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[instruction] Creating an account and site on the Google Site platform

Thanks to the user Exosphere for help and constructive criticism

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Often there is a need to structure information, to create some kind of data bank that will be available on the Internet. However, there is no need to create a full site or change the current one. This need became especially relevant during the period of forced distance learning during the period of the COVID-19 epidemic in educational organizations.

For ordinary organizations, such a need arises when it is necessary to structure instructions, training materials, some kind of internal instructions.

Google has created a convenient constructor for creating such “fast sites” with a very low entry threshold and ease of operation. By the example of creating a bank of video lessons for an educational organization, I will show how you can very quickly make a minisite.

When writing instructions, we will proceed from the fact that the user does not know what Google is and what exactly needs to be performed.

Let's get started.

Create a Google Account


Go to the Google website .

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Next, choose from the following options:

  1. If you have a Google account, enter your login (phone number) and password, and log in to your account. After a successful login, you can proceed to the Creating a site section of this manual.
  2. If you don’t have a Google Account, you need to create one. Go to Create Account

Create a Google Account


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To do this, fill in all the fields and click Next.

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Enter your phone number and click Next.

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Fill in all the fields and click Next.

Next you need to confirm your account by code, confirm the license agreement, etc. By agreeing to all points you will complete the registration.

Congratulations, you have created an account in Google and now you can use the necessary tools.

Website creation


To create a site, you need to go to the Google Drive section.

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To create a site, click the Create + button .

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In the drop-down list, select More and then Google.

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Your site is created.

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Next you need to fill it with information and Publish.

Site content


The site is being filled in stages. To start, the main and uniform things for the site:
Title (name)
Image
Title of the page
Menu (main menu)

1. Title


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The title is a short and capacious name of your resource. It should be short and fully convey the meaning of your resource.

2. Image


An image is a picture that replaces the image at the top of the page, which is dark by default.

3. Page Title


The page title is the text in the center of the page. In this manual, this is the phrase “Literary reading”. It should fully explain the visitor to the site, the content of the page to which the visitor went.

You can manually change the contents of the top of the page by clicking on the object itself. Or using the pop-up controls that appear when you click the left mouse button (LMB) on an element.

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In this image, the number 1 shows the buttons for changing the appearance of the Page Title.

4. Menu (main menu)


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The main thing is that it is generated automatically, based on the pages that you create.

There is an important rule - the User must achieve the necessary information by making no more than 3 clicks (transitions). Thus, think over the structure of the pages so that it has no more than 3 levels.

Controls


Consider all the controls on the site.

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1. Action history buttons


With these buttons you can cancel the erroneous action.

2. View


This button allows you to view your site depending on the device - PC / tablet / smartphone.

3. Copy the link to the published site


This button allows you to copy the link to the published site, for sending to users or for pasting on the organization’s site. The site becomes published after clicking the button No. 7 “Publish”. All changes that you make on the site during its filling are not saved in the published version of the site, but in the Draft. From the draft, data is transferred only after clicking the Publish button No. 7.

4. Open access


This button allows you to organize joint work on the site for your employees. Thus, you can organize work on the site by several employees at once. In the best case scenario, all teachers and other staff will be able to work on the site, which significantly reduces the time it takes to fill out.

An example . To create lesson number 30 (link) I needed:

  • 10 minutes to search and copy the test with questions and answers from the Internet. (we take into account that I am not an expert and I did not have materials for this lesson).
  • 10 minutes to complete the test through Google forms
  • 10 minutes to search for video tutorials and page design

Thus, without the initial materials for creating a lesson, it took me no more than 30 minutes to create a lesson and assessment materials. Because teachers have materials for the lessons, and they also understand the issue more than me - the preparation of the video lesson and assessment materials will be less than 30 minutes. And it is limited by the speed of the user for the PC.

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Here you can configure access rights to the content of the site, its visibility in a published form. Everything is intuitive.

5. Settings


This button allows you to change the settings of your site. Also connect your own URL for the site or connect Analytics to collect visit statistics. The default settings will satisfy most users.

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6. Optional


This button allows you to change additional settings for your site.

7. Publish


This button allows you to publish, i.e. make your site available for viewing. The site becomes published after clicking the button No. 7 “Publish”. All changes that you make on the site during its filling are not saved in the published version of the site, but in the Draft. From the draft, data is transferred only after clicking the Publish button No. 7.

