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For now, let’s start with our LPS calendars. Open the Chrome browser and make sure that you are signed into the browser OR into Google* as ________@lexingtonma.org.

Access Calendar via the address bar! Type:

calendar.google.com

Or from your Google

Apps Launcher:

*Interested in the difference between signing into Google and signing into the Chrome browser?

To learn more, watch this 4-minute video explanation!

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EEEK! WHY ARE THERE SO MANY THINGS HERE ALREADY???

There are a few ways things may appear on your calendar without you realizing it, and that’s okay! For example:

Any time someone invites you to an event, it is added to your calendar.
If you have Google Classroom, each class has its own calendar!

We will go over that in more detailed later! Don’t worry too much about those things yet!

FOR NOW: Click in the little colored squares to the LEFT of each calendar name *except* the top calendar to turn all calendars off but your main calendar.

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Let’s take a tour - what’s here?

Add a new event

Mini calendar

Change view

Logout or

switch account

Change settings

Calendars I own

Calendars that are shared with me

Events

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Working with Single Events

Don’t forget that this training is for Google Calendar on computers!

This is the most robust platform for Calendar, although it has great uses on other devices.

If you have time during this workshop or later, you can go here to learn about installing and/or accessing Calendar on other devices.

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Create an event

Add a new event by clicking here, then click “Edit event” to manage the settings.

You can also add a new event by double-clicking on the desired day/time in the calendar area

Pro tip: If you are going to invite someone to the event, think about your naming conventions! It’s not that useful for me to have an event in my calendar listed as “Meeting with Rina”. Rather, if you call it “Rina and Dave’s meeting”, then we both can see who is meeting and when.

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Manage the event’s settings

When you are done, click save!

Put the title of the event

Set the date and time for the event

If you want the event to repeat, click here

Add an address to connect to Google Maps, or just info to remind yourself.

Choose what calendar you want the event to go on here. Very important with multiple calendars!

Invite others to your event by putting their email address in this box here. Adjust their settings

here.

Color code your event here!

Set a notification for the event (email or pop-up)

If the calendar is shared with others, you can make this event public or private here. The default is public to anyone who is shared on the calendar.

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Setting a notification for a specific event

Click into the Calendar event to bring up the event’s details screen. Scroll down to the notifications section and click “Add a notification”.

When you add the notification, you can choose to receive it via email or as a notification (if you’ve connected a phone to this account) and choose an amount of time before the event for it to arrive.

You can even set multiple notifications for the save event!

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Invite someone to an event

First click on the event, then click “edit event”.

Type the guest’s email address into the box on the right. Click “Save” (top left) and then “Send” when prompted with the question. Your guest(s) will receive an email invitation to your Calendar event. This will make the event appear on their Calendars as well.

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Learn and Practice: Event Basics

Create an event.
Invite (and send an invitation) to your training session leader or (even better!) a colleague who is in the training session with you.
Send yourself an email reminder.

Did you complete all three steps? You’re on your way to earning the Calendar Ninja title!

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Responding to event invitations from Calendar

If someone invites you to an event, it will automatically show up on your calendar with an arrow to the left.

Clicking on the event (depending on which spot will bring up one of these screens, where you can respond to the event and/or remove it from your calendar completely.

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Responding to event invitations from your Gmail

If you get an Google Calendar invitation, you will also get an email to your LexMA gmail. You can respond without even opening your calendar!

Click on your response to RSVP.

Click more options or more details to open the event screen in Calendar.

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Make an event repeat

First click on the event, then click “edit event”.

Choose repeat, then pick your settings.

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Change or delete a repeating event

If you make changes to any one particular event in a series, you don't have to change all the other events in the same series. Click in the repeating event on your Calendar to edit it, or click delete.
If editing, make the changes. When you hit “save”, you will be prompted with the following screen. Choose the appropriate action based on how long you want the change to take effect. DO NOT UNCHECK THE “REPEAT” BOX AT THIS STAGE!
Since we will be reserving equipment/shared spaces through shared calendars, it is really important to know that you now click “Only this event”.

