I got a little frustrated with google docs because I could not find the spell check and when I tried to click on certain menus it just kept opening a new page.
Can you use Microsoft office and just upload your documents? Also, how can you incorporate this with the blog. I would like for my Pre-Cal students next year to keep up a blog to discuss what they are learning in the lessons in class. They need to have access to google docs to create discussions on topics. It would be nice if they could access the document from their blog page because it has a built in equation editor. Microsoft office 7 or 10 has a much better equation editor but I know some students do not have those applications on their computer.
Also, is there a way for them to have a message sent to me each time they work on their blog? I would like some kind of notification so that I know when to check them. I think I am going to begin to use this for their six weeks exam grade on the grading periods that we have semester exams and extra points on the other six week periods.
I like the idea of uploading my school related documents so that I have access to them anywhere I am. I always seem to be emailing documents to myself and having several copies between home and school.
I think this is a great editing tool for students to collaborate and edit each others work. I am concerned about students deleting papers just to be hateful. That does not happen often but can be a problem. Is there a way to keep a file of the last person logged in to deter this kind of behavior. I am excited about the use of these tools. I am still not sure how they are using them in the math classroom as much as History, Science and English. I think our district needs to find a way to provide more access to technology for our students and for full classrooms. I think more of us would incorporate technology if it didn't take so much planning and effort just to get into a lab or to get our one cart into the room with working computers. I know I would use Geometer's Skectpad more often if I did not have to spend so much time making sure that the program had not been deleted and that there were enough working computers so that the lesson does not become a flop.
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Wow! You have a lot of great ideas and a lot of great questions! Let me see if I can't answer some of them...
ReplyDeleteRegarding the spell check issue and problems with other editing tools, Docs can be a little challenging to use because it is web-based, especially if you're already familiar with Microsoft Office tools. To answer your question, yes, you can create documents in Microsoft and then upload them to Google Docs; however, Docs does have issues with some formatting, such as tables and images.
It is possible to embed Google Docs directly on to your blog. (See instructions here: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55244). It's also possible, though, to simply teach your students to have both windows open side-by-side so that they can view the blog and their doc at the same time.
As far as receiving a message when a student updates a blog, you'll want to look into RSS feeds. The Bonus activity for Thing 1 explains RSS and how to set up Google Reader. Reader basically keeps track of multiple blogs for you and compiles any posts you haven't read in one place. So, you can sign in to your reader and read anything new your students have done without having to go to each individual blog.
In response to your question about keeping track of who last edited a Doc, I believe that Google Docs keeps track of that for you. When you log in, it should list any docs that you have the ability to view or edit and show who edited them last and at what time. Here are some instructions on reverting to an older version of a doc. Also, don't forget that you can monitor student use of docs by adjusting your "share" settings. You can determine whether students have the ability to view, edit, or manipulate each doc, and you can also set up a doc so that you receive an email notification each time that it is edited.
I agree that simply having access to technology is one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome in our ditrict; my hope is that we can develop ways to work with what we have at the present and that we can work together to encourage the acquisition of more hardware.
Great response! Thing 7 complete!