Thing 12: Google Tools

So far, this class has been full of really useful information.

After looking at all the Google Tools, I can say that I would use almost all of them.  My favorite is Google Calendar.  I decided to set up a calendar for the Newman Club Catholic Campus Ministry because even though we are small we are also fairly busy.  And everyone keeps getting confused about where to be and when to be there.  Setting up a calendar was really easy.  I have not gotten any feedback from the people I attempted to share it with, but hopefully it will all be positive.  Here is the Newman Club Calendar. 

I also signed up for Google Alerts.  This is great, because I definitely do not have enough time to go searching through the news to find information.  It is a bit like the RSS Reader in that it cuts down on a lot of the time that I spent looking for information, and now I don't have to skip the news on days that I am extra busy.

Google Calendar and Google Alerts are definitely my favorite Google tools, but I also am fond of Google Translate.  I am just a little wary of translation tools because they are not always correct. While I don't plan on using it for anything important,  I might use Google Translate to translate single words or simple phrases.

The only Google Tool that I don't like is Picasa Web Albums.  I have become accustomed to using different photo sharing sites (PhotoBucket is my favorite), and now it is hard to get used to something else.

I can definitely see myself using Google Tools in my classroom.  Keeping a classroom calendar with due dates and classroom plans is a great way to keep both parents and students up to date with what is happening in the classroom.  It might also encourage parents to come and help in the classroom if they see something on the calendar that they are interested in.  Google Alerts could also be a fun way to keep up with news that is interesting to your students.  For example, if students decide that they would like to learn more about marine biology, then they can sign up to get alerts on marine biology.  It would be a great way to incorporate current events into the classroom routine and show students the importance of keeping up with the most current information in their chosen fields.