8. Navigation bar


This section allows you to switch between the main tools for creating a site.

9. Toolbar


This section includes tools for working with the site template. The tools will change depending on the navigation section selected above.

10. Additional unit control buttons


When you select a block, additional block control buttons appear on the side. They allow you to move blocks higher / lower, create a copy of a block or delete it.

Creating a menu and site structure


For the lesson bank, I used the structure:
Section name (Video lesson) -> Name of the subject (Mathematics) -> Parallel (Grade 3)

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To create the page structure, you can perform the following steps:
Go to the Pages section on the right side of the screen

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In the window that opens, you will see pages Your site

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Please note - in this picture, the Home and Video Tutorial pages are pages of the same level. Pages with item names are sub-pages of the Video Tutorials page. It is for them the Parent page.

The first level page is created by clicking on the button with a plus sign at the bottom of the panel. You can create subpages with the same button. Therefore, it is best used only to create first-level pages.

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Enter a page name. I called her a video lesson.

After creating the page for you, it will automatically be added to the main menu. It will also open in front of you. At the moment, it can be left empty. We proceed to the creation of a subpage.

Select the parent page with a single click of the mouse button. The selected page will change color from gray to blue and will be surrounded by a blue border.

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Three dots of the additional menu will appear on the right. Click them.

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You need to select Create Subpage. Similarly above, you will be asked to name it. In our case, I gave it the name of the parallel (Grade 3).

The desired item will automatically be added to the main menu.

So, you have added a page on which you can post materials.

Adding material to the page


With the page open, go to the Insert section.

You will see a panel for inserting various page elements. Their entire list can be seen by scrolling down the toolbar. The picture below shows the main tools that will come in handy.

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The first thing we insert is the title of the lesson. To do this, select the “Text box” tool.

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Add it to the page by double-clicking on it. A window for entering text will open:

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Under the title of the lesson, we can insert another text box and add a description of the lesson to it, listing the numbers of the tasks from the textbook or workbook.

Thus, immediately after the title of the lesson, there will be a work plan with a description of work assignments and homework. There you can add a brief instruction on the assignment and the method of transferring the results to the teacher.

Next, insert the layout for a structured presentation of the video tutorial. For example, we’ll add two videos on the topic of the lesson. To do this, select a layout with two sections.

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Double-click to add it to the page.

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Next, add the element by clicking on the round button with a plus sign.

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Now we can add any element. Download from PC. Insert a picture (relevant for the subject of art or history).

Object on Disk - allows you to add a document from Google disk, such as a table, text document or presentation. As well as testing.

We embed the lesson video by selecting the YouTube menu item.

In the window that opens, you can find a video or select from those that you uploaded to YouTube in this account. In this way, you can embed a video on your site that isn’t on YouTube. Just uploading it in this profile on YouTube. For example, if the teacher recorded his own lesson for students.

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We will choose a lesson from those that are suitable for us on the topic and already exist on YouTube.

Having typed in the search line the topic of the desired lesson, press the search button and get a list of results. From the list, select the desired lesson. The Select button at the bottom of the screen becomes active. By clicking on it you add video to the site.

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So, the video has been added to the page of your site. Now it remains to add a name and description.

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You name it as it suits you.

Important! In the description, you must specify the author or channel from which you took the video. Despite the fact that you have posted only a link to the video on your site, you must also insert a link to the author. Lack of reference to the author is bad taste and is highly discouraged by the community. It can also cause certain repression by the author. Respect someone else's work.

In the second section, we will add testing to the site to receive feedback from students.

We can also place a link to the Drive folder so students can upload their work there.

Publishing a site



Filling the site with materials, you need to Publish. By clicking the appropriate button. Thus, all your changes will be available for viewing.

Submitting a lesson link to the student


In order to facilitate and streamline the work of students, it is better to send them a link immediately to the lesson.

After publication, go to the desired page on your site and without clicking, hover over the title of the lesson. A link icon will appear on the right, in the figure it is circled.

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Copy it with the right mouse button and you can send it to the Student. Having followed it, the Student will immediately get to the lesson, even if there are several of them on the page.

Link for an example

Next I will tell you how to make a folder for collecting work of Students and how to do Testing and collecting results.

Continued [Instruction] Creating Google tests (Google forms)

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