Google Docs. What can a potential teacher say about Google Docs? Will it be useful in the classroom? I believe that once the few little kinks have been ironed out it will be a very useful tool that will make group work for students AND teachers much easier and quicker.

Online hosting of documents is the basis of the internet, the problem with this is that the documents are static.. they are unchangeable and set in cement. This is the basis for Web 2.0 where users can change the web environment to make it better. Google Docs is a tool we can use in the classroom for group work. Students can easily collaborate and work together to create a truly group created presentation. While Google docs is still in Beta (still being tested and content being tested/upgraded.) it is still a useful tool and it will only contiue to become better due to its Web 2.0 base. Google Docs seems like it would be a valuable resource that we can use in tomorrows classroom. Google Docs could become the new basis for student presentations and the students dont even have to meet up in order to use it.. they can be on opposite sides of the globe and still be working on their group presentation. No more the dog or my power went out or I lost my USB because the document is hosted on the google server and can be accessed by anyone with permission.

This leads quite nicely onto my next point, privacy. Today internet attacks, fraud and hacking are constant threats and how do you know the information you put into the computer is secure. Google Docs allows you to set who can access your document. This minimises the chances that any information you put online will be misused. It also makes it much safer for students to use.

Well I would and probably will use it in the classroom once i graduate and by then it is likely to be a finished product.

While we hear about Youtube constantly and many of us use it often; it is not seen as a tool that we can use in the classroom. The open access to videos that youtube provides also makes it very difficult to keep students on task and out of innappropriate material. In the class presentation though we can see how using tools such as Keepvid we can download these videos ensuring that students are on task and only accessing that which we want them to.

Youtube can be a veritable wealth of resources but care must be taken when selecting videos, there is no guarantee that anyone who posts these videos is a professional or is correct in their views or beliefs. This is not to say that their opinions are all wrong or are not interesting or useful, it is just a matter of choosing something that is helpful or educational.

TeacherTV looks like a great resource for teachers allowing you to access ideas and thoughts from other places all over the world.

While both of these tools can be useful there are sources that need less careful checking or selection. Youtube while useful privately may not be as useful in the classroom.

I was wandering around on the web and I found a video for a new type of add-on that is being trialed for Firefox. It is called Ubiquity and I think the idea behind it is very clever.

http://www.vimeo.com/1561578?pg=embed&sec=1561578

The video above is a brief example of the kinds of things that ubiquity can currently do. Just these few things are really cool and when Ubiquity is released it will likely revolutionise web-browsing by making a variety of different innovations available in one place. The example of the person searching for ‘lofts’ and being able to plot those locations simply by highlighting them and typing map locations is something that I find incredible. This is only the beginning of the program though, in several years imagine what kinds of things we will be able to do just by typing a single command! This also has amazing relevance in the classroom, students will be able to find information, clarify the information and search for other related information all from the one page.

Perhaps though I am being too optimistic, this innovation could also turn out to be one of the most misused and mistrusted innovations on the internet. At the moment Wikipedia, while it is a quick and easy way to find information about a subject, has strong negative connotations in the teaching world because many of the sources for the information are not seen as valid. Is it possible that Ubiquity will have the same negative thoughts about it? Will Ubiquity become the new ‘Google’? Unfortunately only time will tell whether this innovation is destined for everyones computer or the great recycling bin in the sky. Check it out, I would be interesting in hearing what everyone else thinks about it.

Well for those of you out there who aren’t at uni and maybe those who are here is my personal view on Uni life at the moment.

While the lecturers are really nice I find that most assignments are a repetition of the same ideas over and over again. While this may make them sound easy it is actually quite agonising as the usual method is for the wording to be changed slightly so you still have to write the same assignment over and over. Some lecturers have realised this and this makes their classes all the better as I know i dont have to write the same journals over and over or the same personal philosophy that is much the same as when i started 3 years ago. I dont want this to sound like im just bitching about Uni because i actually really enjoy it because I do enjoy the classes at Uni its the boring theory assignments that need to be adjusted at least a little. I mean ironically the lecturers teach us that we need to be aware of the different styles in which students learn and need to be assessed and yet we are all taught in one way and assessed one way that really disadvantages people from other learning styles. Maybe lecturers need to move past the fact that Uni needs to be all verbal and classwork and instead include something that may appeal to those with different learning styles. Anyway I think I have complained enough for today so I bid all my faithful readers a fond adeiu

Adam