Google Docs is a hosted service where you can
create, store and share documents, spreadsheets and
presenations. You can work on your own or
collaboratively. You can also import docs from
MS Office and Open Office.
Comments from those who selected Google Docs as
one of their Top 10 Tools in 2008
"A free utility that enables you to work
collaboratively with others on wordprocessed or spreadsheet
documents as well as visual presentations. The GREATEST tool is
the form tool that enables you to create forms that are posted
on the web. As users enter the data, it appears immediately in
your spreadsheet."
Leigh Zeitz
"Another excellent collaboration
tool. I also like the options of documents, spreadsheet or
presentation. And the presentation tool has a nice chat feature
built in."
Britt
Wattwood
"A
realistic alternative to ‘traditional’ Office application
suites. The ability to collaborate makes Google Docs a winner."
Karl Goddard
"work from home; collaborate and chat at the same time!"
Mary Cooch
"simply the best!"
Bill Miller
"for writing, sharing, storing,
presenting; I have given up MS Office entirely"
Jay Cross
"Originally I thought that I just
wanted the 'edit from anywhere' feature in
Google Docs (and Spreadsheets). However, with
a laptop that is not often an issue. What I really like is
the easy of distribution and updating as well as the
collaborative features. It is now part of my Online
Learning Study Skills course"
Brian Mulligan
"I
love the ability to connect students with
collaborative writing projects. Google Docs allows the students
to work together around their busy schedules. I love that there
are a variety of output formats, as well, so accessibility is
not an issue" Beth
Ritter-Guth
"Great for collaborating with colleagues or
for creating docs that you may need to access from anywhere."
Heather Ross
"I can't image going back to the days of e-mailing draft
documents within a group. Google Docs is the application I use
when I need to collaborate on any writing project with a group."
Jennifer Maddrell
"Google Docs
is one of the main tools for
collaborating with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) during the
course development process."
Christy Tucker
"A web-based word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation
program that makes collaboration more efficient. It is a
free online creation tool which is great for teachers and
students. Also, Google Docs allows mobile access."
Steve Yuen
"is a Web 2.0 technology tool that enables
collaboration. A great feature is the ability to save a document
in a variety of formats including Adobe Acrobat’s .pdf format. It’s free and can be
used with other Web 2.0 tools to empower the
collaboration process."
Rick Lillie
"is a simple wiki for sharing
the development of docs and works really
well with Google storing the material on its
servers so anyone can access at any time." Nigel
Paine
"We use the spreadsheet
function to keep track of LMS vendor issues, with all the admins
contributing. We use the presentations function to storyboard
with clients and among ourselves."
Ed Lamaster
"No more
emailing docs back and forth. And for school (I am going
through my Masters) this simplified group projects and kept
meetings to a minimum." Kevin Jones
"it supports writing academic papers, bid
documents, impossible deadlines and working with interesting,
busy people. For students making the transition to Web apps the
collaborative features support peer support and negotiation."
Andrew Middleton
"Google
docs are great for collaborating and sharing information with
others. You must invite friends to participate in your documents
but it’s so easy to edit ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!."
Colette
Cassinelli
"great tool for collaborative writing. I have been using it
especially to co-write articles and conference proposals."
Cristina Mendes Da
Costa
"good way to create, share and
collaborate on documents"
Florence Meichel
"We use it all of the time in our office and VLE. Makes
shared project collaboration a breeze."
Robert Chapman
"The best way to share and
cooperatively edit documents with other people. It's solid and
has no formatting issues when copying and pasting from outside
sources."
Adam Kosh
"A great way to create a channel
of communication between teacher and student between classes.
Useful for writing assignments and feedback between classes."
Jonathan Lecun
"I've just started using this
and I love it. I haven' taken advantage of it as a
collaborating tool yet, but hope to soon."
Kris Stanhope
Comments from those who selected Google Docs as
one of their Top 10 Tools in 2007
"Collaborate across companies and
organisations. The future of application software."
Mike Alcock
"I know that the Google love must be
getting a bit tiresome, but Google Docs really makes
collaboration easier. During the course development
process, it's more convenient to use Google Docs than
for my SME (Subject Matter Expert) and me to send dozens
of Word attachments back and forth. I always know we
both have the most current version of our documents. The
formatting is quirky, especially when moving documents
back and forth between Word and Google Docs, and the
Revision Tracking seems a little clunky as well. It
isn't my first choice for a polished final document, but
for building the drafts along the way it's very
effective."
Christy
Tucker
"As much as I like OpenOffice,
Google's collaborative documents and spreadsheets are
excellent for group work. With Google's simple
interface, it's not difficult to get new users to join
in."
Harold Jarche
"I haven't used a desktop word
processor in over 1.5 years. now that I can detach
documents and spreadsheets directly into GD&Ss it
doesn't get any easier."
Kevin Gamble
"While they don't have
the power and depth of Microsoft Office, these tool make
up for it with their simultaneous editing capabilities,
their easy of access to and from the web and their
overall useability"
Dave Lee
"Free,
online, GSheets are so much easier to use than XLS!"
David
Flanders
"Google docs are great
for collaborating and sharing information with others.
You must invite friends to participate in your documents
but it’s so easy to edit ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!."
Colette
Cassinelli
"for
collaborative document development when we work in very
small groups"
Gianni Marconato
"This tool is certainly beginning to
catch on among my colleagues as we develop articles,
rewrite chapters, and draft policies"
Michael McVey
"For
writing, collating, preparing presentations, tracking,
reporting – online and offline – I still haven’t found a
way to avoid these tools"
Andrea Barrett
