Google Docs for Educators

Google Docs for Educators

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  Teacher Crib Sheetfor Docs The best way to introduce students to Google Docs is at the beginning of the semester or beginning of a quarter since they are more willing to try new things. Be sure to tell students that Docs does not have all the features of Microsoft Word, but the main advantages are: they can share their work easily, they can access it from any computer that has Internet access, and they won’t lose work because it saves automatically. The most exciting feature of Docs is that students can collaborate on a variety of assignments easily, making for enthusiastic students and improved writing. To set up an account, go to docs.google.com. Instructions for setting it up are on the site. Students can either set up a Gmail email account or create a Google Account with their existing email address. For a Google Account, they just enter their present email address and select a password. It simply lets them take advantage of all the free Google services. 1. Set up Google Account for your students. [If you prefer, you can also set up a Gmail account at gmail.com. That also provides access to Docs.] 2. Begin using Google Docs by simply typing “Docs” into your web browser or go to docs.google.com.
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  3. Sign intoGoogle Docs with your Gmail login name or Google Account username and password. 4. Let students type something on the blank page. The program saves automatically, but there are also Save buttons in the upper right hand corner. 5. There is a Print button in the upper right hand corner, above the blue bar. Students must print using this button or the document will only print page one. 6. Next, introduce students to the File menu: • To change the spacing or the font on an essay, students should click on document settings (bottom of File menu). • They can also access Document Settings from the Styles section on the menu bar. • Students may save the document as a Word document or in any number of formats. • Word count is also available here.
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  7. Next, introducestudents to the Insert Menu. Note that students can insert an image, a link, a comment, a table, a bookmark, a separator, and a special character into their working document. The most commonly used elements are the comment, the image and the link. 8. Show students how to use the Comment feature of Google Docs. Place your cursor next to the area on which you would like to comment. Then, select “Insert Comment,” and a highlighted line will appear. You can have as many comments as you like. You can also discard comments, add to them, and change their color by right-clicking on them. When you or your students make comments on an assignment, it will look like this: Students can insert comments next to the sentence that they want to discuss or at the end of the essay. There is no limit to the number of comments. One of the advantages of using comments as opposed to just editing right in the text of the essay is that teachers and students can see who is contributing and when they contribute; a time and date stamp as well as the commenter’s name will show up next to each comment If students prefer to revise the essay itself and write directly on it, then teachers and writers can see their edits by going to the revision history and also comparing revisions.
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  8. A completerevision history of your students’ work is available by first clicking on Revisions, then going to revision history. You can see the beginning of each edit that the student made and if you click on Changed When, it will bring up the document with the change. You can also see the revision history by clicking on the Revision tab. 9. The most exciting feature of Docs is how easy it becomes to share work and collaborate on assignments. By clicking on the Share tab, you will get a dialogue box that looks like this. Make sure your students put you down as a collaborator on every assignment so that you can access all their documents.
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  If you wantto allow collaborators to add comments and text, then invite them as collaborators. If you want to just allow them to view, then click on viewers. Students can also post to a Blog or generate a public link to their document that they can add to a web page simply by clicking on Publish. 10. The best way to organize assignments is to create a folder for each assignment. Simply click on the “New” option in the upper navbar and select Folder. Have students name their work as follows: • period, last name, first name: assignment It looks like this: 2Brown,Betty: Old Man & the Sea When each student’s assignment appears in your inbox, check the box of that assignment and add it to the designated folder. If you want to keep your inbox neat and tidy, you can then click on "Hide."
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  Next, open thefolder and click on "Name" and all the assignments will appear according to class period in alphabetical order. To figure out who is missing an assignment, the teacher needs to compare it with the class list. Students should also change their display names by clicking on the settings link at the tip right. We recommend they change their names as follows: • last name, first name. The advantage of this naming system is that when the paper is printed, the name, class period and assignment appear at the top and you will never need to wonder which paper belongs to which period.
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  You can alsouse the document search to find assignments quickly. As you type a word in the search field, a drop-down shows documents with that word in the title. You can also then click the Search Docs button, and the search results will bring up all the documents with that text (note: full-text search works only on documents and presentations – not yet on spreadsheets). Main advantages of Docs for teachers: If you are out of class, you can check student work easily from any computer with Internet access. Teachers can also monitor student work as it is happening in class and work with students who are having major problems. • Cuts the work load if students can easily peer edit. • Improves student writing since students are not only writing, but also thinking about how to improve a buddy’s essay. • Dramatically improves students’ attitudes toward writing and revision. They think of it is as exciting and fun. We want to hear from you! We are constantly listening to our users’ feedback and making improvements to Google Docs, accordingly. Best of all, you won’t have to download anything in order to get the latest product improvements – they’ll just be there when you log into the site. We care very much about making Google Docs work well for teachers and students, so please take the time to give us your feedback on our user forum at http://groups.google.com/group/GoogleDocsSpreadsheets