Students from grade 5-8 are now using Google Docs in their classes. Grades 6, 7 & 8 have been using them most of the year. Students in grade 5 are just now learning how to use them.
Google Apps for Education is free and all you need is the internet for a student to be able to work on their project. Teachers correspond with the students through the use of an App called Classroom. This allows the teacher to hand out assignments, make announcements and the students then turn in their work through classroom. Their work is stored in a folder with their name. Teachers can grade, comment and edit if needed and then send back to the students.
Google Apps include a word processing app called Docs. A spreadsheet app called sheets and a presentation app called sheets/slides. Students can also make forms to take surveys with or teachers can use them to make tests. All information gathered comes back to the owner of the form in a spreadsheet so they can work with the data.
Google Apps does not have all the bells and whistles found in Microsoft Office but it is free to anyone with a g-mail address. It also allows the owner to share with anyone they want so many people at once can be working on a document. Google Apps is being used by schools all over the country.
