I've been to workshops where I've seen amazing things done with Google Docs and students, however I can only see that being practical if there was a way to ensure that every student had a Google account. Apparently, Google Apps for education is one way to ensure that. Every student gets a Gmail account, a Google Docs, account, etc. There are even free apps out there that include gradebooks and attendance cloud software for teachers to use. I was wondering how many of you have this at your school, how you feel about using it, how difficult the transition was to it, and how you use it in your classroom. I'm interested in it, and think it would be cool if my district could switch to it, but I doubt I'll recommend it for quite some time. Apparently it's also completely free as opposed to the usual district grading and internet software that costs districts thousands of dollars.
We are apparently going to be having students keep "e-portfolios" on there in the near future, but we haven't used it much up to this point. I have to say that I am liking Google Docs more and more, though. Last year, I had my students work on group presentations, and had them create them using the Google Presentation "software". It worked really well for group work, since three students could have the exact same presentations open on different computers, and edit them (and view the changes) in real-time. Also, because they needed to share their documents with me, I was able to view the final products as well as the entire revision history. I will definitely use it again in the future.
I don't know how much of it is used at my new school, but we have our school email accounts through it. I'll be able to find out later how much of it is being used.
This is the first year we're suppose to use it in 5th and 6th grade. But of course, our not-so-great tech director cancelled our 4 days of training on how to use it and we've been given NO professional development on the best techniques for using GoogleApps. *very frustrated*
We have it. Some teachers and principals are doing awesome things with it. I'm slowiy learning how to use it with my students. One of the benefits of Google Docs/Google Drive is that my co-teacher and I or my students and I can share documents and write on them at the same time. I used an Excel Doc in my science class to compile class data from an experiment and used that to graph the data.
Let me know how the transitions go for those who are switching. I really hope I can get our district to use it in the future.
I wouldn't. You're a first year teacher, right? Whatever program they have, it's been working for them. Instead of coming in as the new guy who wants them to adapt to your ideas, give their ideas a shot first. The odds are pretty good that it's already come up, or will come up... it's a very well known program. But you don't want to get the repuration as a newbie know it all. At the end of the year, or early next year, ask if it's ever come up. But until then, do things their way.
I *wish* we had it, but for some reason, our district is still choosing to block it. Maybe as it becomes more mainstream, we'll finally wake up and do it.
I'm hoping we'll integrate AfE in our district eventually. All of the teacher accounts were switched to Google a year ago, and there's still some resistance from less tech-savvy staff so it'll probably take a while. Google Docs has been awesome for me either way. I switched to using forms for sending out my monthly ESE (special ed) consults. I save tons of paper and time for both me and the teachers who have to fill them in.
I use Google docs pretty effectively without the kids needing any kind of account. I make forms for quizzes, worksheets, surveys, etc. And anything else I want them to contribute to, I just open up for everyone. I guess there's some risk that people outside my class could see it, but I can't imagine anyone caring enough to find it in the first place.
I was more thinking about having students collaborate together on a shared project. To be able to edit and use things in GDocs, you have to have an account.
Oh, I know. By "I really hope I can get our district to use it in the future" I meant in like a year or so to see how their current system is working. I don't really care about my reputation regardless (I'm not one of those that snark around under the radar because I care what people think of me), but one of the main reasons the principal hired me was because she was impressed with my technical background. It's simply a good system, and I think it would be helpful for everyone and free. Part of getting this to happen is getting public opinion on it, how it's working, whether or not its better than what they've been using, etc. Hence why I am asking people on this forum and getting information. (and plan to do so on the job informally) Also you'd be surprised (or perhaps not surprised) about how in some of these districts, these things just don't come up, because everyone is too afraid to say anything or they simply have never heard about it, or it does come up, but no one follows up on it and it gets forgotten.
I think it would be silly not to mention it after you have a year of experience with the school's current system. Just because you're new doesn't mean you can't have good ideas and pathways for improvement.
My school isn't necessarily using it even though we have it. When I was given some computer classes in my second year after only teaching math my first year, I did some digging and saw that we had Google Apps but we only used it for teacher e-mail. I got the okay with my principal and I used Google Docs in my computer classes. I didn't use the grading capabilities that were mentioned and I didn't even know that it was available. We have PowerGrade so I had no reason to look for that. Things went great. I had students turn all of their assignments in through this method. There was ZERO printing and I could go in and mark their papers for correction anytime and any place. I even observed what they were doing on days when I was out of school at conferences, which proved to me that the substitutes were lying about classroom behavior. I am in a small rural school and I did hear some grumbling about students having e-mail addresses at one point in the year but you can always block them from sending outside emails. You may even be able to turn email off for them altogether, but I think that defeats the purpose of the system as a whole. Let me know if you want to know anything else about it. EDIT: Oh and I tried to get teachers to share things through this method but I was not very successful. Not many teachers in my school share a whole lot anyway. We only have one teacher for each subject. I am high school math and computers and there are no other teachers of those subjects. So I guess until the other teachers are forced to collaborate during Common Core there is not much to share.
We use it and I love it. Our school wide email is hosted through google and I've done a lot of great things with the Google Apps for Education. This year, I'm starting eportfolios for the students using Google Sites.
:lol: I also totally agree with you about student email. Why shouldn't students have email? This is the year 2012. They will all have email anyway, and the whole point of using technology is to give them "21st Century Skills". If they aren't taught how to use e-mail, it kind of defeats the purpose. But I agree it should be regulated especially because this is something in direct connection with the school district. I am pretty sure there is a way to restrict email to within the domain of the district. Thank you for your input! It was extremely helpful. As has been everyone's response so far.
We were told at our end-of-the-year meetings that this might be coming. I haven't heard anything else yet. (But our server/network crashed last week and they're still working on getting that up and running, so Google Apps may not be their first priority...)
I don't get this sentiment. As a new teacher I do think it is OK to give your ideas most likely you were hired because someone in the school like your ideas and what you had to say. Just because you are new does not mean you should sit around and let the old timers keep things the same as always. There are changes in education and I think it's good to show that you're a leader and actually have ideas.
Love my Google Docs. However, we do upgrade them to good drive so they all have a 5 GB cloud storage so they can bring other things from home to school.
Well, ironically, I DID end up getting my school Google Apps for Education this year. We won a class and a half set of Google Chromebooks, and by that point it was silly not to have Google Apps. I applied for the new domain and have been setting everything up, so I beat my previous time-frame by about 3/4ths of a year. Better to start early anyway for next year. The staff are actually all looking forward to it for its collaborative capabilities for both students and staff, especially with common core coming out soon. I'm looking forward to helping teachers set up public google docs folders and adding them to websites so students have access to the assignments even at home. It's going to be interesting setting this up.
Our district is not allowed to use Google Docs, or any program that stores information on an external site (such as Glogster). It's frustrating, to say the least.
