Collaborative Work Using Google Drive

Hello readers!

Last week was reading week, which was much needed for the extra time to work on a few projects! Luckily, my group for the ADED 1P32 project was eager and prepared to get started early, so we were very productive during the break! Before this class, I was used to meeting up with group members in person to divide and conquer the tasks for group projects. This week, I learned that it is a lot easier to collaborate online than I initially thought!

I was already very familiar with Google Drive as I have ongoing projects in 3 of my other classes that I have been using it for. I find that Google Drive is the most user friendly collaborative tool and is very effective in keeping group projects organized. 3 uses for Google Docs/Google Drive that I find helpful are using it to share meeting minutes (especially for those unable to attend; they can keep track of what is going on in real time as the meeting is happening), brainstorming ideas for group projects, and using it to store files and documents that need to be accessed from other computers/locations. This youtube video by Google highlights the main reasons why I prefer Google Drive, especially for sharing documents. Rather than sending them via email, which creates a copy, storing them in the drive allows all collaborators to edit 1 document. 

I will definitely be keeping this tool on my PLE diagram under the collaborate section. This week, my goal is to review the tools used so far, and evaluate how much I have been using them and whether or not they have been beneficial. We have explored so many new tools and there are a lot to keep track of. Initially, I was under the impression that I would have to use all of them for the duration of the course, but now knowing that we only have to keep the ones that help us the most creates more time to explore our favourite tools. Taking another look at all of the tools and ranking them in order of usefulness needs to be done in order to finalize my PLE by the end of the course.

This Week's Feedly Reader Article

This week, I came across an article that discussed a new online program called Open eBooks. This is a program where children and students in need can access free ebooks on android or IOS devices provided by public libraries, schools and educators serving children in need. Literacy skills are very important skills to learn in order to succeed in life, and digital literacy is becoming more relevant with advancements in technology. I believe that this initiative is a great way to increase fundamental literacy skills (i.e. reading and writing), and at the same time, digital literacy skills for those who may not otherwise have the means to do so. 

Until next week,

Megan