Since humans revolve around the concept of time, we have created an organizational system, the calendar, to help us keep track of our daily and future events in one location for easy access. There are many types of calendars you can choose from; they range from different styles to different colors and to digital or physical. With many types of agendas to choose from, there is a perfect fit for everyone. When Google was creating a calendar for their users to use they understood that everyone is different, therefore creating several layouts for people to choose from. On Lynda.com there is an entire course of videos dedicated to Google Calendars that show all of the cool things you can do!
In Chapter 1 of Google Calendar Essential Training, Getting Started with Google Calendar, the video Changing the way the calendar looks introduces viewers to all of the different Display options Google has given us. For example, the image below shows my calendar in a week view.
People can choose from different layouts such as a day view, a 4 day view, a weekly
view, a monthly view, and an agenda depending on which layout is convenient for their lifestyle. Google also allows people to add additional time zones to their calendar, adding the weather forecast for each day when the location is known, and changing what day the week starts by going into the Settings section. Additionally, people can change the display density of their calendars. The display density enables people to see more or less of the calendar on their screen by clicking either comfortable, cozy, or compact under the settings button. By playing with these settings, you can customize a layout that works the best for you to make your life easier.
In Chapter 2, Creating and Editing Events, I checked out videos 1,2, and 5. The first video, Creating a Calendar Event, described different ways to add an event to the calendar on the screen. You can add an event by going to the create tab at the top of the navigation column, clicking the down arrow at the end of the desired calendar on the navigation
column, or by going to the calendar itself and clicking the time where your event will begin. Once you add an event you can then go to the main editing page and be able to enter the name, date, time, location and any other extra information you may need to know about the event. You are also able to change the color of the event which may help to easily identify academic events from social events if you so choose to color coordinate events.
The video named Creating all-day, repeating, and duplicating videos, shows how to take an event that you created and make it be an all-day event, how to repeat an event, and how to duplicate an event through the editing page. It’s common to have events that occur more than once, such as your class schedule which you can repeat weekly or someone’s birthday which you can repeat yearly. All-day events differ from regular events because they have a special location up at the top of the day slot to signify there isn’t a start nor end time for this event but instead it lasts all day. By using these three techniques, you can save time from having to manually go to each day and set up the same event numerous times in the same format. By knowing these shortcuts you can save time and get on with the rest of your day!
The final video, Editing and Deleting a Calendar Event, helps users understand how easy it is to change an event that they already have on their calendar. In life, plans change and things that have been planned for weeks end up changing a day or two before the event is to occur. Luckily, there is a way for us to edit these events. The easiest way is to just click on the event on the calendar and a box will appear allowing you to edit the event or delete it completely. The other thing that is pretty cool about editing and deleting events is for recurring events you have the ability to edit or delete one of the events or all of them at the same time. For example, fall break happens on a Monday and Tuesday resulting in no classes. I was able to delete classes from those two days of that week while keeping all of the future Monday and Tuesday classes on my calendar.
I hope you decide to go check out the tutorials at Lynda.com to learn more about working with Google Calendars. For further information you can also check out Google Calendar Help which will help guide you through certain areas of Google Calendars.
Personally, I love using Google Calendar. It makes life so easy by helping me remember when I need to be somewhere and who I need to meet up with at what time! I’d love to hear your thoughts about Google Calendars. Do you use your Google Calendar to keep track of your schedule? Why would it be important for teachers to have an organized calendar? If you don’t use your Google Calendar, do you think you will start? If you want to learn more about other neat things you can do with Google Calendars check out Aaron M.’s post about Sharing Your Google Calendar with Others or Chelsea R.’s post about Google Calendar: Sending and Responding to Invitations.