When in doubt,

read the descriptions!

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Learn and Practice:

Repeating Events

Create an repeating event.
Change one (and only one event!) in the series to a different time.
Delete one event in the series (not the one you previously changed) while leaving the rest.

Did you complete all three steps?

You’re getting closer!

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Working with Multiple Calendars

As an LPS user, you will likely have multiple

calendars (small c) on your Google Calendar (big C).

What other calendars might you have?

Other calendars that you’ve created (for courses, clubs, PLC groups, etc)
District-wide calendars that everyone can reference
Building-specific or resource calendars that you can edit
Colleagues’ calendars that they have shared with you
Google Classroom’s automatically created calendars

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LPS Google Calendar: What’s already there?

“My calendars” = any calendars that you own [or share ownership to]

The top one is your default calendar, called __________.
If you have Google Classroom, each class that you’ve ever created has its own calendar in that section.
If anyone has given you “owner” access to their calendar, that calendar will be in that section as well.

“Other calendars” = calendars that you can see but not edit yourself

These can include calendars shared with you by colleagues, groups, organizations, or public calendars that you subscribe to.

Click these down arrows to expand and see your calendars.

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Don’t forget that you have multiple calendars now!!

If you added an event and can’t find it anymore, or something looks wrong or missing - check which calendars you are seeing!!

Are you logged in? Are you logged in to the right account(s)?
Have you toggled calendars on or off while viewing?

Both of these settings can affect not only which calendars you can see, but also which calendar is the “default” when you add an event!

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Create a new calendar

Next to “My calendars”, click the down arrow. Choose “Create new calendar.”

Choose your settings (you can choose to share from this screen), then click “Create calendar”.

Make your calendar public here

Share with a specific person here

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Turn calendars on and off (calendar layering)

Watch this quick video explanation, then try it for yourself!

One of the most important things now that you have shared calendars is understanding which ones you are seeing/editing at which time. You can do this by toggling particular calendars on and off.

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Setting default notifications for your calendars

Get to your calendar settings by clicking the gear and then choosing “Settings”.

Switch to the “Calendars” tab up top.

From that screen, click “Edit Notifications” for the calendar that you want to change. Set the kind of notifications you want as defaults (email vs. SMS/text) and hit “Save”.

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Share an entire calendar with someone

If you have already created a calendar and want to share it later:

Hover over the calendar.
Click the down arrow that appears next to it.
Click “Share this Calendar”.
Choose your options from the screen that appears.
Save your settings!

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Q&A: If my calendar is shared, can events still be private?

Answer: Kind of! You can set an event to “private” in the “Event details” screen, and then it will show as “busy” to anyone who sees the calendar but you.

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Have you shared a calendar but it’s not appearing? Here’s the super-secret, super-complicated pro tip.

If you think something should appear and it doesn’t…

Okay, okay. Maybe it’s not super-complicated. Or super-secret. But it IS sometimes hard to remember!

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Learn and Practice:

Multiple Calendar Basics

Make a new calendar.
Play with its settings (default notifications, other options).
Share the whole calendar with a colleague in the course with you.
Make sure the colleague can see the shared calendar. Then revoke their sharing privilege!

Did you complete all

four steps?

Ninja-riffic!

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Adding Co-Workers’ and District Calendars

Click the down arrow to the RIGHT of “Other Calendars”. For a coworker’s calendar, choose that option, and enter their email address when prompted.

For district calendars, click on “Browse Interesting Calendars”, then click on “More” from the top tabs. From there, click on “Resources for lexingtonma.org”.

Choose the calendars that you need, then click “Subscribe”. These will now appear in your “Other Calendars” list.

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Learn and Practice:

District Calendars

Follow the previous slide’s instructions to add the LPS District Calendar 2017-2018.

Almost there!

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Getting rid of calendars in G-Calendar temporarily

Option 1: Temporarily hide a calendar by toggling it off

Option 2: Temporarily remove a calendar from your list

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Source:

https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37188?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

Getting rid of calendars in G-Calendar permanently

For calendars you own: Delete!

