GoogleDocs

GoogleDocs is a wonderful program that has so much to offer anyone who is interested in sharing documents, calendars, lesson plans, etc. It is a well rounded program that has so much to offer that I cannot possibly even describe them all; however, I will touch on the points that I think would be most important to an educator.

*Calendar - your entire school is able to share one calendar to post any information that is needed. For instance, if you pass around a calendar at a staff meeting or have to email the secretary dates you want to go on the calendar that is sent home you can do that all with GoogleDocs. You simply open up the calendar, add the information you need to, and then save it. You event is now saved and ready to be printed. Second, if you have a computer lab that is shared by the school you can have a set calendar in which you reserve your spot. This makes it simple and easy to see who has it when and then you are able to reserve your own spot that week or even for future dates. The calendar offers many wonderful options such as color coding, holidays, and even designing it to fit your needs.
* Lesson Plans - If you are one who prefers to use the computer to type your lesson plans out then GoogleDocs is the place for you. GoogleDocs offers many different templates to choose from, I spent over 30 minutes trying to decide which one I wanted to use this year. Once you have your template you are able to make any changes you want to it. The nice bonus is that you can share this with your principal and they can have easy access to it instead of having to print it off and placing it in their mailbox (if that is what you have to do like myself.)
*Quizzes - Another exciting feature that you can use with your students is to create quizzes that they can take at home. It is relatively easy to set-up. Once students have taken the quiz you are able to score them all at once with a simple set-up. You can then see how they did and which ones were wrong. (I personally can't wait to try this feature with my students.)
*Document Sharing - Probably one of the main features of this program is sharing documents with one another. The nice feature about this is that if you have a piece of work that you are making changes with a group you can do this at your own time and make your changes then. You do not have to be all together making the changes at the same time as everyone has access to this document.

GoogleDocs has many other wonderful great features, but I find these four to be the ones I would probably use the most. GoogleDocs is a nice program that is relatively easy to use and filled with lots of great features. The nicest part is that you can share this with many different people who also have Google accounts.