The translation did produce some minor alterations with typefaces and leading, but they were easily remedied to be very near the original document. Using an exisitnig Gooogle Doc template streamlined a designing process that usually takes time and creative thought. In either case, having access to these documents in various places, and shared with others without emailing everyone individually, is time saver. Concern about privacy was an ever-present issue that I am still trying to resolve.
As a teacher coordinating student activities, I can see how Google Docs can be used as a connection nucleus. Sign up sheets, brainstorming sessions, and communal writing projects could be enacted and facilitated. Group work would certainly become more collaborative especially when students work from different locations: homes, classrooms, and as in the case with online courses, different regions. In my nonprofit efforts, Google Docs can eliminate the back-and-forth members do statewide when trying to coordinate VLGS Meet & Greets, regional events, and fund raising efforts. We recently were published in the Eat and Explore Virginia Cookbook. The process of coordinating recipes and pictures would have been far leaner had we come together on one document shared among the team.
As a Gifted Resource Teacher who travels between two schools, I believe my students would gain from using Google Docs. I remember reviewing the Virginia standards on several occasions, along with 21st century skills, at faculty meetings and for earlier courses for my current degree efforts. Use of Google Docs hit many of the tenets for how instructors can access information, collaborate with others about lessons, and initiate discussions of ethical and legal issues of posting to the Internet.
Right now, I believe the VA Technology Standard C would best serve my immediate needs as a GRT. Schools are grouping students in large lumps of all ability levels to accommodate budgets, and the gifted students spend a lot of time waiting idly for others to catch up or for teachers to repeat and review lessons they have previously learned. Being able to apply computer productivity tools for professional use would aid in distance collaboration with teachers in different schools who want to differentiate lessons for the gifted students. Coordinating with teachers could allow these students to work 'together' across classrooms and grade levels, thus keeping them engaged in learning while others are provided instruction they have already passed.
It a chess game trying to coordinate the efforts of many teachers across grade levels and with various teaching styles. A case of gourdheads vs. corkheads. Google Docs may provide a vital link to addressing an ongoing problem for the underfunded Gifted Academic Program.
