Every Day Tasks - What do you need to make your job easier?

Think about what computers can help you with everyday.  The software you are thinking about are Productivity Applications.  You might have been thinking about word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, and calendars.

Although most people will purchase these (for example: Microsoft Office) there are Web 2.0 tools available that will do much of the same work.  The advantage to much of these options is that the information will be available via the web or company (or school district) server.  You can be at any computer and work on your items.

This list is changing quickly and everyone has their favorites.  We will look at a few in here.  These tools have become known as GTD (Get Things Done) tools!!!  Google Docs has a variety of templates to help you get started.  You can also view of video called Google Docs in Plain English to help you see some advantages of using this tool.

Why Are Productivity Applications Useful?

Imagine if the district took away the tools you use on your computer for one month?  How difficult would your job become?

Google Docs is probably the most well known Web 2.0 productivity tool.  In addition to word processing, there are also other tools available:

• Spreadsheet
• Presentation Tool
• Calendar
• Sketch Up (draw, create 3-D models and more)
• Reader (Follow your favorite website, newspaper, blogs)
• Conduct Polls

Google has a free website builder - Google Sites.

Some other Productivity Tools 

Take some time to look through these and try them out.  Many of these will require you to set up an account.

• Edit Grid - Online spreadsheet allows real-time update and collaboration.
• eFax - Allows you to receive a fax through a temporary phone number.  You can receive for free - but there is a small fee for sending.
• Gliffy - Collaborative tool for creating graphical representations online and in teams.  They can then be published.
• Instapaper - Great if you want to read something from a webpage later - once you register you simply click a "read later" button to be able to access it from your computer, a phone or offline.
• Mayomi - Flash-based mind mapping tool (like Inspiration or Kidspiration) to help students prepare to write a report or organize their information.  (In private beta testing right now - but you can subscribe to get information when it becomes available)
• ScreenR - Record screencasts and share them.
• ThinkFree Show - An exceptional Java-based presentation tool that is similar to PowerPoint.  Create, show and save.
• Prezi - An alternative to PowerPoint.  Allows you to layout your entire presentation on one canvas rather than separate slides.  You don't have to worry about resizing images, fonts, etc.
• Slide Rocket - Another alternative to PowerPoint.  

Reasons Why Teachers and Students Use These Tools

Imagine a group of students are working on a project.   One student emails the start of the project to the other members of the group.  Members of the group work on the project and email it back to the other teammates.  Students are also saving on the school server.  At some point in the project, there is some confusion.  Who has the most recent copy?  Are all the changes on everyone's copy?  Or student's have been working on a project at home and bring their flashdrive to school.  They either forgot to save the most recent version to their flashdrive or they used a different version of the software...

With the use of Google Docs (or some other Web 2.0 tool), most of these problems can be eliminated.  

It is very important that a teacher preview and practice using any of these tools before assigning student projects using them.

Professional Development

Ken Messersmith, University of Nebraska at Kearney, uses Google Docs with his teacher education students who are studying about classroom diversity.  Students are divided into groups and each group reads a different book on the topic.  Then the students have a book discussion by adding information to their Google Doc.  This document is then shared with other students in the class so they can see the information.

Bruce White, Thames Valley District School Board, London, Ontario, Canada, provides professional development to teachers in his district.  He posts outlines in Google Docs.  Other material is posted using Google Docs.  Participants have access to the document and add to it as they use the resources.  Teachers can also share Google Docs with their students.

Other Uses

A Russian teacher in Alaska and another in California encouraged their students to become acquainted through the use of Google Docs.  Students practiced using vocabulary in their communication.  They included pictures and additional information to communicate.

A high school classmate of mine teaches at USC.  She posted a link to an article about Teens Online Codes and asked a group of use to react to the article.  We responded back and forth on Facebook.  At one point, she used Storify to save the discussion.  One of our classmates is a Friends pastor and had some interesting insights on how this impacted youth in his church.  The professor at USC then set up a Skype call with the pastor to discuss this article with students in the class.  This example contains several tools.

I would love to hear other examples of how these tools are being used in your classrooms.  Use the comments to post examples of how you are using these tools or other web 2.0 tools either in your classroom or as part of your professional development.

Still learning (and loving it) ...