Sunday, March 16, 2014

Thing 2: Chrome Apps and Extensions

I have been playing around with Google Chrome for years now.  I tend to appreciate an uncluttered browsing experience, so I limit the amount of extras I tack on.  Here are some of the apps and extensions that I've tried recently:

Apps:

Hapera Teacher Dashboard: This is a handle little application that lets me quickly get to Teacher Dashboard.  I use TD frequently in class and at home.  It lets me get a pulled back view of what my students are doing, and I can drill down into each individual document.  This is a great tool for monitoring progress of students while they do extensive writing.

Pixlr Editor: This is a handy web app for messing around with pictures. Pixlr has a few different versions of their editing program, and all are neat.  This one has the right amount of functionality for me, but their whole suite is great.

Google Finance: This is one that isn't necessary for teachers in the classroom, but it is great for teachers (and everyone else) at home.  My wife and I have begun to invest in order to secure our retirement, and this is a simple way to monitor our portfolio rather than having to login to our brokerage account.

Extensions:

Currently:  This is a very simple little extension.  Once installed, whenever you open a new tab it will display the current time and a weather forecast.  The design is elegant and simple.  Good for anyone.

Any.do: This is an embedded to-do list.  Once installed, you can easily add things you need to get done.  The power here can come from its function in Gmail.  You can easily add items to list list within the Gmail client.  Great for teachers and non-teachers.

Save to Google Drive:  This is a great extension that lets you save screenshots or photos directly to your Google Drive account.  This extension isn't going to be one you always use, but it is handy to have there.

I commented on Adam Winton and Neil Freeman's blogs.