|
I am a personal follower of @alicekeeler and @kaseybell as both of them constantly share great tips and tricks that really do help me out on my daily school workflow. Inspired on some of their suggestions plus others that I have come across myself, here are 24 extensions that I currently use; some on a daily basis while others have been there when I needed them the most! I hope they come in handy to you as much as they have to me; and if you would like to share some of your own, please do so on the section below destined for comments. Thanks! The following are the Chrome extensions that I currently have installed on my Chrome menu bar:  Please note that I use the right-click option: "Hide in Chrome menu" for some of these as I use the right-click option or keyboard shortcuts to access them! 1. Send from GMail (by Google) and 17. MixMax* As you peruse the Internet and come across a handy site you would like to share with others, just click any of these extensions and they will automatically create an e-mail message using your GMail account. The title of the webpage you have visited will become the Subject line of your email and the link address will appear on the message box. For a more visually engaging email, choose MixMax as your email message will appear as the image below. * MixMax requires a review on its own and I shall do so on a later post!  ... and if you would like to continue having fun with HTML on your GMail, use this extension: 15. Auto Text Expander: By using a few set of consecutive keystrokes determined by you, you will no longer have to type the same opening, body content or closure ... or anything in between ... over and over again whenever you compose any email. Do check it out! ... but do keep in mind that if you decide to install MixMax, this extension will not be able to work its magic! 2. diigo Web Collector: Capture and Annotate If you have a diigo account, you can easily bookmark links and share annotations and much more directly into your own account and even share them via social media. 3. Evernote Web Clipper Please note that as of January, 2016, Clearly will no longer be updated and the new recommended extension is the new Evernote Web Clipper. I use this extension with articles I share with my classes as to get rid of ads and other distractions. As per the photo here, you are given several options, as to leave the article as it is or even better, choose the Simplified article version which you can then share with your students. ... and just recently, you can also clip email threads directly from GMail to your Evernote account! 
4. Save to Google Drive | 7. Post to Padlet* (Mini) | 12. "Pin it" button | 18. Flip it With these extensions, you can save articles, images and much more directly into your GDrive, Padlet, Pinterest and Flipboard accounts respectively for later editing and/or to further augment these resources collaboratively with your students and colleagues. * Check out these Padlet hacks! 5. Readability now faced out for: Mercury Reader With this extension you can quickly bookmark an entire webpage for later reading. Your options include: Read now, Read Later, and Send to Kindle.
6. Share to Classroom This extension was first shared with me by our MS Tech Integrator @mmongardi at the beginning of this SY 2015-16. At first, you could only push out a web link to students who also had downloaded and installed the extension on their computers, but as we are a 1:1 iPad school, it was quite useless ... unless we had students use the COW (Computers on Wheel) or the Chromebooks. ... but now, you can also:
 8. 1Password: Password Manager and Secure Wallet Long gone are the days when I used one master password for all my accounts and then eventually had to start changing them as new threats and hacking started to pop-up on the news. Now, I only rely on what is stored in my 1Password account as this extension is ready available for me to fill out forms and password information when signing-in into different web accounts. I don't only use this extension on my Chrome and Safari browsers but also as an app on my iPhone and iPad. Find out more about their options here.  9. Kaizena Kaizena is more of an app that works best with Google Docs as an Add-on. Kaizena is an alternate way to provide prompt feedback to students on a Doc by using audio, web-linked resources and the usual typed comments! More information to come on a later post. 10. ⇧ Permanent Clipboard ⇧ Permanent Clipboard is an extension that I also use with Google Docs. In the same way as you may use canned responses on GMail, you can also use canned responses/comments by right-clicking on the comments section of a Doc and just select from the array of pre-populated comments you tend to use over and over again. Please note that this option also works well on other fill-out forms/templates you may encounter online where you can just right-click and add your already stored information, word(s), number(s), etc. When managing this extension, you may choose between storing your information synchronized throughout your already synced Chrome browsers or just storing it on the one local computer you use. I only keep this extension on my Chrome menu for easy access to add new entries and/or modify previous ones that I have already stored.  11. Lumosity (for paid subscribers) All work and no fun! ... take a quick break and exercise your brain! This extension allows you to continue exercising your brain beyond the iOS app as you will also be able to challenge your brain every time you open a new tab. So work, get a quick break ... and then click Back to Google to continue on your workload.  13. Tab Resize - split screen layouts Honestly, I was ready to get rid of this extension as once you did split your tabs into various smaller screens, it was quite difficult if not impossible to bring them back together. Until ... the following new update was released:  Another alternative in case you do not like the idea of one extension to conquer them all, is to get two different extensions: One to split your tabs using Tab Scissors and then add Tab Glue to bring them back together. 23. Alice Keeler Open Side by Side I also use this extension which is mainly destined to be used with Google Classroom as you are grading assignments or other tasks. You simple right-click the assignment link (or any active link on the Web) and then choose the Open Side by Side option that will appear and voilá, your current window will split into two so you can easy view two window/tabs at a time.   14. Cite This For Me: Web Citer A great and easy way to cite any webpage directly from this extension's icon on your Chrome menu bar. Simply choose between MLA, APA, Chicago and Harvard ... and then move on with your research paper and/or properly cite the resources you share with your students. 16. Clipboard History 2: If you tend to use Ctrl + C quite often or you simply want to keep track of all those items you copy for later tracking ... this is the extension for you! 19. Goobric Web App Launcher: If you assess your students' written work on Google Docs using Doctopus, then most likely you also use Goobric to better inform your students about their rubric-based graded assignments. I'm currently reviewing this option and might start incorporating Kaizena (# 9) as well as with Kaizena you can add specific voice comments on a particular highlighted section of a written assignment while on Goobric, as of now, you can only add voice comments for the overall document and not for specific words, phrases or sentences. 20. Adblock Plus | 24. Adblock for YouTube These two extensions work wonders! ... plus you'll get to see on the Adblock icon on your menu bar how many elements have been blocked during your visit to any website!
... and the last two extensions on this list go to Google: 21. Google Calendar: This is definitely one of my favorites! Once you have linked your Google account, all you need to do is click the icon and you will see the events that you have/have been scheduled for that day including those events that are shown on the other calendars that you have added to your account.  22. Google Dictionary: With this extension once installed, you can simply double-click on any word on a webpage you're reading and it will provide you with a little pop-up that shows the definition of such word or if you would like a more detailed explanation, simply click the Google Dictionary icon on your Chrome bar. Moreover, if you happen to be reading a webpage in a different language, let's say Español or any other supported language, it will provide you with a translation. So there you go ... the 22 extensions plus 2 apps (Kaizena & Goobric) that I currently use to ease my workflow here at school ... and at home too! ... and if you're wondering ... this is what my Chrome menu bar currently looks like as I have memorized the shortcut access to prompt some extensions and for others I use the right-click option to access them; so it's not necessary to have them all visible on my Chrome menu bar! 
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Other extensions worth checking out:Archives
May 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed