"Think Before You Ban"

http://techomnivore.wordpress.com

Above is a link to a New York teachers blog that went to FETC this
year. They have a link to an interesting video on their blog that
encourages the decision makers in schools to examine Web 2.0 tools
before they ban them from school usage. Looks pretty interesting!

Maurice Draggon

TeacherTube - create a google account

TeacherTube - create a google account

Gaggle is a service that allows you to create managed email accounts for students in your classroom. You can use Gaggle and Google together to create Google accounts for your students! The video above shows a  student with a Gaggle account how to sign up for a Google account.

Sync Office and Google Docs

syncs-your-ms-office-docs-with-google

I have not tried the service above but it does seem like a welcome program for those seeking to have documents online and on their computers at the same time. The program will sync your Google Docs with your documents on your computer. The software is currently windows only and I have a Mac so I cannot try the beta yet.

As an educator is may be interesting to try this out with a few set documents in the classroom. You can set up a folder with documents that the students will work on. The students can the write on the computer and you can check their work in Google Docs without the worry of uploading each document yourself or your students having a Google Docs account.

Google Docs Tutorial Video

Above is a great video on how to use Google Docs by a Teacher Tube user. If you would like to start using Google Docs but you are just not sure where to start, this video is the place!

On Webware today I read an article about a new Google service called Google Apps Team Edition. The Team Edition version of Google Apps allows those who work within an organization to easily share files and calendars with each other through Google. I have not had a chance to really play with it yet but it seems like a great way to try Google Apps in an organization without signing up or switching anything! More information can be found here.

gDocsBar for Firefox...a second look...

I mentioned gDocsBar for Firefox in an earlier post and I mentioned that it was a handy tool to help organize the windows that open when you use Google Docs. The plugin for Firefox also allows you quick and easy access to your documents no matter what website you are on.

One section of the plugin that I really underestimated is its ability to quickly upload documents to your Google Docs account. It is as simply as drag and drop and just may be the easiest way to get documents you have on your computer on Google Docs. You can email documents to yourself but you have to open your email program and enter in your email address. You can upload them through the Google Docs web interface but who has the time to do that when you have a lot of documents on hand? Drag and drop is simple and easy and quick!

Publish from Google Docs to your Blog

One of the great things about using Google tools is that they integrate fairly well with each other. Google owns the company Blogger which is the platform that this blog is created on. You can use Google Docs to directly post to your Blogger account! To accomplish this simply log into your Google Docs account and create your post. When you are complete, select the Publish button. You will be given the option to publish to a blog. You will be given the option to select the blog you would like to publish to and once you are set-up, your post will magically appear on your blog when you are complete! You can now easily publish without ever visiting your blog page and logging in. Google Docs publish to Blog option works best with Blogger but it will also work with other blogging platforms such as WordPress. If you have Blogger account give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

In you classroom you can create a blog and allow your students to type their reflections and other classroom activities in Google Docs. You can then have them publish their work to the classroom blog and have a single place where parents can go and view the work of their child in your class. Wouldn't this be much easier than attaching twenty documents to a website? Let me know what you think!