Sunday, August 23, 2009

Thing 16

I have used Google Docs before, but never really took the time to explore the other options. I was amazed to see all the templates, even though some were private/blocked. I even found one tool for amortizing a loan and since we are in the process of selling a home, it was interesting to see how to use that tool. I also had done a survey at the end of last school year for both the students and staff regarding the media center and it's resources. You have to be ready to hear anything when you do a survey and I'm not sure I was. The survey became part of my year end report. I will redo it each year and clean it up so that I get pertinent information. I think this survey tool could be used as a pre and post tool for media literacy and as part of the media center orientation I do each year for classes coming in to check out materials.

Since I am on many committees both in school and statewide. This is an excellent tool to use to share, collaborate, and assess committee work. I have a meeting in a couple of days and it's a long distance. I think I will suggest we use this tool for future meetings to gather and share information.

I love Google Docs and all of the Google products. They certainly know how to collaborate and support education and life-long learning.

I think the concerns about students relate to email accounts as well as collaborating. We need to be teaching students to work together and collaborate in a positive productive way and not think that they can hide behind and computer and do whatever they like without repercussions. Since there is a login requirement, it is easy to track students an their work/comments. I like the video that talked about being able to watch student participation and know that all members of a group actually do the work. I just think there are too many positives, not to share these tools with our students.

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