I really can't believe our facilitators asked for only one collaborative idea for using Google Docs because, it seems to me, the collaborative ease of it is what makes it so freakin' cool. Goodbye are the days when students ask for another copy of the assignment; now you can require them to just download another from the internet. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I HATE repeating myself or having to do something again after I've already done it (like making the bed, coloring my hair, getting a hair cut, etc). And, now, I can hold on to my temper just a little bit longer.
My three groovy ideas:
1. As already stated, my favorite use for Google Docs is the endless copies it puts at a student's finger tips mostly because I no longer have to keep messy stacks of "extras" lying around my room (an English teacher's classroom is messy enough), but also because students can't complain that it was "lost" or, my favorite, "stolen". All they have to do is download and print a new copy. Depending on the assignment, because it is an electronic document, students could download, complete, save and then email the results back to the teacher. And, dogs don't usually eat computers, so no more eaten homework (although I did have a dog that ate a bible).
2. Having a department meeting? Don't have time to make copies? Upload to Google Docs and ask the members of your department to print them out and bring with to the meeting. This works especially well for cross-discipline meetings (hey! Inks expensive! Let some other department pay for it and/or the copies).
3. And this could be the handiest of all my ideas: the ability to pull up your work no matter where you are or what computer you're using. We have all gotten to our destination only to realize that the document we need is neither physically available or is on the thumbdrive we left at home/work/the computer of the international spy from whom we were stealing documents. NOW, however, we can have our paperwork within a finger's reach (assuming we have computer access that is . . . but, who doesn't these days with iPhones and laptops?).
Frankly, I think these are rather ingenious ideas, but I'm biased.
My three groovy ideas:
1. As already stated, my favorite use for Google Docs is the endless copies it puts at a student's finger tips mostly because I no longer have to keep messy stacks of "extras" lying around my room (an English teacher's classroom is messy enough), but also because students can't complain that it was "lost" or, my favorite, "stolen". All they have to do is download and print a new copy. Depending on the assignment, because it is an electronic document, students could download, complete, save and then email the results back to the teacher. And, dogs don't usually eat computers, so no more eaten homework (although I did have a dog that ate a bible).
2. Having a department meeting? Don't have time to make copies? Upload to Google Docs and ask the members of your department to print them out and bring with to the meeting. This works especially well for cross-discipline meetings (hey! Inks expensive! Let some other department pay for it and/or the copies).
3. And this could be the handiest of all my ideas: the ability to pull up your work no matter where you are or what computer you're using. We have all gotten to our destination only to realize that the document we need is neither physically available or is on the thumbdrive we left at home/work/the computer of the international spy from whom we were stealing documents. NOW, however, we can have our paperwork within a finger's reach (assuming we have computer access that is . . . but, who doesn't these days with iPhones and laptops?).
Frankly, I think these are rather ingenious ideas, but I'm biased.
This is - by far - the most useful "thing" to me. I hadn't thought about using it as "copies" for students, but that IS another great way!
ReplyDeleteNot biased at all--those are ingenious ideas. I've said it before, any time you can throw responsibility back on the students for having something, do it.
ReplyDelete