During my university career I was introduced to google docs, which before I had no idea about. This quickly became one of my favourite online apps especially as a university student. As we all know, group projects is a huge part of university, and everyone has such crazy lives, and its so hard for all of us to get together. Google Docs allowed us to collaborate on one document, we were not forced to send it back and forth, and send a new updated one as it all just added to the same document online. This is a great tool to also see who did what in terms of the project because everything is colour coded for who added what to the document. The other thing I like about google docs is how easy it is to use, and think that I would be able to use it from grade 6 and up in my classroom.
After going through this topic, I was introduced to Google Classroom, and think that it may be something I would like to try out in the future. After reading the features, and watching the introduction video, I looks like it would be super beneficial for students and me as a teacher. It would help keep things organized, and all in one place. This would be great for high school kids who do not use agendas, as the due dates would be easily accessible for them, and they would be able to submit assignments online, which for some students is much easier, as they are spending so much time on technology.
When it comes to Google Hangout, I do not think I would use this in my own classroom, and would especially not use this to communicate and collaborate with students. I feel that there are privacy issues when it comes to video chatting students outside of school, and feel that it crosses the line of professionalism. I also did not really see a reason why I would need to use this application within my classroom.
That being said I did get to experience a virtual tour of the Royal Tyrell Museum, and it was done through a google hangout like application, and I thought it was a great experience. This is something that I will for sure consider using within my classroom.
Significant Comments:
http://shaynebrown.weebly.com/ed-4764-blog/topic-7-collaboration
http://marywauters4764.weebly.com/blog/collaboration