My Google Docs Experience Thus Far

The new technology of the week is Google Docs. Ingenious organizational tool, I have to say. I was getting tired of e-mailing papers to myself, classmates, and professors.

My first time actually using Google Docs was about three weeks ago, for a group project. As we did research and found useful and credible sources, we put all the links and information on one document that we could all access at any time. Once we were ready to write our paper, we actually switched to Etherpad, which has been "acquired by Google". Unlike Google Docs' "real-time" word processor, Etherpad is "really real-time"; it is much more live. Though, once we were done writing the paper, we transfered onto a new Google Docs page where we could all edit it in our own time. After that, all that was left was to make a powerpoint presentation out of our findings and Google Docs was there with to help us with its "presentation" option.

The best part of all this is that we all have access to this one document 24/7; we can access it and edit whatever we want, whenever we want. We're college students and we've got busy lives; it's hard to find times that we all could meet. Thanks to Google Docs we didn't have to try and schedule too many face-to-face meetings.

What else is Google going to come up with?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15312650@N05/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Twitter!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polvero/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I have to admit, I don't ever tweet. However, I have found reasons to like it and to use it. 

I can't read everything and find every single awesome blog post or article out there (well, maybe I could, but that would be extremely time consuming :P). Nevertheless, I've found that twitter has been a great resource to find links to valuably informative and interesting blogs that I probably wouldn't have read it if it wasn't for the dedicated and frequent users of twitter. 

To do list: Bank after play time

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielygo/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Two weeks ago, when I was at my TE301 placement, while the children ate breakfast the teacher asks if anyone brought in money to go to the bank. Whoever brought in some money got a money deposit bag. At that time I was clueless as to what was happening. After my CT was done taking care of this, she explained to me that once every month the students go to the bank in the gym, where actual bankers come and have them become familiar with the process. The bank made an agreement with the school and if a student collects at least $10 by the end of the school year, they'll be rewarded and will go to Barnes and Noble, where they'll be able to buy their own books. 

The first graders all seem very excited about it. Also, not only are they learning what the value of a dollar is and how the bank process works, but they also do a lot more good deeds at home. To earn the money they bring in the children told us that they cleaned their rooms, washed the dishes, helped their grandparents, read to their younger brothers or sisters, etc. 

Many schools seem to have found this activity to be extremely beneficial to students. NPR actually did a story about this called, Cafeteria Credit Unions Teach Students Money Skills. The article starts off by saying, 

The recession has highlighted just how little some Americans understand personal finance, presenting an opportunity to start changing the way the young learn about money.

Some schools have their own credit unions run by students. A student actually said that he learned to save his money from his experiences the credit union. This is a basic life skill and if its taught from a early age it could benefit the students' lives dramatically when they grow up and start earning their own income. 

So, even though the recession has made it evident just how much American citizens don't understand about their personal finances, but it's also made school budgets extremely tight. 

Funding the programs may be unrealistic at a time when school budgets are so tight, Wheat says. But she says the more young people can learn about money in school, the better their chances of avoiding the financial pitfalls so many adults are facing today.

What do you think? Should schools put these school credit unions high up on their "To do" lists, especially since we are in the biggest recession since the Great Depression? 

Entertaining Education

I've been catching up on reading blogs in my Google Reader and a few blogs have caught my eye; especially, after checking out Google Earth.

One of the features of Google Earth was that you could create your own virtual tour. If you don't want to do that, there are already websites out there that have done just that and would be great additions to a lesson plan.

Trans Siberian Railway, Russia

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yeowatzup/ / CC BY 2.0

One that I found that was personally and particularly interesting to me was a virtual tour on the Trans Siberian Railway. I've been studying Russian for almost four years now and I'm going to study abroad in Russia this summer; unfortunately, I won't be traveling on this infamous railway. Nevertheless, I can still experience the train ride without leaving my apartment; even though watching it from my room is nothing compared to the real thing. This site can be used in history, geography, and literature classes when studying that part of the world. 

Another place students can explore from the classroom or at home is by the NOVA program's, Volcanoes Above the Clouds; students can watch climbers and scientists ascend Africa's Mount Kilimangaro. The website provides a lot of video, as well as teaching materials and guides for the classroom.

Besides these two websites, there's so much more out there that could make learning more fun for students, using technology. I'll definitely add on to this list and post links as I discover them. 

Google Earth

So I was looking through the list of technology suggestions for this week's task and I had to check out Google Earth. Google is amazing in every aspect and this was something I had not looked into before.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/axel/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

I mean, what is there to say? Google Earth is pretty cool. 

This is an interactive technology, a virtual globe. I've dipped and dabbled in it a bit, but I haven't thoroughly explored half of the features yet. The user can view every place on our delightful planet Earth, as well as places outside of our atmosphere. Here are just some of the things you can check out:

• Sky Mode: View stars and other celestial bodies
• Historical Imagery: Go back in time, see and study earlier images of places
• Record a customized tour
• Explore the ocean, the moon, and Mars
• Get a view of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

These features would be automatic student attention grabbers. It's also a perfect example of the TPaCK framework (the integration of Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge). This technology could be particularly useful in social studies, geography, and science classes, for obvious reasons. Students can explore space sitting at their desks, research the geology of the Earth from different periods in time, etc. In order for this to be worthwhile and helpful to students, the teacher would have to know his or her way around the Google Earth features, be able to use it and explain it to students successfully.

All in all, it's an awesome technology, but I am glad privacy is kept in check. It's amusing to be able to see my house from the satellite, but comforting to know that users can't see every little detail. 

Flickr Slideshow

Completed: Digital Imaging Lab. 


Have a look...

Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polvero/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Photos are not only necessary, but vital to catch the interest of anyone, anywhere; especially in a classroom. Whether you're the lecturing teacher or the student with a presentation to give, a good photo is useful when trying to engage an audience.

This brings me to Creative Commons licensing and crediting. Basically, this week in class we were introduced to the subject of crediting other people's photos! It makes since and it's so obvious, but a lot of people never stop and think to credit their photo sources. We can easily go to google images and find whatever we need, save as, then print, post to blog, etc, without even thinking twice about who the photo may belong to. Putting it into perspective, everyone has to cite their sources when writing a paper for school; otherwise, it's plagiarism.

So, everyone, be courteous and be legal: give credit where it's needed.