Google Programs for the Independent Learner

Google has many programs and apps that are available for free on the internet. Some are very useful for students or independent learners. The most useful programs in my experience as a teacher, student, and independent learner are:

1. Gmail
2. Google Drive
3. Feedly
4. YouTube

To use these four programs well, you should have a Google account. If you have Gmail already, then use that. If you do not have Gmail, make an account with these steps:

1. Go to https://accounts.google.com/
2. Click “Sign Up” in the top right
   
3. Enter new username and password information
   
4. Click “Next step” when all complete

That creates your Google account. You use the same account for all Google programs. This includes the four at the top of this page.

Gmail

Most people are familiar with Gmail. It is a program for email. It lets you send, receive, and organize all your emails. This program is very useful! There are three extra uses for Gmail that people do not use effectively.

1. Google Chat - lets you message chat with a person live
2. Google Video - lets you have a GoogleHangout with video (just like Skype)
   
3. Google Call - lets you make phone calls just like a regular phone
   

Google Drive

This is just like DropBox or the hard drive on your computer. It lets you store documents, pictures, powerpoints, and spreadsheets on the internet. It is much better than DropBox because you can also edit and create documents like Microsoft Word. I use it for creating three main types of documents.

1. Document - like a Word document where you can type essays and paragraphs
2. Presentation - like PowerPoint where you can make slideshows for a class speech
   
3. Spreadsheet - like Excel where you can enter data and make graphs
   

Additional Benefits of Drive

• Google Drive automatically saves, so you never lose a document after working so hard on it.
• You can share it with another person on the internet and let them edit, comment, or view it while you work on it.
  
• You can download the app to your smartphone and view your documents anywhere.
  
• It is all stored on the internet, so you don’t have carry around a thumbdrive or worry about not having a copy with you.
  

Feedly

This is a program that lets you subscribe to blogs. If you find a certain author, website, or newspaper that you really love and don’t want to check every day, this program is perfect. If you “subscribe” with Feedly, you will see the new articles, posts, writings whenever they are added automatically. You do not have to visit the site, just Feedly.

There are a few steps to getting blogs into your Feedly:

1. Find a website blog that you like
2. Copy the website url at the top of the screen
   
3. Open Feedly
   
4. Click “+Add Content” in the top left of the screen
   
5. Paste the website url you copied
   
6. Click the “+” next to the website name under sources
   

YouTube

This is exactly like Feedly, but for videos. Feedly is for subscribing to written things like blogs, YouTube is for subscribing to videos that you can watch and listen to instead of reading. This is a great place to get extra listening and comprehension practice.

There are three steps to getting the videos you want:

1. Find a YouTube channel that you like
2. Click subscribe under the video
   
3. Go to “My Subscriptions” on the left side of the page to view all the videos 
   

Ending Notes

This is just a summary of the programs. If you have questions, ask me at anytime. Also, there are many more programs and apps that are also useful. These four are not the only Google programs that can benefit you as a student. Be curious and explore their other programs and apps. A few others to get you started are Pocket and Kindle, which I use daily as well.