This vector was developed by Tak Yamada, July 2010.

Stability and Usability

This vector will illustrate the usability of Google docs and Google sites in an educational setting. We do this first by looking at ways they are currently used in education and then move on to assessing the practicality behind their use.

Applications of Google docs and Google sites

Google docs

Google docs in the educational setting is used in various ways. For example, in the elementary school setting,Mary Lynchhas used Google docs to introduce the scientific method. She had students go through the process of creating a hypothesis and testing that hypothesis. She then used the spread sheet function in Google docs to gather everyone's findings, which she later reviewed together with the class. In the high school setting, Esther Wojcicki used Google docs to assign collaborative book reports, co-edit essays, and assign collaborative research papers. Google docs is seen as an administrative tool and Scot Garden (2009) from the Saline area school used it among their staff to collaborate on administrative agendas. In the post secondary setting, Dekeyser and Watson (2006) from Queensland University used Google docs to collaborate on research papers and they said that it was an effective tool aside from some formatting issues.

Some other examples of their use include publishing announcements about upcoming assignments and monitoring student progress on assignments. Being able to see the changes that occur in real time allows educators to make suggestions and changes to assignments during the creation process. With the sharing features on Google docs, educators and students can choose who they share documents with. The history feature keeps track of every revision made, making it easy to go back to any revised edition.

Here is a quick overview of the capabilities of Google docs

Original video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA.

The video below briefly summarizes what students and teachers have to say about Google docs. In the video both the teachers and the students claim that Google docs opened up a new and more efficient way of collaborating by creating a space where everyone can work on one document simultaneously. In addition, the collaboration is not limited to within the classroom but can be extended globally if one chooses too. From the teacher's point of view, it is easier to assess group work because it is relatively easy to track the contribution of each individual.

Original video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYPjJK6LZdM.

Google sites

Google sites in the educational setting is also used in various ways to enhance collaboration. For example, it may simply be used to build course websites or it may also be used as a collaborative tool in the form of group projects. Matt Montagne had his grade 8 class embed slide shows and blog about their past field trips on the Google site that he had made up for the class. Karen Kliegman created a site for her class to learn more about the human body system collaboratively, assigning each group in her class with a body system and challenged them to come up with reasons why it may be the most important system.

Here is a quick overview of the capabilities of Google sites

Original video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KnC2EIS5w.

Here are more examples of how educators have used Google sites to promote collaboration among their students. [Collaboration with Google sites]

Usability

As long as you have a Google account it is relatively easy to use both Google docs and Google sites. The features and limitations are illustrated here for comparison.

Features and limitations

The features and limitations of Google docs and Google sites.

	Google sites	Google docs
Features	A web address in the form http://sites.google.com/site/username/ Many integratable features such as Youtube, Goggle docs etc. Easy editing with no knowledge of HTML language required.	Allows documents to be shared, opened, and edited by multiple users at the same time. Documents, spreadsheets, forms and presentations can be created within the application itself, imported through the web interface, or sent via email. They can also be saved to the user's computer in a variety of formats (ODF, HTML, PDF, RTF, Text, Word). Documents are constantly saved to prevent data loss. However, revisions are saved every time so users have the choice to go back to any revised edition.
Limitations	100 MB of storage (for free account) 10 GB of storage for Google Apps users non-collaborators cannot add anonymous comments (only invited people can "write" to site) no RSS feeds for site updates must use provided site themes and structure cannot remove Google-provided page colors, shape, etc - all sites look similar	Individual documents may not exceed 1GB embedded images must not exceed 2MB each spreadsheets are limited to 256 columns, 200,000 cells, and 99 sheets A user can have a total of 5,000 documents and presentations, 5,000 images, 1,000 spreadsheets, and 100 PDFs at one time
For a complete list of features and limitations visit	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Sites	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Docs

Are collaborative technologies designed with learners and classrooms in mind?