For calendars shared with you: Unsubscribe!

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Learn and Practice:

Making Calendars Disappear

Toggle the LPS District Calendar 2017-2018 off.
Unsubscribe from your colleague’s shared calendar (plus any other old Google Classroom calendars that you no longer want).
(Optional) Delete the calendar that you created to practice with.

If you’ve successfully completed all these tasks, you are now an LPS Calendar

Level 1 Ninja!

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Section 2:

Personalizing Your Google Calendar

In this section you will learn to:

Navigate different calendar views
Set your custom and default views
Check or change your privacy settings
Google Labs (Optional) - install fun stuff, including backgrounds!

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Navigating Different Views of Calendar

Source: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/google-tips/getting-started-with-google-calendar/1/

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Setting Your Custom and Default Views

You can change the “4-Day” view to something personalized. Here’s how I set mine to 2 weeks.
You can also change your default view so that your preferred view opens every time you open calendar.

Go to your Calendar Settings.

Scroll down to set your Custom View, then your Default View.

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Check Your Privacy Settings

Get to your calendar settings by clicking the gear and then choosing “Settings”.

Switch to the “Calendars” tab up top.

From that screen, click “Shared: Edit Settings” for the calendar that you want to check over or change.

“Share this calendar with others” makes your calendar public to a broad audience. “Share with specific people” lets you limit who sees it and their control over the calendar.

Click “Save”, then “Back to Calendar” to finish up.

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Google Calendar Labs (Optional, but fun!)

Get to Calendar Labs by clicking the gear and then choosing “Labs”.

You can also click on Settings, then switch to the “Labs” tab up top.

Labs are experimental features that sometimes make it into regular settings later.

Here are a few cool ones that are currently available.

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Bonus: Read through the Calendar Settings and Play Around!

There’s lots of different settings here that you can customize and personalize. Read through and see if anything looks useful to you, and test it out. You can always change it back!

Go to your Calendar Settings.

Play around! Have your own Calendar Party!

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Section 3:

Organizing Tips for Google Calendar

In this section you will learn to:

Set up good systems
Rename your calendars
Color-code your calendars
Pin your calendar or another tab and have your daily agenda emailed to you

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First tips: Setting up good systems (1)

For any shared calendars or events, be mindful of naming conventions.

When I make an event called “Meeting with Maureen” and then invite Maureen, she now has an event called “Meeting with Maureen” in her calendar, which doesn’t tell her very much! Try to be specific in your event titles for all attendees, but also think about who sees your calendar.

Think about privacy.

When setting up an event, remember who sees the calendar. Don’t put reminders for your spouse’s surprise party if they share your calendar, and don’t put too many details about a doctor’s appointment in your work calendar if someone has access, even if you’d like that person to know you’ll be away for a few hours.

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Setting up good systems (2)

Be deliberate in how you set up your calendars: think about who you will share which calendars with and make them accordingly.

My husband and I don’t want to see the details of each other’s work schedules unless it interferes with our usual routines. This is key to why I personally split my work and home calendars!

If you use this for shared purposes (school or home!), it’s best to COMMIT to it.

People get used to and dependent on the system, and when you aren’t consistent, problems arise. When I don’t list the HW assignments on the Classroom-linked calendar, my students blame that for not having it done.

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Visual organization tips: Renaming your calendars

Rename your calendars to keep them organized!

I named my LexMA “RFM@LHS” and my personal account “Rina’s Gmail”.

Click on “Calendar Settings:” Then rename your Calendar:

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Visual organization tips: Color-coding

Color-code your calendars to keep them visually separated.

Color-code separate calendars:

Or color-code specific events when you add or edit them:

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More Tips: Accessing your calendar easily

Keep your calendar perpetually open in Chrome: pin it!

Hover over the tab with your Calendar open, then right click. Choose “Pin Tab” and it will stay there.

