Thing #18 Online Tools

I have been using Google Docs this semester with my 2nd graders. With the grant that we got from SBISD, we have ASUS laptops (we call them “minis”), and those did not come with the Microsoft Office package. The students are all set up with their own gmail address, and once they have learned the basics of Microsoft office, they took on Google Docs pretty easily since they are quite similar. This is great for mini-projects such as a slideshow or making a handout for what they have learned. I have used this with group work in Social Studies, Science and Reading so far. Because the students can share documents and presentations with each other, there doesn’t have to be a group of 4 huddled around 1 computer waiting to take turns to do “their part”, they can each be working on their own computer, working on their part of the project, and this helps with eliminating wasted time.

I have also had the students use Google Docs to share their projects with me so that I can easily see from ONE place what their status is as far as finishing. I don’t have to log onto each student’s account, I have them all listed in one place! One disadvantage that has reared its ugly head is that sometimes group members have “tweaked” some part that someone else did, and this has caused some hurt feelings. We have had to establish some rules similar to kindergarten block center of “if you didn’t build it, you can’t knock it down” to “if you didn’t type it, you can’t change it without permission”.
In a nutshell—advantages: free, more than one can work on the same project at the same time on different computers, similar to Microsoft Office programs, and it automatically saves, so the user doesn’t have to worry about where/how to save the project!
Disadvantages: have to set up each user with a google email address to start, items can be edited or changed and you may not like how it was changed, it saves to a server that you do not have control over!