Documents

Google Docs is a lot like other word processors but with the benefit of being able to have more than one person working on a document at one time.  This can benefit a teacher in many ways.  If your students are working in groups, they can each work on the same document at the same time.  Also, teachers or peers can edit students work immediately.  Teachers can even see how students are doing on their work as they are working rather than wait for the work to be turned in and then realize that the entire class did not understand the assignment.

Google Docs also has the capability of chatting with others.  If students are editing each others papers, than they can chat with each other about what needs to be changed.  You can also collaborate on a document by sharing the document with someone else.  They then will be able to edit the document.  Many people can work on the same document at the same time.  This will work great in the classroom when doing group work and having students edit each others work.  I think the collaborative feature will be a great benefit in the classroom.

I looked at several lesson plans that used Google Docs.  In one lesson plan, the teacher had each student make a website with Google Docs.  I like that Google Docs is not just typing documents but rather can be websites or various projects.  This teacher used Google Docs in a way that let the students  create which according to Bloom's Taxonomy is high level of thinking.  In another lesson plan, the teacher uses Google Docs for students to make predictions and respond to they book they are reading as a class.  This enables the students to work together but each share their predictions and ideas.