PB5_2009102_Google Documents

While we were introduced to Google Documents last month, and I loved the easiness of collaboration that it allows. I wanted to further explore it and see how suitable it would be for my High School classes.

So, I decided to take the tour that Google offers and I discover several new things and I was very excited about using it with my Spanish 2 Honor students. The following video shows better my quest (this video contains a youtube video that I watched as I was getting familiarized with all the tools that google docs offers):



So, after I implemented it in my Spanish courses, here is a list of some issues that I encountered:

1. All students needed gmail accounts. We went to the Foreign Language Lab and created accounts. However, because all of the computers in school have the same IEP address, google thought we were spammers and only 20 students out of 60 were able to open their accounts that day. So, I asked students to open a gmail account at home.

2. Not all students have a computer or Internet access at home. For this students, I was able to give them library passes so that they could also take advantage of this technology.

3. Some parents were weary of their children opening a gmail account, after sharing the uses of gmail linked to google documents and their potential, parents were content.

4. Gmail and Google documents are blocked by our school system. Therefore, I took the risk to provide my students with my own login and password to override the sites. I had to change my password with every new class. They had also been instructed to only use the password for class related assignments. I have Visio installed in our lab computers, so I could monitor whether or not students were adhering to the guidelines. I was happy to see they did.

5. Most students quickly understood how to use it. They were very happy to see that I could provide them feedback sometimes at the same time they were making corrections. I was very happy to know that the dog "could not eat their paper".