GoogleDocs Group Project

This week my team was in charge of exploring the uses of Google Presentation, one application of the GoogleDocs Suite. In our exploration we created a short Presentation that includes slides that reflect on the features of the presentation tool itself as well as its potential uses. You can view this presentation here-- A Presentation about Google Presentation :)

What's great about Google Presentation (like many of the other Google processing applications) is the ability to view and edit the presentation from multiple computers at the same time. You can see what others are doing on the presentation in real time! Like Professor Jahn mentioned in class the other day, this completely eliminates the need to share this type of information via email and have to worry about what version of the same presentation people are working on and what one is the most updated etc. It is all the same document/presentation.

As an example, this tool could be great for students working on a group project in which they have to present their information together. They can delegate the different sections of the presentation each student will be responsible for, create a presentation, and each add their information from anywhere they can access Google. Not only will they then be able to see each others work but they can also work to make sure their project presentation is cohesive and flows from one section into the next. I don't know how many times I had a group project in which sections were delegated out and then when we had to put it all together, not only was it a technical pain, it was haphazard and no matter how much time each individual spent on their section the project as a whole seemed disjointed.

While I do like this application, I do think it has some limitations in comparison to an application like PowerPoint. Google Presentations seems to be a very basic version of PowerPoint and there is not as much you can do when it comes to effects and spiffing up the presentation itself . Yet, students would still be able to attach links to their presentations, choose themes, backgrounds, and layouts for the slides, insert pictures and tables etc. Another useful tool that Google Presentation incorporates is what they call Speaker Notes. For each slide the presenter can insert some notes to help to jog their memory as to what they wanted to cover during this slide and not just be reading whatever it is they wrote on the slide itself!

I had never used Google Presentation before but am pretty familiar with the GoogleDocs system in general so it was fairly easy to get the hang of. I think this program would be fairly simple to work with even for someone who has no familiarity with it. If PowerPoint overwhelms and confuses you and all you want is some visuals and keywords, Google Presentation is your tool. Or if you want to be able to easily share and work on a project, again this is for you. My group simply added the needed amount of slides, delegated out which individual was responsible for what slide, did our work, and reviewed each others sections. Simple, Quick, and Useful!

I am excited to learn about other parts of the GoogleDocs Suite because I have never worked with Picassa, Forms, or Sheets and want to learn their potential for my personal use, use as a teacher, and the use for students. I will try to paste links to the use and examples of these applications as soon as possible. Thanks for checking in!

The Applications of Blogging

There is no question that a blog has numerus potential applications. It can be used as an outlet for people to vent, for information to be disseminated, to connect people across the world quickly and easily, for creating community, the list goes on and on. But what will I use a blog for?? Now that is a good question. I can use it right now to document my experiences and things I have come across that might be useful to me in the future, but how do I know what will be useful in the future? At this point I am thinking that I could most likely see myself using a blog to communicate information about my class and other things I find interesting and relevant to students, parents, guardians etc. when they are not at school. However, I think as I continue this journey and process my views of blogs and their use could definitely change.

For example, I might post something like these podcasts on a blog that I would encourage my students to look into...

Schools 2 Prisons: A Series Exploring the Link Between Increased School Discipline and the Opportunity Gap

We could then follow up on this post by having students comment back to me on the blog itself or simply give students access to the information through the blog so that we can then discuss this information in class.

I am most definitely open to exploring more uses for blogs in the classroom and look forward to learning more throughout this year.

A Blurb About Me

My name is Alexandria Charlotte Watilo, but most people just call me Alex. I have two younger sisters that mean the world to me and two parents that are my role models, friends, and inspiration. I would be lost without my boyfriend and good friends who provide me with an endless amount of good times and love. I play softball at Willamette University and don't know what I would do without sports in my life. Some random tidbits; I love to read, go camping, be by the water whether it be a pond or an ocean, ride quads, dirtbikes, and snowmobiles, scrapbook when I can find the time, travel, I am allergic to shrimp and can't stand peanut butter, I like the idea of eating healthy but love junkfood, I have a tortoise named Daphne... If there's more you want to know, ask. I'm an open book.

But let's get down to what this blog is really all about. It's supposed to be about education, schools, technology, what my role as an educator is going to be, teaching, learning, growing. So at this point in my journey I hope to become a High School History/Social Studies teacher. I may also teach Middle School and if so I hope its math because my knowledge of ancient Mesopotamia and other Middle School Social Studies topics leave much to be desired. This blog will follow me through my journey of "becoming an educator" and hopefully be something I can continue, and look back, on as my experiences take me beyond the realm of a Master's program.