Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Google Apps for Education

Nevin, R., Melton, M., & Loertscher, D. (2011). Google apps for education. Salt Lake City: Hi Willow Publishing.

I was initially skeptical about this book, thinking "Oh, I know how to use Google apps. I use them all the time for work and my personal life. I bet I can just find all of this information on the web." The last part of that statement is true--but this book is filling a knowledge gap that has been really holding up my understanding of how to build and use an interactive VLC and how to design collaborative online experiences for lessons and units. The authors write realistically about how technology is used in schools right now, acknowledging that teachers are in many different places, and implementing something like Google Apps for Education is not automatic and easy.

In addition to a general logistical introduction to Google Apps for Education, the book has chapters about the applications and numerous suggestions and examples on how to use them to do collaborative work in the classroom, often using one of the curriculum models presented in Beyond Bird Units. It is really helping me understand what types of collaborative work I could have students do in KBCs and just in general in class.

The book also explains administrative concerns, and gives practical tips for getting started with Google Apps for Education.

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