Thing 29: Google Tools

Thing 29!
Alerts were the first tool that I explored for this thing. I set up an alert for anything about D.J. MacHale. He is (if you follow this blog you know this!) one of my favorite authors and now I can get fast info about what he's got coming up! I also set up an alert for Scott Westerfeld as I am currently waiting- not patiently - for another book like the midnighters books.
**This is a feature that I think could be beneficial to the library ~ we could set up alerts for authors on upcoming book releases and visit dates - only to scratch the surface of this tools usefulness.
Calendar was the other tool that I explored. I mentioned the calendar in thing 28 - but really found it to be a great tool when I checked it out more. I love the event feature that pulls from your email! I tried the quick add button on the calendar, but I don't like it as well as the create event spot.

Thing 9

I finally got it!!! Thank you Kathy for working with me on googledocs! I think googledocs are an amazing tool. I was having trouble with this thing and chatted with my friend Kathy, who is also doing 23 things on a stick, and now I think it is great! We worked on a document - even editing at the same time - it shows you everything. It shows who edited, when they edited, and what they did when they edited. I feel this will be a very useful tool for teachers giving students group projects to work on. I don't see too many uses in the media center - although I think the students might like a running reading recommendation list. I will try to get one set up and blog again if the students like it.

Thing 9: On-line Collaboration Tools

I am going to come back to thing 9. I am unable to edit on either google docs or zoho and have signed up for both. I am sure that I am doing something wrong - but will figure it out later. I have been thinking about the uses for the on-line collaboration and it seems like it would be a great tool for schools. I can only imagine how convenient it will be for students working in groups and how nice it will be for teachers to have the ability to see each students individual contributions as well as the group whole. I know that a couple of the teachers here have been talking about trying google docs for an upcoming project. I can't wait to see it in action!