BP_11PracticalExperience1

Google Docs is a great way to collaborate!  This month has been my first real experience with GoogleDocs, and I love it. I even created my one-minute video on this tool last week. However, I wanted to investigate this tool further, so I chose this feature to focus on for my practical experience project. Google Docs is a web-based tool that allows users to work together in real time so that the file you are working on is the same for everyone and ready to print/and or share with others at the conclusion of the work. Google Docs offers a variety of files to work with such as documents, spreadsheets, drawing, and presentations.

After working with my Full Sail team on a document, I found it to be so easy and so effective that I shared the idea with my principal. He thought this might be a great way to collaborate and synergize.

My first attempt at using Google Docs in my work place was to work with my 2nd grade team. Each year we are asked to create a Professional Growth Plan (PGP) where we choose a topic to focus on, set a goal to meet, determine how we will measure our goal, create a timeline of learning events, and then reflect upon our outcomes. The first meeting that occurs for this PGP is where we choose our topic, set our goal, determine how we will measure our goal, and create our timeline. This usually occurs in someone’s classroom where we all sit around our computers and talk about what we should write for our PGP that is an on-line form. One person usually writes it and then sends a copy to everyone so we all have the same wording. There is usually a lot of “What did you say?” “Can you repeat that?” and “Did everyone get that?” I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to try out Google Docs.

I created a Google account for each person on my team by using their school email address, creating a team password, and using my birthday (they are free to change the password and birthday whenever they choose). Now I can invite them to edit/view a document I create that will allow us to write our PGP together at the same time. We can then just copy and paste into the formal document, and we are all set. I am really excited to see this put into action on my team. I really think this has a great deal of possibilities.