Tip #3--Revision history and tracking changes

Note the revision history sidebar on the right

Depending upon what sharing permissions are set by the document owner, any document editor can access the revision history by clicking on "file" and then "see revision history."  It's advisable for teachers to require that students set sharing permissions as "can edit" for the classroom instructor, so that teachers can then view all necessary information.  Directions on how to do that are located here in the Google Docs help center.

Being able to see revision history is useful in multiple ways.  It allows teachers (and other collaborators) to see what changes have been made by what users.  It can allow teachers an easy way to see what revisions (if any) students have made to their documents throughout the writing process.  Depending upon the edit, the change will often appear in different colors.  In the above picture, Feb. 4, 3:21 PM shows that "clainhar" replaced a lower case "p" with an upper case "P."

In the event of essay rewrites or project "do overs," the teacher can quickly see what additions and changes students have made.  The "show more detailed revisions" button at the bottom of the revision history sidebar allows teachers to delve even more deeply.

In addition, revision history makes it easy to see when students have submitted their assignments.  This could allow teachers to set one deadline for all students and to know definitively who has met the deadline and who hasn't.

Tip #8--Using Google Groups to promote student writing

Google Groups is Google's take on an aspect of the web that's been around for as long as the Internet--discussion boards.  It is not fancy, but it can provide you with a great way to engage students in some informal writing and to engage them in discussion with each other about class concepts.

In the example above, AP English students have been asked to debate the issue of man's role in global warming.  You might ask, why don't I just have them do this in a Google document?  And the answer is that you could.  However, it does open up some possible problems, especially when dealing with young folks who don't always make the best decisions.  Since everyone who is sharing the document can edit it as they like, which could enable some ne'er-do-well to engage in electronic vandalism. Sure, you should be able to catch the culprit using revision history, but if someone were smart enough to lift another student's log in information, it might be hard to track down the true culprit.

Google Groups allows you as the instructor finer control over what is posted and even provides content filtering and the ability to flag for moderation posts that may be inappropriate .  It can be somewhat complicated to set up, however, but once it's done, it can be a very effective tool for student writing.

Mostly, though, the students become very motivated by the opportunity to engage with and comment on each other's ideas. It can often result in very animated, but moderated, discussions.

What is Google Drive?

Google Drive

You may have noticed that Google Docs is now called "Google Drive." For the most part, this change is just a re-branding of what Google Docs has already been able to do.  As stated in previous posts, it's been possible to upload all different types of files to Google Docs for quite awhile.  "Google Drive" is mainly just Google deciding to make it official.  They will be rolling out the change in three phases.  By the end of the third phase, everyone's "Documents" choice in Google Apps will change to the name "Drive."

The web interface will change slightly, but for the most part the experience will be the same.  

There is another aspect to "Drive" that would require a significant amount of changes if it were to be applied within the district.  "Drive" has a downloadable desktop app that functions as a local repository for documents and files stored on Google Apps.  Installing this app would require administrative privileges, which is why it would require a larger conversation about whether it should be implemented or not. There are also apps for iOS and Android smart phones.

The "Drive" desktop app allows users to setup offline access, so that they can edit Google Documents without an Internet connection.  Then, when the computer has access again, the "Drive" app syncs the files edited on the local computer with the files stored in the Google Apps cloud.  

Tip #9--Ideas for Student Use

How students can put Google Docs to use:

• Divide up work:  Students can work side-by-side on the same document, splitting up the work load
• Always have their files:  Instead of emailing files to themselves, students can upload their non-Google files to Docs and then download them at school.
• Record research:  Instead of using index cards to record research for papers or projects, students can create a Google document and share it with their teacher
• Share research:  Students can easily take notes and then share them with other students of their choosing (of course, this could also make plagiarism easier as well)
• Make presentations:  Google recently update their Presentation maker to include things like embedding video files and creating animations.
• Draw:  Use Google Drawings to collaborate on and create charts, diagrams, logos, etc.
• Meet up virtually:  Students can be assigned group work at home (provided they have computers and Internet) and they can "meet" on the web instead of having to physically get together.

One thing that is certain is that those students who are comfortable with technology will always come up with new and unique "tweaks" to use these emerging technologies.

Tip #7-Flipping the Classroom

The concept of flipping the classroom is a hot topic in education at the time this blog post is being written.  Largely pioneered by a website called "The Khan Academy," to "flip" the classroom means to record and store lessons online, to assign students to view them before the next class, and to spend class time helping the students apply what they've learned.  It's called "flipped" because it takes the traditional model of teaching a topic in class and sending the kids home to work on it, and reverses it.

The theory is that instead of sending kids home to grapple alone with what you've taught them, teach them "at home" and then work with them in school to develop their skills.  Below is my first stab at trying this technique.  It is a PowerPoint of background information about Macbeth with narration that I converted to a movie and uploaded to Google Docs, as well as posting it on the blog below.  To share it with the students, I will email them a link from the Google Docs share function:

Full disclosure:  The PowerPoint/video above was made using Microsoft Office 2010 because Office 2007 does not have the ability to save files to video (unless you purchase a third party add on).  Keynote, for Mac, does support saving presentations as video files and has for quite awhile.

Tip #6--Storing and viewing video files

Any video files uploaded to Google Docs can be viewed from within Docs itself, without downloading the files.  One assumes that this feature will be more likely to work on computers outside of school, but one never knows. Also, all copyright laws do apply, and you can be held responsible for any content posted in violation of those laws.

The picture above shows the file name for a video lecture on using the verb "To Be" that has been uploaded to Google Docs.  The "eye" icon above the file will appear when the file is selected.  Clicking on the eye will cause the video to open and play within the browser.  A screenshot is below:

Tip #5--How to upload and download files

To upload files to Google Docs, as we discussed in Tip #4, you need only open Docs and click on the red upload button:

Using Google Chrome, it is possible to upload entire folders to Docs, but we will focus on sending just files for now.  The process is the same for folders.  Clicking on "Files" opens up the box below:

Note that the two boxes marked "convert" are unchecked.  This means your file will upload in the original format.  If you check the first box, Google Docs will convert your document to their proprietary format.  If you check the second box, Google Docs will convert a PDF file into Google Docs format.   Click "Start upload" and a box will pop up in the bottom right corner displaying your upload status.  Once it's done, your files have been uploaded to Google Docs and can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection:

Downloading files is just a matter of checking the box next to the file and selecting "more" and then "Download."  Once there, a pop up will appear giving you choices about what type of file you wish to download.

 

** Side note:  If you uploaded a PDF file (perhaps one that you have scanned to file) to Docs and converted it, you can now download the file as a Word document that can be modified.