:: Just created a new post on my school blog to unveil Google Docs for those who are still wondering what the GD hype is all about. Browsing the Moving Forward site I came across a video clip Christopher Atkinson created with his students. Check it out @ Teaching & Technology - the kids offer pretty convincing arguments for using Google Docs. Atkinson is a Google Certified teacher who teaches & uses Google apps with elementary level students - tons of projects and ideas for innovative teaching! Great blog roll - I'm subscribing! This blog has a spot on mine.
Another Moving Forward siting, Keystrokes, has landed on my blog roll. The creator of this blog, Nina Peery of White Oak, Texas, is an elementary school computer lab teacher. Her site is amazingly comprehensive - it contains tons of technology tips & wisdom for teachers, students AND parents. She uses Google Docs and cutting edge digital media tools. Love her Google lab schedule (on my to-do list). Her blog layout is simple and very easy to read. This is definitely a blog I'm following (I subscribed ....).
:: Last week I spent a good 3 days scrubbing, reimaging and prepping (40 and counting) G4 iBooks for our teaching staff. A pretty tedious task until I had to use a Google Docs database to enter MLTI & assignment information. Has this ever happened to you? I'm comfortable with dbases & entering data, I use Excel. But in this database I encountered a "concurrent" user, my hunch is the creator! At one point I tried to scroll down, copy & paste and someone took over the control of my cursor and started moving the data I & others had entered all over the place. What a mess. And then, I discovered my deus ex machina: UNDO (undo, undo, undo, undo ....). I managed to avert disaster and managed to redo/reinstate data order. Was this a fluke, was this my imagination, or is this a common side-effect of concurrent use?
:: This weekend I'm going to experiment with GDocs - my goal is to do a quick & paperless, hassle-free "how are you going to use your G4..." survey before handing them out. If I figure it out over the weekend I'll make learning transparent, right?
Moving forward ...
Seven Mind Mapping Tools to Try This Year
8 months ago
Thanks for sharing some exciting resources. I'm looking forward to reading more of what you have to say. I think you have a real idea when you say tight times may force us to move to using more technology. In my system the elem. teachers we are the last on the block to get any new technology. Such a shame as good use of learning tools needs to start early. So much research points to early exposure having long term effects yet young children are often not respected, let alone those who work in childcare.
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