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Google Docs and Google Sheets in Education
- January 5, 2015
- Posted by: The Teachers Academy
- Category: All Blog Postings Educator Resources / News Online Courses
Hey Teachers! Imagine a place on the Internet where you could safely store and share information for free with your coworkers, students or your friends. This place has programs similar to MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel free of charge! Even though millions of people have already taken advantage of this great opportunity, there is still plenty of room for you, your school and even your friends, in this place.
Welcome to Google Drive! This web based storage program allows users to create, edit and share files from any computer, and it is free! All you need is a Gmail account, which is also free! Google Drive houses applications (apps) that can be very useful for educators. Our courses: Google Docs for Educators and Google Sheets for Educators, allow teachers to earn professional development hours while exploring the many uses of these programs.
Google Docs is an online word processing program. The functions in Google Docs are a little more limited than MS Word, but remember, it is web based, which means you can access the files and software from any computer that has Internet access. To learn the basics of Google’s word processing program, we’ve created a course for teachers that explores how to make a test, merge data for a parent letter, create certificates and integrate an illustrated report. We discuss how to share files and integrate the technology into lesson plans. Our Google Docs for Educators course follows a similar format to our MS Word for Educators course so teachers can compare the two programs. You do not have to be familiar with either program to take the course because our courses are written in a step-by-step format to ease any anxiety about taking a technology course. Even if you are very familiar with MS Word and Google Docs, our courses are a great way for you to refresh your skills!
Google Sheets is a web based spreadsheet program. Our Google Sheets for Educators course follows a similar format to our MS Excel for Educators course so teachers can assess which program might fit better with your educational environment. In both of these courses, teachers will create a personal budget, a grade sheet and use the mail merge functions. Google Sheets for Educators is a great (free) way to introduce spreadsheet functions to your own students or fellow educators. And, because our courses are written in a step-by-step format, teachers do not need to worry about the technology being confusing. Instead, they can just enjoy the learning process, working at their own pace!
The convenience, security and the fact that it is free makes Google Drive along with its programs a great choice for teachers and schools across the nation. It is also a great way to connect and share information with teachers around the country. Google Drive allows you to create a folder and then share it with anyone, anywhere. For example, if you have a teacher friend in Oregon and you would like to share ideas with that person, it is simple! Create a folder to share on Google Drive and every document you each upload to that folder will be accessible to only the person you have chosen to share it with. You can live in Pennsylvania and create folders to share with teacher friends in Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Texas, anywhere!
At The Teacher’s Academy, our goal is to encourage teachers to take risks in their own life-long learning process so they can encourage their students to do the same. You may feel hesitant or worried about jumping into a techy course like Google Sheets for Educators, but that risk is worth taking! (Plus, we are always on hand to help if you need us.)
Have fun learning teachers and keep an eye out for Google Slides!!