Google docs and Google sites are tools for collaboration but was not designed specifically for education. However, Google has a [section for educators] that offers help and tips to make Google applications more specific to education.

How difficult is it to set up Google docs and Google sites?

It is easy to set up Google docs and Google Sites as long as you have a Google account. The interactive tutorial and the following Youtube videos will give you an instant idea of the process required for setup.

[Interactive Google doc and sites tutorial]

Startup video for Google sites

Original video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD-4FRTzxkI.

How friendly is it to use effectively?

The functions of Google docs and Google sites are relatively straight forward. They do not require you to know any web programming language. The most difficult part may be in the organization. Google docs can easily become disorganized since it is simply one document with multiple users making entries. Google sites has a similar problem as well. When multiple users make entries, the formatting becomes distorted making it difficult for the next person to find the information that they need. However, in terms of the process of making entries and setting up a new document or a new site, it is relatively friendly to use effectively.

What do teachers need to know first?

As stated above, teachers should be aware of the limitations for both Google docs and sites. Depending on the class size, you may need to upgrade so that you have more storage. Teachers should also familiarize themselves with Google docs and sites before using it in the classroom. In addition, educators should become familiar with the privacy controls surrounding the two applications. For example, you can specifically set who you share your documents with for Google docs. Similarly, for Google sites you can set if you want to make the website public to the entire world or you may choose who can view and edit the page. Another note is organization in the layout of the document or site. As mentioned previously, it is very easy for the document or the site to become disorganized when there are multiple users making entries. Hence, a word of advice may be to have one person in charge of the overall organization in the class. A final note is, with these free applications there is always the chance that they may become discontinued at some point. Hence, it may be advisable to always back up your content elsewhere and have a backup assignment plan if Google decides to discontinue its use in the future.

Report card

Google docs

In terms of usability and stability, I would give this an "A" because it is easy to set up and use. The only drawback is the organization factor. However, I see this as more of a human error rather than a technical error. In terms of stability, in the time being, Google seems committed to continuously improving the product. However, it is unknown when Google will keep this service free until. Hence, this brings the grade down to an "A" instead of an "A+."

Google sites

I would give this a "B" because it seemed to require a couple of more steps than Google docs to set up and it requires a little more work on the teacher's behalf to get it up an running. Furthermore, the organization aspect is a little harder to maintain with websites so the teacher will need to give clear step by step instructions to the students if he/she wants the collaborative materials to all end up in one place, rather than scattered in bits and pieces all over the site.

Discussion Questions

Is Google docs and Google sites paving the way to new forms of collaboration or is it simply a technological replacement of what used to exist in the classroom?

If you have used Google docs or Google sites to teach before, please share with us if the free version was adequate or if an upgrade was necessary.

Links

Move on to Vector 4: Total Cost of Ownership

Return to Module 8

References

Dekeyser,S.,and Watson, R., (2006). Extending Google Docs to Collaborate on Research Papers. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.90.3176&rep=rep1&type=pdf (Accessed on June 30,2010)

Garden, S. (2009). Retrieved from http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B5AOHQcS-cAeODQ3MGVkNGEtNzJmNS00MTE5LTliZmEtZjNiZGRmODZiM2Fm&hl=en (Accessed on June 20,2010)

Google. (2010) Google - Google Docs Information. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html (Accessed on July 1,2010)

Google. (2010) Google - Google Sites Information. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/sites/overview.html (Accessed on June 30,2010)

Kliegman, K.(n.d.). Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/teacher16/ (Accessed on July 1,2010)

Montagne, M. (2009). Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/teacher13 (Accessed on July 1,2010)

Wikipedia. (2010). Google Docs. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Docs (Accessed on June 29,2010)

Wikipedia. (2010). Google Sites. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Sites (Accessed on June 29,2010)

Wojcick, E. (2007). Docs and Spreadsheets in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/educators/learning_materials/necc_docs_spreadsheets.pdf (Accessed on July 1,2010)