2 Google Docs updates released last week that might be useful for your classroom

Google is constantly updating browsers, apps, etc and the updates are instantaneous (no need to manually force the update).  Without knowing the updates are coming, the new features can often times go unnoticed.  However, these updates could have potential benefits for you or your students. Here are 2 recent updates that might be useful in your classroom:

• Document Outlining Tool:  If you are working in a Google Doc, your browser now has a document outlining tool.  The outline tool will recognize headers within your document and automatically create a table of contents for easy navigation within longer Google Docs.  To access the outline tool, select "Document outline" from the "Tools" drop-down menu within your doc.  NOTE:  The heading is not recognized by the tool if there isn't anything written underneath the heading.  See video cast below for how this works

• EPUB Publication:  Creating an EPUB file allows you to create ebooks which could be shared to eReaders (iPads, Kindles, etc).  If you or your students are looking to create ebooks, using the EPUB feature in Google Docs could be a good option.  To create an EPUB file, select "download as" from the "File" drop down menu in your Google Document then choose "EPUB".  Once you have the file in EPUB format, the challenge is getting it to your eReader.  To learn how to do this select the following links (they are links to google searches):

• How to add EPUBS on your Kindle
• How to add EPUBS on your iPad