Google spreadsheets are similar to using Microsoft Excel but with all the extra features of sharing and real time collaboration. At my school we use Excel to create spreadsheets of student unit test scores for both reading and math. All classroom teachers must type in student test scores for each unit test. When one teacher is adding their data, no other teachers can access the spreadsheet to make changes, only as a read-only file. I created a Google account for my school in the hopes that next year we can put these spreadsheets online so that multiple teachers can add their data at the same time. Obviously this spreadsheet would only be viewable by the staff members to ensure student privacy. Another great benefit of creating our school spreadsheets online would be that teachers could add and edit data from home or another location since they would not need to access our school's shared drive in order to access the spreadsheet.
Google has a great guide to help you get started with creating spreadsheets: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=20322&topic=20329
One of the greatest features of using Google docs or Google spreadsheets is that you can access your documents from any computer with an Internet connection.
I used Google docs last summer during a graduate course at Loyola. My group and I were trying to work on a research paper together and we were trying to figure out the best way to keep each other updated on changes we were making to the paper. There were four of us in the group so we felt that it would be too hard to just email the document back and forth as there was a good chance that someone would end up making changes to an older version of the document. We decided to use Google docs to share the research paper so that we could all be making changes anytime and we would all be able to view the most recently updated changes through Google docs.
Below are a picture and a link showing my shared document from last summer's course.
The Google website also provides an entire section for educators about how to use Google docs in your classroom.
I also like using google docs. Our school uses the spreadsheet to keep track of which teachers would like to check out technology, that way we know what dates, class periods, and technology that is or is not available from anywhere. It is better than doing it on the schools shared drive because as you had mentioned it doesn't matter if we plan at school or at home we know who wants/has the technology!
ReplyDeleteIt's a great way for our school to stay organized and know where or who we can ask the technology for.
Laurie - That is an awesome idea. I may have to try that for next year. We are currently using an Outlook shared calendar, but it has been nothing but a huge headache.
ReplyDeleteOne of the powerful things about Google Docs (and many Web 2.0 tools) is its simplicity. Many of these tools have become useful to large numbers of peoples (including less tech-savvy teachers) because they are easy to use. How many teachers, e.g., maintained Web pages when they had to code them in HTML (or even use FrontPage). Not many. far more are willing to do it when all they have to do is update a wiki or a blog.
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ReplyDeleteHey Rachel- If you want to see the example (I hope you have access) but here is the link for my school's technology document. It does take a few seconds to load everything because it is pretty big!
ReplyDeletehttp://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Al-qcDhIzXHodFFLeFduYmV2a0h4QXVRd1RJTDh0Unc&hl=en#gid=18