Ok, ladies & gentlemen, drum roll please!

You can now a Google Document and/or Google Document Folder with a Google Group. When you do, every member of that group is now shared to that Google Doc file/folder. I teach high school using Google Docs and have 100+ students in Google Groups. I use to have to keep a separate mailing list and batch email people to files I needed them to be able able to collaborate. (I realize if you just want them to see the a single file, a weblink is quick and dirty, but I want them to collaborate!)

Now, it’s no more! Now I can click on a file and add the Google Group address, and presto! 100+ kids just read and edited a proposal by a classmate! Wow.

Now, in theory, let’s take it one step further. We should also be able to Group share folders. Even though I’ve not tried it yet, I wonder if we can Group share a folder and if you then want it collaborated to the entire Group (think peer editing or building course rubrics with student input), you can just dump the file into that folder. Now for each class, I can have a Google Doc folder and then two sub folders. One called “View” and one called “Collaborate”. Google’s like a fine wine.

(CC) image posted by Ray Weitzenberg on Flickr.

Earlier today I got a cryptic message from a student that Google Docs was down and they couldn’t get to their directions for tomorrow’s project. Now mind you, I assigned this over a month ago so why wait until today to go and begin to do your work? Later I got another message from a student at a different high school doing the exact same project with the same complaint. I personally went to Google Docs from my mobile and my MacBook Pro with NO problems at all. None. So I called a colleague at the other school who was having the same exact issue. They were all getting this error. Stoopid.

Did Google Doc fail today, or did a link path break?

Now, I think I have a solution. Too many people don’t realize that there are so many EASY ways to get to certain Google places. Want mail? Try google.com/mail. Want calendar? Try google.com/calendar. Want scholar? Try google.com/scholar. Want voice? Try google.com/voice. Want docs? Try… you betcha… google.com/docs. Now when I try this, I am in like slim. The file is up on my machine in nanoseconds. Kiddies are going to gmail, click on email that notifies them that I shared something with them (cause, they won’t look if I don’t tell them it’s there!), and then the path is messed up. Bummer. So yes, something is messed up today, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a very little error for such a ginormous company that does a pretty good job of running the world.

My response is 1) you shoulda not procrastinated. Your procrastination does not constitute a problem in my life. 2) there are 90 kids in my AP and several sections of Crabtree’s. I bet one of the over achievers downloaded the file weeks ago. This is what Google Groups is for (and I bet you know the URL for that one). Ask away. 3) be creative and try to figure it out. And by the way, in case it does work, here’s the BHS direct URL to the assignment.

Update two hours later…: Here’s an update after two hours of talking to students, colleagues, and researching online (just what I want to do on a Sunday!). The problem is NOT Google. It IS Microsoft. No one who has been using Firefox has any problem whatsoever. Every single person using IE cannot get to Google Docs. Microsoft sucks. Not Google.

So your solution is: Install a real browser like Firefox and proceed.

Frankly, I am getting a little bored doing the similar presentation over and over. Although I can tell you it’s well received and needed! I just need Google to call me up and pay me, or at least give me a free tour or something. I’ve worked on this with Shelley Rodrigo at probably four conferences so far. I am looking to do something a little different maybe. Something with portable apps or production of literacies in the 21st ct. But anyway, here’s today’s presentation. It was well received.

It’s been awhile, but last week was busy for all of us. The students became very stressed because all of the summer work was due. Some of this became escalated if they didn’t bother reading until this week. On top of that is that one of the assignments was a group project, and the students who usually grab the assignment and lets other group members slide can’t do it here; they’re all THAT student! Now that’s done, and I bet the APES can rest a little easier this weekend.

As for me, I am struggling to find ways to inform the students of the purpose of the Google Group for this class. What I get is: typos, no punctuation, misspellings, a lack of sentence structure, etc… Moreover, at this is more surprising to me, is that students will begin private discussions between 2-3 people and send them out to the entire group. I’ll give them this though… When I discussed the purpose of these groups with the students a few days ago, many students were really surprised that each of those messages go out to 200+ students. A colleague at a different school who uses Google Groups for the same purpose is having even more problems.

I’d prefer not to have to give them Google Groups “guidelines” because, even though it is FOR a CLASS, we don’t want it to feel like it’s for a class. On the other hand, we want to remind them of their audience and the purpose of the groups. It’s a fine line we walk.

Shelley Rodrigo and I have worked on a presentation on Google Apps, which I am ready to adapt, develop, update and add to. It’s a work in progress, but here’s what I have so far. I am running it by a few colleagues tomorrow as a sort of preview to larger things down the road, I hope.

| View | Upload your own

We’ve begun going to talk to the current Sophomore Honors students about AP English & American Studies. Mostly the course curriculum they disregard until we get going because there’s just too much, and typically they can’t wrap their minds are AP vs American Studies vs AP Exams vs Dual Enrollment. I get a lot of the same questions each year, and I should start an FAQ or something! Anyway, this year we decided to start them on the technology early early… Like Now. Students are required to log into Gmail and create an account. My goal is then to reply immediately so my email is in their address book. I then add them to gTalk and open their contact book where I add them to my APES 0809 mailing group. Some of the students are also NHS now, so I add them to that, too. This way in July, I don’t sit for hours doing this. I’ve begun finding some on chat and one even thanked me for forcing the classes to use this set up!

This student also wanted to know when I would set up a Google Group for the 08-09 APES. I told him to remind me tomorrow night and I would do it. The group’s main purpose is to be a space where the students can begin dialogging about the course, the summer reading, the teachers, etc… I think it’ll really help.