Google Docs in K-12

Many of my graduate students, whom are teachers, have concerns/issues when I discuss implementing google documents into the k-12 classroom. This post is aimed at alleviating some of those fears. Here are some common questions and answers:

Is it secure?

Yes! Google docs is very secure and is used by many schools already. It can even be installed on your schools local server by you technology coordinator, so its not on the WWW.

Do kids need a gmail account?

No, no one does. In fact, you can create a fake login for each student so they cant be identified by anyone but yourself.

How can a teacher manage student documents?

The teacher can create each document and invite the students to collaborate. The teacher can then also see which document, and what part of that document, each student edited.

Google docs is a very easy tool to use and I am amazed at how much students enjoy using it. I usually get a lot more questions than just three, however, those are the main ones. For information on using google documents in the classroom check out: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/09/day-in-life-of-docs-student.html

Posted in Web 2.0.

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