Thing Eleven: Web 2.0

I know this may seem strange at this point in time when the application has been around for about 2-3 years now (I think this is when I started hearing about it), but I have yet to make personal or professional use of GoogleDocs. However, I have heard others raving about it so I decided to give this a try for evaluation in Thing Eleven. I gained alot of useful information from Google for Educators
such as use in education, components, and how to share docuements through Google Docs. For those of us who are new to this, it is well worth taking a look.

Likes: Love that this is so easily accessible and easy to use. Really, if one if familiar with using Microsoft Word Document, then there is not much to it with the exception of learning how to share documents. Also, for those of us who often worry about losing data (oops, lost my pin drive, my computer picked up a virus, I forgot to save, etc.) this option practically eliminates all these worries because all that is needed is access to Internet and all of the data is stored and can be accessed at all times from anyplace.

Dislikes:
Although when I signed up for GoogleDocs, I really didn't take the time to really read through the Terms of Service statements (I know I should) I learned through Google for Educators that users must be at least 13 years of age in order to make use of GoogleDocs meaning that Elementary students would not be able to benefit from classroom application (although their teachers could for tracking progress, making spreadsheets for grades, etc.)

Useful Features:
One of the most outstanding features in GoogleDocs is the capability of sharing which promotes and facilitates collaboration. Whereas some of us are still using the "I'll e-mail you my document so that you can add/delete as needed, then you e-mail me the revised portion" idea, with GoogleDocs, users can add collaborators to share their work with enabling them to add comments and revisions. Each subsequent draft is saved and history of these changes is available. Also, final drafts can be published in a student's or classroom's blog easily.

Classroom/Library applications:
The sharing feature in GoogleDocs makes it a fun way for students and teachers to participate in collaborative projects. Some ideas found were that of using this tool as part of the Writing process whereby collaborators contributed with comments and revisions to help improve a student's draft.