Weekly Reflection and Report Blog 7

Mary Pickering and Robert Plitt. (CC) 2013.

This week we continued with the topic of collaborative work, this time with Google Docs. For me I was excited because I was recently introduced to this tool by a presentation partner. Before she showed me google docs I had never heard of it or considered even using a tool like it. I wish I knew about this tool a long time ago. Yes, it is a great tool for collaborating with peers but it’s also great for my personal work. Dartmouth made an interesting observation in their discussion on online collaborative work they said “it makes the student aware of the audience”. This is something I never considered but realized is true. When I use Google Docs with my group members I am more careful of my spelling and wording, I try to make sure it is clear and has quality. This is the same for these blogs.

Google Docs

I have been using Google Docs a lot this semester for all my group work. It provides an easy and reliable way to interact from anywhere. When someone makes a change to the document it is automatically saved and tells everyone who was the last to make the change. Presentations and group papers are where this tool really excels. I can see all the changes and we can chat in the document too. Even better though is that it works real time! So a partner and I could both be in the document at the same time and I can watch her type and I can make changes at the same time. Creepy? A little bit, but it is extremely useful when putting information together.

I also like to use this tool when I am writing papers, I don’t have to worry about my computer crashing or losing my data because it automatically saves itself. What I love most about Google Docs is the fact that it automatically saves every change and I can access this from my phone or other computers. It has made things a lot easier than having to constantly email myself the document every time I make a change. I like having the convenience of knowing that it is always available to me (as long as I have internet).

I would like to use this tool in my future classroom. It is a great way to ensure that all my students have the information always available to them (provided they all have access to the internet). I think this would be useful and interesting to see how my students would utilize this tool.

PLE

In my PLE I would add this to Professional and School. To me this tool is a great asset to my professional development because it provides organization and structure, as well as an easy communication.

Feedly

In my Feedly I found an interesting article about Speed Paraprasing. In this article they talk about the importance of learning to paraphrase for ESL students (English Second Language learners). Check out the article its pretty short and is interesting.