Google Apps for Education

This Thursday, December 1st, I am going to a conference in Whitewater on Google Apps for Education. If you already have a gmail account (Google email), you can access these great features. If not, just head over to Google to sign up. Some of the great features are Google Docs, Calendars, Forms, and Maps.

Google Docs
You can upload your files to your Google Docs account and have access to them from any computer that has Internet access. This can be handy when you are working on something at home and want to use it at school. Google Docs is also great because you can collaborate on documents with others. To see an example of this, click here: Information About the 50 States. This is an example of a spreadsheet that I created in Excel and uploaded to my Google Docs. I shared it so the 4th graders can add facts about the 50 States. Then we can learn about how to sort and search through this information, create graphs, and more. The neat thing is that multiple people can be on the page adding information at the same time. Just think how you could use this in your classroom?!! Google Docs is great too because you can use the word processing program, slide show creator, spreadsheet software, etc... that is free online. You don't have to buy software such as Office or update your software every time the newest version comes out.

Google Calendars
You can keep your calendar on Google so that it is accessible anywhere you have Internet access. You can share your Calendar with others. You can add other people's Google Calendar to your account so all of the information you need to know is all located in one place. I have my Google Calendar, the Craig H.S. Calendar, and the Twitter Chat Calendar all saved to my account. You could create a classroom calendar for your parents to have access to. We could have our SJV School Calendar saved this way and posted on the school website. How handy would that be?!!

Google Maps
You can create a personalized Google Map for an assignment that you are doing. For example, I have a map showing all of the postcards the 4th graders have received so far in our postcard exchange. You can see it here: SJV Computer Lab: 4th Grade Postcard Exchange. You could use Google Maps in Reading too. Map out the locations of the events in a story you are reading. There are lots of possibilities with Google Maps.

If you noticed, I didn't write about Google Forms. This is one area I am not very familiar with. I hope after attending the conference in Whitewater I'll be able to share more with you. Stop in and see me if you're interested in seeing Google Apps in action. I'd be happy to show you how great it is.