A blog that I read with some regularity is Free Tech for Teachers. There are a ton (I’m not kidding here people) of ideas, programs and websites that you can use with your kids. It’s written by Richard Byrne who clearly has a dedication to his blog that goes above and beyond. Recently he posted about 5 Essential Google Drive Skills For Teachers. The list is pretty good but he forgot one. In my opinion the most important one.
Sharing
Google Drive gives you the ability to share a document/file with another person. If that is a Google Document then the two (three, four, up to fifty) of you can edit that same document together, at the same time, leave comments for one another and basically cut down your email, confusion and improve your workflow tremendously. This is what makes Google Drive a must for just about anyone that works with other people. So click below to how easy it is to do this.
Step 1 – Sign in and create
You obviously need a Google Account to have access to Google Drive. If you do go to www.drive.google.com and sign in.
Click on Create (it will be on the left hand side of the page).
A drop down menu will appear. For this example we will make a Document. You can click on any of the options though.
Step 2 – Share
In the top right hand corner of the screen there is the blue button that says Share.
By default your document is private and only you can access it. We will change that soon. Go ahead and click on that Share button.
Now just type in their email
When you start to type in their email Google will give you some options.
That person can have one of three options.
- The ability to edit it (they cannot delete the file)
- The ability to add comments (they cannot edit the text but only leave comments)
- The ability to only view it
When you’ve added all the emails click on Share & save and they will have immediate access to your document.
Also, the other editors NEED a Google Account to work on the document.
Step 3 – Multiple editors
Other people just need to go to their email and click on the link.
On the right hand side near the top you will see this (if there are other people currently editing it)
Click on the little triangle and you will be able to chat with them.
You will also see their changes to the document in real time.
Step 4 – Commenting
On the right hand side near the top you will see the Comments button. Comments are a powerful way for people to express ideas with the other people working on the document.
There are two ways to do comments. You can click the Comments button and leave a general comment.
Or you can highlight some text and right click and select Comment to leave a comment in a specific part of the document.
The word is highlighted to let others know there is a comment for that selection. The comment will show up in the right hand side off the page.
Comments show up instantly.
People can reply to comments as well. Again this shows up instantly.
Congratulations
You are done. Now go an share some documents!
Technology in the Classroom 