This presentation explores how and why to use Google Docs, Google Slides, and Blogger for educational purposes and was presented to students at University of Georgia. Good tidings, Lance Lance Eaton he/him/his http://www.ByAnyOtherNerd.com https://twitter.com/leaton01 https://www.linkedin.com/in/leaton01/ ____________________ I wish I had all the answers; better yet, I wish I knew all the questions to ask.

1. Web 2.0 and the
Classroom
Lance Eaton
Coordinator of Instructional Design
North Shore Community College
leaton@northshore.edu, @leaton01
http://www.byanyothernerd.com

2. Outline
Google Docs & Slides
Introduction to Google Docs & Slides
How to Use Google Docs
How to Use Google Slides
Examples
Blogging
Introduction to Blogging
How to Use Blogger

3. Intro to Google Docs & Slides
Google Docs: cloud-based, browser-based word processing program.
Google Slides: cloud-based, browser-based presentation program.
Benefits
● Constantly saves
● Detailed revision history
● Sharing options
● Comment & chat feature
● Add-on features
● Upgrades regularly
● Download options
● Web-page options
● Citation uses
Challenges
● Internet access required
● Sharing options
● Upgrades regularly
● Klugey
● 1 more account-challenge

4. Google Docs Example
Select the link below. If it doesn’t take you to a website, then
try holding “Control” and selecting the link. If that doesn’t
work, the link will be posted in the chat area.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rDWFM1Oyy5nmd
L43vlozgVH_YY2r7-G-sCDYOT6Gfok/edit?usp=sharing

5. Google Slides Example
Select the link below. If it doesn’t take you to a website, then
try holding “Control” and selecting the link. If that doesn’t
work, the link will be posted in the chat area.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jG4KtRiFjmigY3
oCH0os1G8J7mHBAKaAlqVnLZmCyf4/edit?usp=sharing

6. Examples
Google Docs
● Course notebooks
(personal or group)
● Ongoing Revising
● Portfolio Development
● Reports/Essays
● Group Reports/Essays
Google Slides
● Presentations
● Group Presentations
● Sharing Content Missed
in Class
● Dialogue Around
Content

7. Blogging
What is a blog?
Website whose format is designed for regularly publishing new content.
What is blogging?
A form of communication that can entail multimedia and is often considered
dialogic or bias-oriented. Akin to the Op-Ed page of a newspaper.
Popular Blogging Platforms
WordPress: http://www.wordpress.com
Blogger: http://www.blogger.com (Google product)
Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com

8. Benefits & Challenges
Benefits
● Individual voices
● Unique approaches
● Getting all the students’ views.
● Multimedia content
● Engaging in new communication
forms.
● Potential for public dialogue
● Useful professional skill
Challenges
● Internet access required
● Privacy concerns
● Getting students onto it
● Getting students into it
● Getting students to experiment

9. Get Started With Blogger
1. Go to http://www.blogger.com
2. Log in with Google Account (or create one).

12. Blog Title
Blog Address
Blog Template
(how it looks)
Press this to
actually create!

14. New Post!
Posts: Drafts, Scheduled, Published
Static information
Determine comment rules
Determine sidebar content
General aesthetics of the page.
Additional
features

15. Blog Post title
Content area
to write. Tool bar for:
1. Editing & formatting text
2. Inserting links, images, video
Publish to blog
or save as a draft.
Provide labels (tags)
Schedule when to publish.

16. Post types
Labels/tags
Post type
Post Author

17. Examples Blogging Assignments
3 Approaches
1. Students comment on instructor’s blog (Simple)
2. Students are authors on one blog (Challenging)
3. Each student has their own blog (Hard)
Assignment Ideas
● Current Events Related to Course
● Research & Resource Sharing
● Group Journaling about Course
● Role-playing Blog (e.g. blogging as Shakespeare characters, cell parts, historical
figures, etc)
● Prompt-Responses/Applying the Week’s Learning

18. No matter what you use for tools, always:
1. Spend time teaching the tool to students.
2. Provide substantial support documents & videos (Youtube
is great for this!)
3. Create a low-stakes first assignment to get them situated
and familiar with the tool.
4. Gradually penalized technical issues after giving
substantive feedback.

19. QUESTIONS
ANSWERS??? (Hopefully!)
BTW: This presentation was created on Google Presentations and can be
found at this address:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uiY8Ak2VJ0YDKs9yfX2lByHdUJ3i1
CAB7TrvkxNtgVE/edit?usp=sharing

20. THANK YOU!
Lance Eaton
Coordinator of Instructional Design
North Shore Community College
leaton@northshore.edu, @leaton01
http://www.byanyothernerd.com