The thing I like about Google Docs is that they can be accessed from any location because they are a part of the internet. Also, important documents would not be lost if your computer or its files were destroyed.
The templates available are endless. For my personal use, I particularly liked monthly budget and the to do list. Professionally, there were templates for unit planning, calendars, and various others that would be useful. There was one dealing with compare and contrast that used a venn diagram. Students could add their ideas to it individually.
Google Docs would be useful to students in the following ways; they could share, and work together on improving their writing, as well as becoming more organized.
I have to make a comment on one of the videos. It was about a middle school in the Bronx, NY. Apparently, there was a lot of unruly behavior, violence, and gang activity in this school. Suffice to say there wasn't very much academic success. A new principal entered the school and introduced laptops and Google Docs as the new learning venue. Now students are much more engaged and overall the school has improved drastically academically. The implication was that it was all due to Google Docs. GIVE ME A BREAK! The schools vast improvement was probably due to several factors of which Google Docs was only a small part.
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I'm glad you saw some possibilitiees with Google Docs. One of my favorite features is one that you mentioned--the fact that it enables you to access your documents from any computer. That feature has saved me many times from having to worry about shuttling my flash drive back and forth between school and home or from having to email things to myself to be able to work on them from multiple locations!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the video you mentioned, I agree that Google was probably a small part of what changed the culture of the featured school; however, what I enjoyed about the video was hearing from the various teachers as they weighed the pros and cons of using computers in the classroom. I found it interesting that the students openly admitted to being distracted by other activities online, but that some teachers found it beneficial for the students to become practiced multi-taskers.
Recently I've read a lot about the "failure" of programs designed to bring laptops or computers to low socioeconomic areas. Many studies have shown that providing students with access to technology has not improved test scores or academic achievement; however, I think it's important to note, as you did, that technology in and of itself is not a means of altering student achievement. Technology is a tool, and it's useless to kids unless their teachers use it as an effective part of instruction and curriculum. Ultimately, I don't think technology will ever replace good teaching; instead, I hope that it will become a vital part of good teaching.
Great points; Thing 7 complete!