icon.
The video opens in the preview window that includes a video player.

If you click the grey

icon, it will open the video details page, and you can view info about
the video, edit the video description, edit the sharing permissions, and opt to prevent
downloads of the file.

Files that you can play

Sync or upload video files up to 10GB in size in the following formats:

o

WebM files (Vp8 video codec; Vorbis Audio codec)

.MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files - (h264 and mpeg4 video codecs; AAC audio
codec)

.AVI (MJPEG video codec; PCM audio)

.MPEGPS (MPEG2 video codec; MP2 audio)

.WMV

.FLV (Adobe - FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)

Tip: Upload your video in the original format and in the highest quality possible. The
maximum resolution for playback is 1920 x 1080. Audio and video lengths should be the
same, audio and video should start and end at the same time.
To learn about viewing images, videos, documents, and other files in Google Drive, check out
more in the Support Center.
Lesson 3
Using Drive for Showcasing Student Work (10 mins)
One way students learn is by metacognition, or the process of thinking about their thinking.
Being able to document their learning allows a child access to physical evidence of that
growth at a later date, in order to compare current thinking to that of the past. When given
time to reflect, students think about their thought process when they were working, and
answer questions about what they might do differently in the future.
Because Drive can store any type of file, students can save their notes, writings, mindmaps,
video blogs, images, and more, in folders, for easy access later in the year. Teachers can set
up the folder structure for students, or allow students the freedom to create their own. Drive is
really a perfect tool to archive this collection of learning artifacts.
Here are some ideas that teachers can use with Drive to showcase student work:

Use Image Capture and ask students to take and save pictures of their masterpieces

Save writing pieces to Google Drive in a folder labeled My Portfolio or e-Portfolio for
later reflection
o

See all stages of the writing process by using See Revision History under the
File menu so you can look back at a piece from the very beginning

View images of student work in Grid view and share with parents at parent-teacher
conferences

Scan certificates and notes of appreciation

Establish weekly time for students to capture work

Teachers can also monitor student progress over time, using shared folders, and the Grid
view in Drive. Drive sharing options also allow this showcase of learning to extend further by changing the share option to Public on the web, proud students can share their learning
with parents, community members, and the world!
With Google Drive - an always on, always available tool for storage - students never have to
worry about where they will save those documents, images and videos. They will have access
to Drive on their desktop, laptop, and even their mobile device, to document learning on the
go!
Lesson 4
Scanning Paper Documents into Drive (5 mins)
Another way that teachers can use Drive to their benefit is to create a filing system they can
take wherever they go. Converting paper documents into an electronic format allows you
access to the files you need, anytime, anywhere; even when not connected to the Internet, in
offline mode.
This process can be completed using a scanner or the Scan feature on an Android mobile
device (there are also many apps for the iPhone or iPad that will allow you to scan a file to
PDF). Scanning has an additional benefit - it makes the paper searchable! Some other reasons
to scan files for Drive include:

Electronic files are easier to carry than paper

Scanned documents can be given multiple labels, making the same document
accessible to different people in multiple places

Scanned reports and articles can be shared with faculty and colleagues

Lesson 5
Sharing Large Files with Others (5 mins)
Sometimes files are too big to email. In those cases, having the ability to upload a file to
Drive and share it is an option that saves you time. You can also upload the file into Drive
and share it separately through a link or within a folder.
Files that you upload but do not convert to a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides format can be up
to 5 terabytes (TB) each. To learn more about Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides size limits,
check out the Support Center.
Lesson 6
Using the Save to Google Drive Extension in Chrome (5 mins)
Have you ever found a great resource on the web that you wanted to save and share with your
students or colleagues? The Save to Google Drive Chrome extension helps you save text,
images or webpage screenshots to your Google Drive. To get started, add the free
extension from the Chrome Web Store. Once it has been installed, you will have options to
save web content to Google Drive when you right-click on images and HTML5 audio and
video, or to save the entire web page by clicking the Google Drive button on the Chrome
toolbar.

The extension has options for save location and file format.

After your content is saved,

you can organize and share your new document.
Lesson 7
Using Templates and the Template Gallery (15 mins)
Google Drive enables you to turn any document, spreadsheet, presentation or form into a
template. Here are some examples:

In the classroom, teachers can format a Google Doc for an assignment, submit it as a
template in Drive, and then share it easily with students using a link

A school secretary can create digital letterhead using a Google Doc and publish it in
the schools Drive Template Gallery

The school nurse can create a Google Form for collecting immunization information
and convert it to a template to be used year after year

The Public Templates Gallery includes templates that Google Apps users have submitted for
public use. These templates include lesson plans, certificates, worksheets, inventory forms,
and more. They are available to all users of Google Drive.
To create a file using a template:

Browse directly to your schools template gallery by typinghttps://drive.google.com/a/

[myschool.org] where myschool.org is your school domain account

From a Doc, Sheet, Form, or Slides document, click File >New >From template

If you have a third party app that connects you to the template gallery, from Drive,
click on New, More, From template ; see lesson 10 for more information about
third-party apps

Find a template in the Template Gallery

Use the Gallery tabs to restrict your view to public templates, your school Google Apps
domain, templates you have previously used or templates you have created.
You can also browse the Template Gallery using keywords or the Sort by feature. Narrow
the search using filters along the left-hand navigation: Narrow by type, Narrow by
category, or Narrow by language, to filter the list of templates. There is also a Students &
Teachers category that will display templates for use at school.

