Today I made quite a cool discovery, Gmail, Blogger and Google+ work together really well. Yes, I’m sure I’m stating the obvious to some of you but to those of you who are wondering what I mean, read on…
Creating Class Circles
My main goal for today was to create circles on Google+ for each of my classes and then add my learners to the appropriate circle. For this to happen, I needed their email address and my laptop. I have been trying to complete this task on my iPad for several days now and can’t find a way to make it happen. If anyone knows, I’d appreciate your ideas 😉
At the beginning of each year we ask our learners to set up a Gmail account because we use Google Docs during the year and for them to use it they need a Gmail account. They had all emailed me previously. I found all the emails on my laptop in Gmail and went into each one. On the right hand side I found a button which said ‘add to circle’ so I added my learners to the appropriate circle.
I opened my Google+ app and voila! The learners who had already joined Google+ and posted something, appeared in the timeline for that circle. I also noticed that the blogs of those with Blogger accounts also appeared in the timeline. Magic!
A new discovery!
When I went back into my Gmail I saw a link by my profile photo which said ‘share’. I wondered what that was about so I clicked on it and it gave me the option of sharing a variety of things and a YouTube link was one of them. I decided to find the movie version of the book we are studying and shared that it showed up in my Google+ timeline for that class. So awesome!
Blogger challenges
When I saw my learners next I was checking that they all had a blog and recommended Blogger. After they had signed up I got them to join Google+ and join our class circle. We had fun connecting with each other! One problem we experienced was with the Blogger app. It seemed to want a you to set up a whole new Gmail address so we found it was better to go through Gmail on the internet, the login page has a link to Blogger on it. This way you can use the Gmail address that you already have.
Google ease
I think that the fact that Gmail, Google+ and Blogger are all part of the Google suite makes the idea of connecting much more simple that having different apps for different purposes. Now whenever anyone blogs, it automatically shows in the timeline for all the people in the circle to read and comment on. You don’t have to go looking for anything.
A very cool discovery, I’m thinking!
How to link Gmail, Blogger and Google+ – using an iPad
1. Log out of Gmail
2. Google(verb) Blogger and sign in with your Gmail details. You now have blog!
3. At the top left-hand corner you will see your name with a + next to it. This is the link to your Google+ account. Whenever you write a blog it will automatically post to Google+.
4. On the top right hand corner of the Blogger page you will see a ‘share’ link. If you tap on this you can type a message, add photos, links etc and then choose which circles to share with on Google +.
5. To set up circles in Google +, tap on the link to Google+ at the top left hand side of the page.
6. Tap on the icon on the top left. Then tap on ‘circles’, you will be given an option to create a new circle and build your existing circles.
7. Tap on ‘people’ to choose from your contacts which people to add to your circle. If this doesn’t work you will have to go onto your laptop and add each contact individually.
8. You can download each app, sign in and use these now (Gmail, Blogger and Google+).
Good luck!
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