Google Docs

Google Docs does an excellent job of including most of the functionality of Word while offering improvements based on its web-connectivity. The only striking difference I found between the two was Word offers a significantly larger amount of templates than Google Docs. Google Docs has a greater propensity to be utilized for collaborative purposes. With an email address, multiple users are able to work on a document in real time. The documents can also be easily published to the web to allow students or parents to view a document that relates to a particular lesson plan or activity. The only negative I found, besides the limited templates, was the need for internet access and the security issues that come with such usage. Otherwise, Google Docs seems to be an extremely user-friendly program that has a great deal of strengths over Word.

The collaborative exercise using Google Docs worked very well. The program allowed us to seamlessly interact and create a mock document. It proved to be easy to connect to and figure out. The addition of a video chat like Skype or Google Chat would be beneficial in utilizing Google Docs with multiple partners.

The lesson plans were excellent examples of how collaboration could work between students and Google Docs could serve as a storage system and portfolio for the students work. It is also a way for the teacher to check in on progress in the development of the exercises. This could be problematic if a student has access to a collaborative document and wished to make changes without group consent. I'm not sure there is any way for the teacher to know if group work is balanced or if it is being done primarily by one member. With more familiarity of Google Docs, I may find the answer to these issues.