Google Docs Update
Education October 10th, 2007The semester is halfway over and I figure I should give an update to my students using Google docs. I didn’t teach my students the first day of how to use Google docs, except how to access. I wanted to see what the class did with the technology; how easy it was, features, etc. Some hate it, some love it, and some just want nothing to do with it because it is new. This may not be surprising to anyone.
The ones who hate it did so because they had a problem with the first time they used it. Or it didn’t do all the things that MS Word did. These students didn’t take the time to explore Google docs. They wanted to be shown how to use it.
The students who loved it did so because they explored Google docs, clicking on the tabs, seeing what was on the menu. By the end of the class, there were a few students who very excitedly figured out that they could share their documents with fellow students so they could do peer reviews. They taught their fellow students, the ones who were interested, how to share. Collaboration began to take place.
Excitment can be contagious. By the second class, when people were talking about what they did, how they were able to add comments to another doc, the ones who didn’t like Google docs, some of them began to get interested. Students were teaching other students, and then collaborating. Good stuff – and a pleasant surprise.
And the students who wanted nothing to do with Google Docs? They use it to the bare minimal only because they have to. No matter if I show them what to do, how to do it, what it can do for them, they just don’t care and rather not use it.
We still have to print in Word because we have very specific gudielines for format and Google hasn’t implemented all of its formatting features yet. I have also had students who forgot their paper at home, was able to get it from Google docs, paste it in Word, and not be marked off for being late. Just more advantages to using such a tool.
While Google Docs is not the end all, and it does have its problems, it does have a great advantage at collboration and your document being available anywhere you have web access. I would say that using it has been a success, it has helped my students, and that is all that matters.
Does anyone have any web 2.0 tools that you have used successfully/unsuccessfully in your classes?
Mark Viquesney
December 18th, 2007 at 12:33 am
“We still have to print in Word because we have very specific guidelines for format and Google hasn’t implemented all of its formatting features yet.”
Can you elaborate on what your formatting guidelines were?
December 18th, 2007 at 9:53 am
90% of the time our formating guidlines were standard MLA – 1 inch margins, headers at .5 inch, title page, sometimes hard page breaks. Sometimes our margins had to be 1.5 inches on the left and 1 inch on the right. It is hard to tell if the tab just takes the indent in five spaces or half-an-inch or we need to set tabs up in specific locations. There are times we have to have items in very specific locations on the paper – maybe something starts at 3 inches and ends at 5 inches. With no ruler function, it can be hard to tell but just guessing. For rough drafts, Googledocs is great. But for the final, the students had to have correct formatting. I am sure as Google docs goes along, these items will appear. And when formatting was not a requirement, Google Docs was all we needed. The students loved the collaboration they received. I think I learned as much from them about Google docs as they did from me.