Have your daily agenda emailed to you every morning!

Source: https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/tips/calendar/#/show-tip/get-daily-agenda-in-inbox

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Section 4:

Sharing Your Work and Home Calendars

Considerations and How-Tos

In this section you will learn to:

What to consider when sharing your work and home calendars
How to share your work and home calendars

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Sharing Work and Home Calendars: Considerations

Why keep my home and work calendars separate?

Share the right things with the right people!
Be able to see one area of your life at once: automatically color-code for easy visual separation
Separate your notification and reminder systems
Keep your private things private
Set different defaults for home vs. school
Create multiple calendars in each account, decide who sees what

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FYI: Calendar sharing with a personal account

The LPS default (and currently unchangeable) settings don’t allow for a non-lexingtonma.org Google account (@gmail.com, for example) to edit LPS calendars.

This means that using your LexMA account as your home base is a fairly practical option for now, while sharing your personal calendar to LexMA.

If you stay signed into Chrome with your LexMA account, your default calendar will be LexMA and you can minimize confusion about where you are and what you are looking at.

Step-by-step directions coming up on the next slides!

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Sharing Work and Home Calendars: How

Step 1: Share your LexMA with your Personal Account

Most of you probably have a personal Google/Gmail account, right? Follow the directions for sharing your calendar. This time, share with your PERSONAL Google account.

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Sharing Work and Home Calendars: How

Step 2: Share your Personal calendar with your LexMA

The easiest way to do this is to open a different browser (Safari or Firefox), sign into Google with your personal account, then follow the “Sharing a Calendar” directions again!

This time, share your calendar with your @lexingtonma.org address, and because of these district settings, you will not be able to give your personal account edit access to your LexMA account. Just choose “see all event details”.

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Consider reviewing the Organization Tips if you skipped that section.

The more calendars you have, the more helpful it is to organize them well. The organization tips might be extra useful now!

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Don’t forget that you have multiple calendars now!!

If you added an event and can’t find it anymore, or something looks wrong or missing - check which calendars you are seeing!!

Are you logged in? Are you logged in to the right account(s)?
Have you toggled calendars on or off while viewing?

Both of these settings can affect not only which calendars you can see, but also which calendar is the “default” when you add an event!

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Getting Fancy!

Section 5:

Advanced Tutorials, Tips, and Tricks

In this section you will learn to:

Use Tasks in Calendar
Get your calendar on other iOS devices (iPhone, iPad)
Get more tips from the G-Suite Learning Center
Get more tips and tricks and Use Calendar Extensions

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Supercharge your productivity: Using Tasks

If you feel comfortable with your organizational systems using your multiple Google, Calendars, you might want to enable Tasks to tackle that to-do list!

Click here if you are interested in the Tasks tutorial!

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Getting Calendar on Your Other iOS devices

Click on this tutorial to load your calendar(s) on your iOS devices (iPhone, iPad).
For an Android phone or tablet:

Thank you to Chelsea Baum for the tutorial!

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Links for more tips: Straight from the Source

Google Apps has been renamed G Suite, and they have an amazing Learning Center for all Google Products. They also have a Tips Library for each product that is regularly updated. You can always browse this section to learn what’s new.

Play around and see what might be useful to you!

G Suite’s Tips Library for Google Calendar

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Links for more tips: Collections of Tips and Tricks

Lots of people online have posted their collections of favorite Calendar tricks! There is overlap with some of what we covered here as well as with each other, but here are two good lists to peruse:

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Links for more tips: Power Up with Extensions!

Extensions can be added to your Chrome browser to add functionality - there are some great ones specifically for Calendar.

Click here for a quick video intro to extensions and to learn how they can be useful.

Here’s a great article on 7 Extensions to Improve Calendar.

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Thank you for joining us today!

For more G-Suite Training, check out the district transition website and the documents, videos, and materials linked here:

G-Suite Migration Training!

Your school-based ITS can help you learn more, as well as both our district website (Prof. Learning → Tech Training) and www.TECHatLEX.com!