Cloud Computing (or...Google-ness)

Yay - we made it through Week One! You've successfully set up your blog and posted. You can officially add the title of "Blogger" to your list.

Thing 2: Cloud Computing (Week Two: June 7-13)

Do you ever find yourself working on a document, spreadsheet or PowerPoint at home and wishing there was an easier way to access it on campus, or vice-versa? Have you ever lost a flash drive (I know our students have!) or had your computer crash, erasing all of your work? Are you tired of emailing yourself the same document again and again? Or have you ever had to work on a project and had to email a document around and around so everyone could edit? So cumbersome! Google Docs is a Web 2.0 application that is part of the new wave of "cloud computing", where documents are saved in a "cloud" (on a server somewhere), and can be accessed from any computer around the world. Watch this video below for a quick explanation:



Because Coe became a "Google" campus last year, you don't even have to create a Google account to use this tool!

To get us started, I've created a document, 13 Things, where I've asked people to add a note about Web 2.0 applications they've used or heard of. I have saved it as a "Public" document that ANYONE can edit, just to make it easier for this exercise, but you can also choose to allow only certain people editing rights. Open this document and add an idea or two.

To access your own Google Docs:

1. Login to Coe Gmail
2. Look in the upper left-hand corner of your gmail page. You'll see a link to "Documents"
3. From here, you can upload a document you already have, or create a new one.
4. Note: you can also upload/create a spreadsheet or a presentation (PowerPoint).

And it's not just about documents (or spreadsheets or presentations!). You can have a shared calendar or even create forms and share the results within Google's cloud. Think about the possibilities: anything from sharing a grant proposal with the primary writers, to sharing a document with your department or office mates to sign up for Food Day! Your students can use Google Docs for group presentations. If they share with you, you can look at the revision history to see who has contributed what content.

Discovery Exercise:

• Add an idea or two to the 13 Things shared document
• Open up your Coe Google Calendar (click 'calendar' instead of documents), add at least one event (you can delete this later if you decide not to use this calendar).
• Open your Coe Google Documents (directions above). Create a document you can share with someone in your department/office - even if it's just for practice.
• Post a short reflection on your blog. Can you see yourself using Google Docs and calendars? Have you used this function already? For what?
  

Just for fun (optional):
Zoho.com is another online application that allows you to create documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows (and more!). You can login using a Facebook or Google (but not Coe Gmail) account.

Scribd is slightly different; it's a social publishing and reading site. So instead of having document shared by a select group of editors, your document can be publicly available for reading. Readers can interact with you by adding comments to your document. I saw the KCRG Online used Scribd to embed a document into one of their recent news stories. In this case, the document was uploaded to Scribd by the Waterloo school district (perhaps in an effort to help educate the public and draw feedback), and KCRG embedded the document into the story. You can often find excerpts of recently released or about to be released books on Scribd.

Check either of these sites out and post about the differences you noticed, and which tool you liked best.