Start your Digital Toolbox - Google Docs

The fall is a great time of year to try out new tools and routines to improve our effectivenss. This is no different for our children/students.  My next series of posts will be dedicated making your  ( and your child's) life easier using some of my favorite tools.

The Google Docs suite is with out a doubt is probably one of the most used tools in my digital toolbox.  There have been several great commercials lately demonstrating the sharing capability of Google docs.  Two important highlights of Google Docs are that is cloud based, and that you can share any document with anyone or make it public  Basically you have all your documents if you have an internet connection, and because the documents can be shared, group work and teacher feedback is a breeze.

As a teacher I have used Google docs in my Computer and English classes with great success. I had my students have a Gmail account as part of their supplies for the beginning of the school year.  Once a Gmail account is established the user has access to email, Docs, Spreadsheets (think Excel), Presentations (think PowerPoint) and Calendar among a suite of other applications.   

No longer is there the issue of printer problems or Word not working correctly with Google Docs kids can simply share a document with their teachers. Some of my students became so adept at Google Docs that they were using their phones to do their homework and write essays.  Commenting and editing is easy for the teacher, plus Google also automatically saves each document so there is no losing work.

Best of all, it is free.  There are many Google Docs tutorials on youtube and it is very easy to learn.  As always feel free to contact me with any questions.