Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week – Forms & Shortened URLs

Almost all of my hands-on Google Apps workshops have at least two things common at the beginning.  I usually have a Google Form that I ask participants to fill out get a sense of the participants’ prior knowledge and to collect their email addresses to use when we do sharing activities.

The other commonality to the beginning of my workshops is that I display shortened URLs (shortened through either Bitly or Goo.gl) to direct people to the survey form. The shortened URLs don’t lead to anything if you enter them into a Google search, they only work when entered correctly into your browser’s URL bar. I don’t do this to trick people, I do it to get everyone to the form while also learning a bit more about the participants’ skills.

Here are the most popular posts of the week from Free Technology for Teachers.

1. How to Use Google Slides to Organize Research
2. 26 Videos About the Science of the Winter Olympics
3. Group Reading With Google Documents
4. How to Add 450+ Fonts to Your Google Documents & Slides
5. Purpose Games – Create Online Review Games
6. How to Add Voice Comments to Your Google Documents
7. AirPano – Gorgeous 360 Degree Virtual Tours of the World

If you’re looking for a summer PD experience in a beautiful location, consider the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp. This week Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp reached 20% of capacity. Super Early Camper registration is still available. Super Early Camper registration is $100 less than the full price.