Hands-On: Google Apps for Educators

Google continues to innovate with their suite of applications accessible from the Internet. In the last year they've created and refined their "Google for Educators" resource to show teachers how to use their products to enhance teaching and learning. One of the nicest things about these tools is that they're free. The best thing is that they don't require installation as they are web based (with the exception of Google Earth which is well worth the installation). Today we're going to learn how to use Google Apps in the classroom.

Goals: To show participants the suite of Google Apps and the resource materials that can help them create meaningful learning experiences with them.

Objectives:
1. Review iGoogle and the new Share tab feature.
2. Explore the Google for Educators resource.
3. Learn how to use Google Docs for online collaboration.
4. Get an overview of Google Earth.

Resources:
iGoogle: http://www.igoogle.com/
Google for Educators: http://www.google.com/educators/index.html
Google Docs: http://docs.google.com/
Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/
Juicy Geography: http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm

Agenda:
1. iGoogle: account, RSS, adding content, sharing tabs (20 minutes)
2. Google for Educators: Tools for your classroom, Teaching Collaborative Revision with Google Docs, Google for Educators Discussion Group, What have you done? (30 minutes)
3. Break (10 minutes)
4. Working with Google Docs: new file, edit, insert, revisions, share, publish (10 minutes)
5. ACTIVITY: Collaborative Revision: one person from each table send their google email to jmcdermott@schools.nyc.gov. I will invite you to a document to collaborate (30 minutes)
6. Demonstration: Google Earth, KML files, and Juicy classroom integration ideas (10 minutes)

Evaluation:
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