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Hello blog, I've missed you! The summer break is well and truly over and I am back in the teaching, learning and tech saddle. This academic year (and next) will be a bit different for me though, and I am sure this change will be reflected in my blog.

It's fair to say I am slightly obsessed with productivity and list-making apps. As soon as I feel I am a bit too busy and overwhelmed, I download a new one, thinking that this could be "The One". Simply by having the app on my phone, I will be more organised. In fact, ultimately, I will be a better person... Apparently it does not work like that! Or so I thought... 

I thought Wunderlist would change my life - and it's good - really good. But Todoist is even better. This isn't a review - it's a declaration of love! The only way you can possibly find out how amazing Todoist is, is to download it and try it out yourself. It's free - why wouldn't you? 

My college has been running professional learning communities for some time now and they've generally been productive and well-attended. I co-ordinate a PLC as a teaching and learning coach. Recently I have noticed many of my colleagues not attending due to excessive workloads. We also have a number of Associate Lecturer staff who, understandably, sometimes find it difficult to attend.

It strikes me that if our College is trying to use tech to make learning opportunities available any time, anywhere, surely we should apply this to our own CPD? Therefore as an experiment I have agreed with my colleagues to try running our PLC on Twitter using the hashtag #plcgsy.

If colleagues are not on Twitter I am asking them to set up an account and let me know their username. I will create a group and share it with them. If colleagues have a personal account on Twitter, I will ask them to set up a separate 'teacher' account. 

After that, I will send out regular reminders by email (email is the most commonly used communication tool between us at the moment) reminding colleagues to log on and share useful links and resources relating to teaching and learning including the hashtag #plcgsy. Let's see how it goes...

It's time for another new app recommendation - I am a bit in love with Ulysses for Mac and iPad. They are expensive, but for me, as a writer, totally worth it. Check out the video below along with their website, ulyssesapp.com, for more information.

Formerly Flowboard, Flowvella is quickly becoming by favourite PowerPoint replacement.

I've been playing around with Google Forms recently and I thought it would be an idea to share my experiences here on the blog. If you are not familiar with Google Forms, there is a short video below giving you an overview. To use Google Forms you will need a free Google account.

Google Forms are really easy to use, even for non-techies. There are lots of resources online to help you tailor forms to meet your needs.

The data you collect from your forms can be stored in a new Google spreadsheet. Having a basic understanding of Google Drive is helpful when using Google Forms, however, it is pretty intuitive so this is not completely neccessary.

The form templates aren't overly attractive, but to be honest they are a simple tool so I'm not fussed about the appearance. Generally, if I use a form, I want to generate it quickly and I don't have enough time to worry about whether it is pretty or not. Functionality is key. 

In the video above they use a form as an event invitation. This is definitely a good use of a form in education - perhaps use it to invite parents to parents' evening. There are lots of other ways to use Google Forms in Education though. TeachThought has come up with 80 ideas, find them here. Off the back of this article, I rather like the idea of using Google Forms as:

an exit ticket

an equipment reservation form

an initial assessment tool

a CPD request form

a peer assessment tool (for example peer feedback on students' presentations)

a formative assessment tool (quizes for example)

So far I have used Google Forms to get feedback from my learners. For example, I have been experimenting with different methods of formative assessment, specifically marking feedback, and I wanted to find out how my learners felt about the various methods. I surveyed them with a Google Form. This worked well.

I tried using a Google Form for assignment submission. Google Classroom has its own "turn it in" assignment submission service but we experienced a few problems with that. Using a form definitely could work as an assignment submission mechanism, however, for it to feel part of the process and not too cumbersome, students really need to upload their assignments to Google Drive and include a link on the assignment submission form. Otherwise it seems like 'just one more thing to remember'.