Weekly Report & Reflection #7 - Google Doc it!

It's been a busy but exciting week as we kicked off the group collaboration project! I really enjoyed working with my group members and chatting on Todays Meet about our group project. What's really exciting about this project is that we don't actually meet, but we have to collaborately create a presentation online! Several years ago, this would not have been possible. But now, with cloud technology, people around the world can work together on anything without actually having to meet. One of the challenges of working on a project together through the digital world is sharing with each other your own work. Traditionally, emails would be used, however a tool created by Google called Google Docs via the Google Drive now allows group members to work on a single document or slide together at the same time!

Working with Google Docs was quite the pleasure. I love how I did not need to click save or click email or share. It was all done automatically! What was more fantastic about Google Docs is that our group can work on the same document or slide at the exact same time without any conflict. Another great benefit of Google Docs is that you can make Word like documents or PowerPoint like slide shows using Google Docs' built in software that does not require any installations. This means we had a vast amount of tools available to us when we were creating our presentation slides and all for free. This tool will be extremely useful for education activities in two ways. Firstly, I can access and create Word like documents anywhere I go and on any computer as long as I have an internet connection. Secondly, I can collaborate with my group mates easily on Google Docs because there is no need to email each other our works or worry about compatibility between a Mac Word and a Windows Word document. Exploring and learning about Google Docs has been a great help to my Digital Literacy. I thought I had great knowledge about online sharing tools but Google Docs really surprised me! Not to mention how much my Digital Communication will now be improved as I add Google Docs as a tool under my belt. My three ideas for using Google Docs in a classroom or professional environment  are the following. Firstly, it would be a great tool to use at school with group members or collaborators. Instead of working on different documents at different times, Google Doc will allow everything to be combined into one single document available virtually anywhere. Secondly, Google Docs can be used as a personal too at school when taking notes or jotting down thoughts. Instead of saving those notes on a USB or emailing it, Google Docs stores it in your account automatically. This means if you travel somewhere and forget your computer or USB, you can still access your documents online from a different device. Lastly, Google Docs will be a great tool for inside the work place! Like working on a school project, co-worker often share materials and resources while working together on a work project. This means you can easily share your work with a colleague who might be located in a different office or even different country! By working on the same documents together, you are able to keep track of what each member is doing and when at all times

              Image credit: Veer, Edutopia

This week through my Feedly Reader, I found an article about 5 questions teachers can ask students to help boost their learning experience. The questions suggested in this article are quite simple but "powerful" as suggested by the article. I think questions like "Why do your think that" or " How do you know this" will let teachers really reach into the minds of their students and try to help their students understand and further develop their train of thought on various topics. While you may have already thought about these questions, I believe keeping track of how often and when you ask these questions is very important. This allows you to be able to "routinely and relentlessly" ask these questions which will in turn help make your students more comfortable and confident when asking questions or communicating their opinions.

That's it for this week! As always thanks for reading and please stay tuned for next week's post as my group wraps up our presentation!

Thanks,

Billy