Google+Applications+and+Document+Sharing

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Introduction
Google is no longer the most well-known search engine. The company has expanded to provide online users with a whole host of applications--from customizing their homepage with a Start Page to sharing documents between friends. This portability is one of its main appeals--allowing colleagues, teachers, and students to share, discuss, and edit anything--virtually, and paperless.

Here at Beaver, we are migrating from the First Class Mail Client to Google's Application Suite for Education. This migration will allow us to communicate and share information entirely on the web. Not only will it provide equity in the classroom, but it will allow you to collaborate in real time--from anywhere.

This learning module will supplement your two-day Google Apps introduction and training session this summer.

Begin by watching t[|his short video on Google Apps in Education] to understand why we are switching to Google Apps.

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Now, check out a short video by Common Craft called [|"Google Docs in Plain English"].

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With [|Google Docs] you can upload documents, spreadsheets, and presentations you've made using Microsoft Word or a similar program. You can also create these same kinds of documents from scratch online using the tool. Google Docs also allows you to make forms that you can embed in a website, blog, or wiki--when a user fills out the form, his or her responses will appear in a Google Docs spreadsheet for you to see.

Please read about what you can do with Google Docs in the classroom, as well as watch two short videos on the basics of Google Docs [|here].

With your [|BCDS Start Page], you can create a customized homepage that is easy to view and brings together your email, calendars, docs, and even chat. Gadgets feed information to the homepage from your various Google Apps Tools to provide you with a snapshot of everything that is going on in your Google Apps Suite. You can also include personalized gadgets for local weather, movie times, news headlines, and even Facebook updates.

Please read an [|overview of the Google Apps Start Page] to familiarize yourself with the tool and understand how you can use it.

Discovery Exercises
To complete the following discovery exercises, make sure you are signed into your Beaver Google account before you begin. Please begin the exercises by logging into the [|BCDS Startpage].

It is important when completing these exercises to really play around with each of the tools to determine how useful they will be to you in sharing and collaborating at Beaver. How will you effectively use them in a teaching environment? Why might they be helpful?

__Exercise 1__
Customize your [|BCDS Start Page]. After completing the Google Apps Training this summer, you should have added the mandatory gadgets for email, docs, and calendars. Now, you can add any other gadgets you want to your homepage.
 * Customize your page by adding three gadgets (ex. local weather, youtube videos, maps, news headlines).
 * Set up RSS from the iTeachNing; your BCDS Start Page will alert you when a colleague adds new content to the social network.


 * HELP**: [|Adding Gadgets to your BCDS Start Page]
 * HELP**: [|Google Apps Training Doc on BCDS Start Page]

__Exercise 2__
Play around with Google Docs.
 * Create your first Google Document using the[|Google Docs Tool.]
 * Share the document with three colleagues.


 * HELP**: [|Google Apps Training Doc on Documents]
 * HELP**: [[file:googledocsfcit.pdf]]



__Exercise 3__
Let's use some of the other types of documents.
 * Create a Google Form.
 * Ask three questions; make them required questions.
 * Post a link to your Google Form on your [|Iteach] Blog and ask your colleagues to fill it out.
 * Receive the results and examine Google Spreadsheet; see how it is organized.


 * HELP**: [|How to Create a Google Form.]

Stretching Exercise
Upload an existing document from your computer to Google Docs.
 * Change some text to bold and italic.
 * Add a weblink to a resource.
 * Add an image.
 * Save the new document.
 * Examine Revision History.


 * HELP**:[| Editing Docs in Google Docs.]

To check out other Google Tools and see if they might be useful to your classroom...
 * ======[|Google Earth] - Once you [|download] Google Earth on your computers, students can travel virtually anywhere, including outer space.======
 * [|Google for Educators] - a section of Google just for teachers. It includes helpful tools you can use in your classroom, as well as classroom activities.
 * [|Knol] - Experts can go in and write articles on their area of expertise. Users can add feedback and comments.
 * [|Picasa] - an online photo editing, sharing, and storage tool. You can easily upload to Picasa and keep all of your photos organized. Once your photos are online, you can invite others to view them, or embed a slideshow on a website or blog.
 * [|Sketchup] - a software program that allows you to create 3-D models of anything you like, from basic 3-D shapes to architectural models.