7-4 Blog

Google Apps, specifically Google Docs, is great for students as well as professional development with educators. I have seen students use Google Docs to edit each other's papers and to work on projects together. This is amazing for students because they are so busy in high school with sports and work that they find it difficult to find time and transportation to be able to work together. Google Docs makes it easy for them to work on the same paper or project at different times from different places. It also makes accessing documents from different computers much easier. Students no longer have to worry about bringing their usb drive or emailing it to themselves. They just work online using Google Docs and it automatically saves their work and they can access it from anywhere as long as they have internet. Sites like blackboard can even access their documents on Google Docs if they need to turn them in to teachers. Students can also give teachers access to the document so they don't even need to turn anything in. It really is the best way for students to work to have an easily accessible and usable program for their work. 

The benefits for professional development are similar to those for students. Educators can share documents with large groups very easily. They can also work on them at the same time from different places. This allows educators to continue working on something over a longer period of time. It also allows teachers to share their lessons, materials and assessments. Teachers could also share their data in a combined spreadsheet. It really makes things more accessible and therefore easier for educators.