Google Documents in Education

Google docs is a free web-based word processor and spreadsheet editor. It is an online equivalent to Microsoft Office. The things you can do in word , excel , or PowerPoint can also be done by google docs very easily in an online version that can be stored and accessed from anywhere in the word with an internet connection .You can also share items you have made by google docs through email with your students , and colleagues .Another important feature that sets google docs apart from other word processing services is team or group work. Several people can work on the same document online , editing , deleting and adding content to it .However there are instructions to follow  for this to work and  this is what I will show you in this  step by step tutorial .
Just before I proceed with my tutorial on google docs , let me just remind you if this is your first visit here . You can check other posts covering several tutorials of web2.0 applications and tools that you can use in your classroom , institution , or other workplaces. Here are some suggested posts for you to read :

• Google Bookmarks in Education
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• Google Alerts Educative Secrets
• Igoogle in the classroom
• SafeShare.TV: the educative way to share Youtube videos
• ifile.it a free online storage service

You can read more of my posts just scroll down to the footer of this page and select the posts you would like to read from “You might also like category” or on the right hand sidebar in the “Recent posts”.

How can I use Google docs ?

First google docs offers a free service just like all the other services provided by google labs .To start using it , you need to have a google account or gmail one because gmail address is your google universal account . If you have neither one then sign up for free account .


Now go to www.google.com and type in google docs ,click on the first result and log on .Once you are logged in , it will take you to the work panel where you can see the space reserved for the documents you will create and store.
TO create a document you click on “new” on the upper right hand corner a textual bar will be opened , scroll down to and select document , as you can see you can also make a spreadsheet , presentation forms drawings and folders

Google doc in plain English

When you click on new, document you will be directed to a page that looks like the screenshot below.

The first thing to do now is to click on untitled and give it a name .As you can see in the screenshot the layout of the page looks like Microsoft word page so the same word processing techniques .
When you finish writing your document click on save to select where to save it , if you want to share it with others or invite someone to edit it , click on share button on the top right part of the page and select share with others .Type in the email addresses you want to share with either as viewers or collaborators ( collaborators can edit but viewers can not).For instance, if you have a group of students working on a document then they can use this option to work simultaneously with every one being able to participate in its edition .
Collaborators can even use the chat service and chat with each other while they are working on a document , to do this they need to click on chat button on the right hand side.
Remember , whenever you are working with a group of students you need to do this :
Click on the “setting” tab on top right hand corner , a pop up window like this will be displayed

Put your real name for the display name , this is very important when a group of students are working on the same document , the teacher can recognize everyone's contribution just by their names .
When you finish working on a document , just click on save to choose where to place it , another copy has already been automatically saved into your google docs main page.

Can i upload documents from elsewhere into my google docs ?

Yes sure you can do this , go to your google docs main page and click on the upload button as shown in this screenshot :

You select the placement of your document and click on upload .When it is done it will be displayed under “all items” tab in the main page.Remember “you have 460 mb storage capacity and only shared files (PDF, DOC, JFG,ect) count towards your storage limit .Google docs formats don’t use your storage space”.( as stated by google docs engineers ).

Applications of google docs in education

It goes without saying that everything that google docs offers is so useful in education .Both teachers and students can use it to create online documents without having to install any firmware or software . they can use it to collaborate and share items related to their work .
Students can also create groups and work on one document from different parts and share it with their teacher . they can also work on documents and collaborate with students from all around the world . Google docs is a “must work with” tool in today's educational technology and ICT classrooms.
That’s all about Google Docs in Education .

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