Google Docs & Drive – What You Need to Know

GOOGLE DOCS & DRIVE OVERVIEW

Google Docs & Drive is a free online productivity service consisting of a number of apps you access through your web browser or mobile device. These apps let you create, store, and collaborate on digital documents . The suite of apps include:

• Google Drive– This is 15GB of free online storage  where all of the documents you create in Google Docs live. You can store and view a variety of file types in Google Drive so this becomes a great tool for accessing your files from a variety of devices. Click here for more information on the supported file types.
• Google Docs – An online word processing program. This is Google’s version of Microsoft Word. You can create and format text documents from scratch, or from a number of pre-formatted templates. You can share your text documents with other people and collaborate in real time together. It also provides you version control in case you need to rollback a version. You can download your Google Doc into a variety of formats including PDF and as a Word document.

• Google Sheets – An online spread sheet program. This is Google’s version of Excel. You can create spreadsheets for tracking and manipulating data. Just like Excel, Google Sheets gives you the ability to create formulas to crunch numbers and the ability to create graphs to illustrate your data. Just like Google Docs, Google Sheets can be shared with other people so you can collaborate in real time, and it has version control and can be downloaded into a variety of formats including as an Excel spreadsheet.
• Google Slides – An online slide presentation tool. This is Google’s version of PowerPoint. You can create visual presentation from scratch or from a variety of templates and then share your presentation with other’s so you can collaborate together. When your ready, you can invite others and give your presentation online. You can download your Google Slides into a variety of formats including as a PowerPoint presentation.
• Google Forms – An online web form used to collect information. Forms gives you the ability to create online surveys and tests which you can send to people, or embed in a webpage to collect information. The information gathered through the form is automatically stored in a Google Sheet so you can manipulate the collected data.

Read on to find out what you should know about Google Docs & Drive, and how to get started.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE DOCS & DRIVE IN YOUR SCHOOL

One of the reasons Google Docs and Drive are so popular in education is their ability to let teachers and students collaborate and share information online. Teachers can reduce the amount of paper in their classrooms by creating digital assignments. Teachers can also collaborate with other teachers to share lessons and best practices. Both teacher and students can publish their work to the Internet to show their family, friends, and the World what they are creating. Below are ways you can use Google Docs and Drive in your class and school.

• Create lesson plans in Google Docs
• Create a lesson plans folder in Google Drive and share it with other teachers
• Take notes in meetings and professional learning community meetings – share with participants
• Have students create digital notebooks in Slides – have them share with class
• Have students create a reading log in Sheets – share with parents if reading at home
• Create a class calendar and share it with parents
• Use Google Form to create an online form students use to write book reports
• Use Google Form to create a parent volunteer survey
• Use Google Sheets as a sign-up form for parent-teacher conferences
• Publish Docs and Slide projects to the web to share with friends and family
• Use Google Forms to conduct teacher evaluations
• Have students use Google Drive to setup a folder they can use as an ePortfolio –
• Create a folder for each student in your Google Drive and share it with the student – have them submit their homework into the folder for your collection
• Use the translation feature in Google Docs for non-english speaking parents
• Use revision history in Google Docs to monitor the activity or progress on an assignment.
• Give your class quizzes using Google Forms and analyze the results
• Have students use Google Docs translation tool to practice their language writing – get a pen pal in another country
• Have students collect data for science projects in Sheets – share with class using the Summary feature
• Use Google Sheets to track behavior – share with parent
• Create a resource calendar shared across the school – use to reserve computer labs and equipment.

WHY YOU SHOULD USE GOOGLE DOCS & DRIVE

• Access Other Google Apps
  Signing up for a Google Account gives you access to a variety of apps including Google Mail, YouTube, Google Calendar,  and Blogger. Click here for frequently asked questions about Google Account.
• Work with Microsoft Office Documents
  You can import Microsoft Office documents like Word files (doc, docx), Excel files (xsl, xslx), and PowerPoint files (ppt, pptx) into Google Docs and be able to work on them; good if you need to work on Office documents but don’t have the Office software.
• Export Files as PDFs
  Easily export your Google App files in PDF format. PDF format is the de facto format for publishing and lets you share electronic versions without allowing the viewer the ability to change the document.
• Automatically Backed Up
  Google Docs is an online service so your files are automatically backed up, and always accessible via mobile devices or through a web browser.
• Work Offline
  You can work offline by using the Google Chrome browser and your documents will be synced the next time you access the Internet.
• Student Approved
  More than likely, your students are already using these tools and would love to see you using them in class…just ask them.

Check out Google Docs and Drive! To get started you will need to sign-up for a Google Account. If you don’t have one already, check out my post on how to setup a Google Account.

GOOGLE DOCS & DRIVE RESOURCES

• Google Docs Support – This is Google’s support page and probably the most comprehensive resource for Google Docs.

• Alice Keeler Teacher Tech – Alice is a teacher that has written a book on using Google in the classroom. She is very active in posting tips and tricks for using Google Docs in the classroom on her blog and Twitter.

• Teachers and Principals Talk about Google Docs – This video provides a good overview of how Google Docs are being used in schools.

Common Craft Overview of Google Docs. I highly recommend you check out Common Craft’s site and their video library for easy to understand explanation videos.

This video shows how Google Docs are being used in education.

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE

If your already using Google Docs & Drive in your school, share how your using them. Also share any advice you have for someone new to these tools.