Submit your own templates

To create your own template, you will need to create and edit a Google Doc. Once you have
designed it, you can add it to the Template Gallery using the Submit a template link in the
top right-hand corner of your schools domain Template Gallery.

The Submit a template process is very simple.

1. Choose your Google Doc from Drive.
2. Enter a description of what the template is and how to use it.
3. Select one or two categories for the template.
4. Select a language.
5. Submit template.
Note: Once you submit a Google Doc as a template, it will be visible to everyone in your
school or district. If you modify the template, those changes will appear to people who
preview or use your template.
Note: You will not be able to view Google Docs created using your template (unless they are
explicitly shared with you).
Lesson 8
Reducing Paper at School (10 mins)

You can use a completely online process to post assignments, and accept student work using
Google Drive.
Below is a sample workflow for an assignment using Google Drive.

Share assignment
A teacher can create and edit assignments in a Google Doc and share it with the class. To
reduce paper, a teacher can share the assignment in a variety of ways:

As a Google Group with view access

Embed it into the class site

Publish it to the school domain and provide students a link to theassignment

Create a Shared Assignments folder for the class, make it viewable only, and share
that folder with the students directly

Copy assignment/template
If the Google Doc is in a standard format for students to use, the teacher can publish it as a
template and include the link to the template in the assignment document.

Complete assignment
Students can read the assignment online and start their work in a Google Doc. If the teacher
provides a template, they can copy the template and begin adding their work in the new
Google Doc.

Submit assignment
When students are ready to submit the assignment, they can share the Google Doc with the
teacher. For organizational purposes, the teacher can require a standard document naming
format (i.e. LastnameFirstname_period_assignmentnumber). Alternatively, students can drag
the file into a shared Completed Assignments folder shared with the teacher.

Grade assignments
The teacher can grade Google Docs as they are shared by the students, providing comments
directly into the Google Doc. The teacher knows a file is ready to be graded only when the
Google Doc is shared with the proper name format, or when it is dropped into the students
Completed Assignments folder. The teacher can also give students a deadline and then grade
what is available in the folder at that time, whether the work is completed or not. Therefore,
work can be turned in as soon as it is started, allowing the teacher to view the time spent on
assignments, the editing accomplished and the last time the student worked on the
assignment.
Lesson 9
Publishing Folders to Make Files Viewable on the Web (5 mins)
Google Drive allows you to publish folders on the web. This feature can be used to share
useful information with others, including:

Announcements in PDF format to parents

Agendas for meetings

Registration and health forms

School policies with staff, students, and parents

Lesson plan repositories

Class notes and syllabi

Summer reading materials

To create folders that are publicly viewable:

1. Select a folder from the Drive Document List.

2. Click

Share 1 to 1.

3. Click

4. Click the drop-down arrow to the left of Copy link.

5. Click More...
6. Click ON - Public on the web from the list of visibility options.
To share the folder via email, or a social network, or to add the link to a website, copy the
unique URL from the Link to share web address by clicking the Copy link button.
Lesson 10
Extending the Functionality of Drive Using Third Party Apps (10 mins)
You can browse and connect apps right from within Drive by clicking Connect More
Apps in the New menu. Once you have selected and installed an app, you can begin using the
app to create or open files directly from Google Drive.
To install, open, and use the app:
1. Click New.
2. Click More.
3. Click + Connect more apps.
4. Select an app to add to Drive.
5. Allow access the first time you connect.
6. Open and use the app.

The file will automatically save to your Drive.

Explore the education apps listed below:
Template Gallery: Gain access to your personal, domain, or public Google documents
templates.
Kaizena: Add spoken feedback to student work by using this voice feature app.
Music Player for Google Drive: Play music and audio files in Drive.
Mindmeister: Create, edit, and share mind maps.
Powtoon Edu: Create engaging animations and presentations using a comic strip app.
We Video: Edit videos in the browser.
Geogebra: Useful application for use with geometry, algebra, statistics, and more.
RealTime Board: Create mindmaps, Gantt charts, timelines, project planners, story maps and
more with collaborative features in real time.