Google Smart Chips And Building Blocks

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

As educators, we know the importance and value of interconnectedness. When we are learning new things, brain science tells us that if we can connect a new concept to one we already know, it is more likely to stick. Relevance and connection matters in learning. I have had several experiences over the years where I have gone to workshops or taken courses on topics that were really exciting to me. However, if I didn't have immediate use of those skills and information it quickly collected dust and never really made a difference in my work with students. My hope is that these posts come to you at a time when they are relevant, can be connected to things you already know, and are easy to apply right away. 

In order to help with connections, we need to be organized and able to access all of those pieces easily; and while I am talking about concepts and skills, this same applies to our digital files, documents, calendar events, and contacts.

You may have noticed that when you are utilizing Google docs, which for purposes of this post includes docs and sheets, there are some new options.  These new features were added to make our digital elements more connected and easy to locate. There are a ton of new little nuggets of functionality here in Google docs. I will show you a few of my favorites. Let's take a look at those and the best ways to use them.

@Menu

When you are working in Google docs, type the @ symbol (fun fact: it's official name is asperand) and you will see a mini menu appear. This is one way to access the new Smart Chips and Building Blocks features. It will also give you easy access to text formatting options, entering tables, bookmarks, equations, and more. 

Use the @ menu to link to people, files, and events, and add items to a Google doc. You can add Smart Chips that link information and suggested actions for people places, files, and events. The @ menu  also lets you add building blocks that give you the opportunity to create email drafts, meeting notes, table templates for tracking projects, and more. 

Building Blocks

Building Blocks can be accessed by the @ menu or by clicking "insert" in your Google doc. These allow you to insert templates within your document such as email drafts or project management trackers which can be so helpful when you have students or course teams working collaboratively.  

Your options within the Building Blocks menu are: meeting notes, email draft, product roadmap, review tracker (one of my favorites), project assets, and launch content tracker.

Tip: When you type the @ symbol in Google docs, start typing the first few letters of what you want to narrow the suggestions. For example, to insert an email draft type @email and press enter.

We have all wrestled with drafting an email in Gmail and oops! You accidentally hit send. No? Is it just me? I love the new ability to draft an email in Google docs. You can also work on it collaboratively by sharing the doc with your colleagues. Once you are done, just click the Google docs symbol and it will open in your email application. No need to cut and paste! Don't worry, you still need to click send for it to go.

Another Tip: If you want to send to yourself you can just type @me and it will add your email address.

Smart Chips

Smart Chips give you quick access to items within your document. The functionality is similar to inserting a link with a few upgrades. Your options within Smart Chips are: people, file, calendar event, and place. All of these will create nice little links within your document and will have the icons to show what they link to. When you hover you will see a preview. 

• Add Smart Chips by going to the "insert" menu within Google docs OR typing the @ symbol. 
• Once the Smart Chip has been added, anyone with access to the document can hover to see a preview of what is linked in the Smart Chip. You can also click to open it. 
• You will notice that when you use Smart Chips, you can see the file type in the link.
• Adding a Smart Chip does NOT give everyone access to the document. You will still need to utilize the share button within Google docs to ensure access. 

 

Ever send students a set of instructions and wish you could include a dropdown menu? Now you can!

Tip: Add a dropdown to your Googledoc by typing the @ symbol and start typing "dropdown" or go to "insert" and select "dropdown". When you do this, you have the option of creating your own or using some pre-set dropdown menus.

Wishing you could create checklists with boxes in your docs?  You're welcome.

Tip: Add checklists to your document by typing the @ symbol and start typing "checklists"

This list could go on and on but we all have things to do and places to be. I would encourage you to explore by using the @ symbol in your docs and see what tools you like. Are you already using Smart Chips and Building Blocks? Let us know. We'd love to hear more about what you are doing.