After going to the Tele-Tech Tuesday video teleconference on March 3, I realized how great Google Docs can be! Basically, it is space to create and save files that you can access from any computer. I think of it like a giant, free flash drive that I don't have to carry around with me. Google will give you server space for free (space to save files) on the internet. So, it acts like email through Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. You can log in and check your files from anywhere with internet access. Here are a few scenarios that I can see Google docs coming in handy for:
1. You have files on your teacher computer that you would really like to take home. You could email them to yourself as attachments but this can get tedious when you have several files. You could also save them on a flash drive. What if you don't have a flash drive? Or, what if you loose it? Google docs to the rescue! You just upload (with about 2 clicks) your documents to your internet space from school. Then, go home, log back in (just like you would email) to your space and voila! There are all your files! You can download them onto your home computer or just work on them right there in your internet space (Google Docs).
2. Think of the above scenario, but the other way around. You have documents at home that you want to bring to school. It works the same way!
3. Your class is working on a power point project in the Computer lab and you want to combine all the slides from each student into one presentation. Just upload the first student file to Google Docs. From there, you can import slides from each student's file directly into the main one. No more copy/pasting!
4. You have created a file that you want to use with your students. You realize how wonderful your work is and want to share it with other teachers from your grade level. If the other teachers have an account with Google Docs you can "share" your file directly with them. No more emailing attachments or worrying about a server at school. As soon as you share it that other teachers will see the document in their own Google Docs account. Things brings me to scenario 5.
5. You want to work with a few other teachers to create documents (slide shows, word documents, etc). The goal is for each person to do his/her part and put everything together to finish the project. Here is what to do: Have one person create the file and share it with the other teachers. From here, each person can log in from any computer with internet access and work on the file. When they save their changes the new version will show up in all the teachers' accounts! You will be able to immediately see what changes have been made.
Is your interest peaked yet? If so, check it out! Go to:
www.google.com
In the upper left hand corner it says:
Images, Maps, News, Video, Mail, More
Click on the 'More' link and click on 'Documents'. The site will walk you through setting up an account. If you have a blog spot, Google Calendar or Gmail account you can use the same username and password you have already created. If not, you set up a new account. If you have additional questions or want more information please let me know. I am happy to share everything I know, copy the handouts from the tele-conference for you and walk you through using Google Docs!
Have fun!
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