One of the reasons I think Google Documents is such a good tool is the cost. With products like IWorks and Microsoft Office costing hundreds of dollars and most users using only the word processing aspect makes Google Documents even more of a great resource for people to use. To the average user they find no difference between the use of Google Documents your standard word processor they are almost identical.
One of the advantages of Google Documents as far as word processing is concerned is that your work is always portable, your files are stored on the Google Network and are accessible anywhere. You no longer have to worry about a copy getting deleted or transporting a copy so that you can work on something.
One of the disadvantages of Google Documents is that while the basic features are mostly the same as Microsoft Office and IWorks it obviously does not have as many features as those programs. Things like Mail Merge and printing on envelopes are not available on Google.
All in All Google Documents is a great tool as long as not too much is expected out of it. It is designed to be a streamlined version of word processing available to people on the go and that is exactly who it's designed for. In an educational setting this program would be perfect for someone who didn't want to pay for software or for school districts that can't afford pricey licenses for all their computers.
Picnik
Picnik is an image editor designed to allow people to edit their own images without having an expensive program like Adobe Photoshp to do it. If you wanted to take red eyes out of your son's birthday party pictures and didn't have software to do it, Picnik would be for you. Again for the basic user you will find very little difference between Picnik and the features you would use in Adobe Photoshop.
One of the nice features of Picnik is that it can import pictures from wherever they are on the internet. You are no longer required to download images to your computer. So you can have pictures on Facebook or Myspace and those pictures could be directly imported into Picnik. Picnik remembers the last image you edited and automatically loads it when you return; the service also keeps track of the last five pictures you worked on and lets you undo the changes you made to them at any time.
Understandably Picnik has a premium service where users pay $25 a month for advanced features, so without paying that fee you will only be able to use the basic version of their software. The premium feature also has unlimited storage space so users can store pictures on their service and never worry about running out of space.
Picnik is a great tool but just don't expect all the features you would get from any kind of software that was purchased.
Chapter 30
Less is more
Obviously not working in an educational setting I tried to take some of the concepts discussed in the chapter and applied them to my workplace. I think when I interact with my students and need them to complete a task I over explain it. In other words I spend so much time explaining how the process should be and could be done that by the time i'm finished they have a dumfounded look on their faces. A good way I could solve this problem is to get more interaction from them and seeing what they understand and what is not.
Visual Learner
In working with my students you come to realize that they all learne differently. I could give one student a 10 page instructional book on assembling something while I could just show another one a picture and they could assemble it. This part of the chapter really made me mindful of that and how different each person is as far as learning is concerned. As a supersvisor I have to be aware of that and help to succeed using whatever means necessary but also at the same time being efficient.
2 comments:
-Less is more
I think we all may be guilty of the same ideas you mentioned. Now, before I jump to conclusions, I'll speak for myself and say that I am definitely guilty of the same issue. I tend to get so elaborate in some of my instruction that I steer the student's ideas. Sometimes I provide so much information that I am sure they tune me out before I'm done. This is something that I have strived to work on, and is getting better, but sometimes it's tough because we know what we want as an end product so we try to lead them their.
I too am a fan of google docs. This past Friday we have a staff meeting and one of the issues that the teachers are having with our new technology is students are losing work that they save on the server. I mentioned to the staff google doc and explained that if a word processor is all you need then this a tool you could use. I also explained that they could have students share their documents with each other and with the teacher. They can access their papers form anywhere that they have internet access. The staff seemed very excited about using this as a possible solution to the server problems.
Post a Comment