Google Docs Update

I nearly passed out last week when I went onto Google Docs to do some grading and saw the new format. I don't like it as it doesn't indicate who the student is who shared. Well, I guess it does, but I have to search around for that information whereas it used to be pretty obvious, just by looking at the title of an assignment.

My students had collaboratively worked on a second slideshow of SAT words and had come up with sentences with context clues and found or created their own images. When I went to view their shows I couldn't tell which slideshow belonged to whom. I mentioned it in my last class of the day and was showing students the new set-up when a student who rarely and only reluctantly participates raised his hand and said, "There is a way to get back to the older version, Ms. Bancroft." Then he came to my desk and demonstrated for the class how to click on the toolbar link that says, "Older Version" and voila! I could hear a collective sigh of relief throughout the class as we all saw, once again, our familiar looking files and organization! Drake is my new Period 4 hero! I love those "ah ha" moments with individual students!

My students have started "Blogging the Holocaust" using my Website: http://msbancroft.weebly.com/ so I'm taking a couple of weeks to organize my Google Docs files as they submit their responses to prompts regarding our study of the Holocaust. I'm thinking that another year it would make sense to have a folder for each student in a folder for their class, rather than having a class folder and within that folders for each assignment. I have organized my Honors Challenge student folder this way and it is easier to check on individual progress.

During this weekend my friend and colleague, Richard Byrne, posted this link on his Free Tech for Teachers website:

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/02/learn-advanced-uses-of-forms-in-google.html

I have only used Google Forms once or twice, so I hope to try this self-grading feature sometime in the near future.