Google Docs

I have to admit, I am much more impressed with Google Docs than I thought I was going to be. Getting into a standard word processing document was really easy, and it definitely does work just like you'd expect Word or Open Office to. After a bit of familiarization, the tools for inviting people, sharing documents, and starting new documents, forms, and presentations were easy to use. I was looking at the presentation section a little ahead of when our group needs to be doing that, and it reminded me very much of PowerPoint (which I'm sure is the point!).

This seems like a great tool for collaboration, sharing documents without having to email files, and perhaps providing a way for students to save a file and work on it elsewhere, even if they do not have a flash drive with them, or multiple students may need to look at the sheet between class sessions.

The similarity between menus, tools, and navigation on Google Docs and programs like Word and Open Office is also a real bonus. Even for someone who is not experienced with Google Docs, it is fairly easy to find what you are looking for. I had never used it, and most things were right where I was expecting them to be!

The invite to view/edit feature is also really useful. The control it gives you over your document is quite useful. If a final product is being shown to someone, they have no reason to need to edit, so there is the view option.

I think my favorite feature may be the option to view revisions, and then revert back to any of them. I think this is KEY when working on something with others. It's easy enough to make a mistake on your own, and cut out something you wanted. When working with others, that possibility increases. By providing all previous versions, and access to them, Google Docs has created an excellent back up system.

Teachers and students could use all of these features to work together, and share final products. It really just takes the basic Microsoft Office suite, and makes it easier to share with others.