Google Sites

Self-Paced Professional Development Course

What are Google Sites?

Google Sites allows teachers or students to make their own website with customizable templates. Experience in website creation is not necessary, and the updated version is pretty user-friendly. Even so, I would consider Google Sites among the more advanced Google Apps and would recommend a working knowledge of other Google programs before diving into Sites.

How can I use it to enhance & transform my classroom?

Create a class website for accessibility to class materials. This can benefit the teacher, students and parents.
Provide a forum for students to post and receive responses from experts and others outside our school walls.
Allow students to create their own website as a class project, a portfolio of their work or online journal.

What are other educators saying about it?

"Google sites is an easy way to improve parent/teacher communication and present student work." - Nicole L.
"Powerful, free tool for students to build ePortfolios that will travel with them beyond high school graduation." - Gail D.
"Google Sites is great with it's connection to Google Docs, but has a sizeable learning curve." - Adina S.
"Parents and students love my site!" - Nicole C.
Read More Teacher Reviews

Self-Paced Training

Things to Read and Watch

Before you start...

I have a few of key recommendations before you get started with Google Sites.

Don't try to create and edit your site on a tablet. It's not impossible, but it can lead to frustration.
Do some planning before you start. What pages and subpages will you want? What will you include on them?
Don't hesitate to ask for help. As already mentioned, Google Sites is more advanced than other Google apps. If you feel yourself getting frustrated, stop and email me to schedule a time we can work together. (sorry... this offer only applies to SWP teachers and staff)

See how others are using Google Sites:
(note... teachers would like you to keep in mind that they are continuously working on and changing their sites!)

If you have a class site created with Google Sites, send me the link so I can include it here!

Getting to the NEW (2016) Google Sites...

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Directly In A Browser

sites.google.com/new

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From Drive

NEW > More > Google Sites

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From "The Waffle"

Click the Waffle Menu (from Drive, Gmail, etc.)
Click "Sites"
Click "New Google Sites"

Google Sites Cheat Sheet

drive.google.com

Google Learning Center

The link below will take you to Google's training resources, where they will walk you through each step of creating and publishing a site with text instructions and screenshots.

Get started with Sites – Google Learning Center

Get started with Sites.

gsuite.google.com

Google Sites Introduction Tutorial

If you're move of a video tutorial person, the video that follows is a great overview. Just press pause and try things in a new tab as you go!

New Google Sites

docs.google.com

Important Details for Publishing and Sharing

Understanding the difference between adding editors for your site and sharing it with your students can be tricky. Take a careful read through the article below to make sure you know how to properly publish and share your site with your students, as well as how to give someone else editing access.

Understanding Publishing Settings in the NEW Google Sites

Google Sites is a new and amazing application, however, publishing can be a bit of a tricky task. Here are some tips and tricks

teachercast.net

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Implement

Here are just a few of the ways you can choose to implement Google Sites:

Create a Google Site for your classes with resources, docs, links, videos, etc. to correspond with your class lessons.
Create a Google Site to showcase a specific class project.
Have students create their own Google Sites as a class project, a portfolio of their work or a blog.
Create a Google Site for your team or department to share resources.
Use your imagination! What idea do you have for using Google Sites?