A Piece of My Mind

Our district recently switched to Google Apps for Your Domain to host our email and more. One of the tools we now have for every teacher is Google Docs. Now our staff is fairly use to saving to the “S Drive” since we have Deep Freeze. But this new uploader tool will make their lives even easier since it will store their documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) where they can access them from any Internet connection, just like their email, all in the same place.  Here is what the Google Tutor has to say:

After downloading the tool, you just have to double-click it and the application starts working right away (my note: works on Windows PCs running the .NET Framework 2.0 or higher). You don’t have to install anything on your computer to make this work. So this would be an excellent tool to have on your USB stick if you upload files to Google Docs from various computer locations.

When you open it for the first time, you will be asked to log in and afterwards, the list of files currently stored in your Google Docs account will be shown :

You can then go to the file location on your PC and drag it into the main window. It will then be instantly uploaded to your Google account.

Or, as the screenshot also shows, you can enable a feature that will add a “Send to Google Docs” option in your Windows Explorer right-click menu :

Both options work equally well.

Thanks to Google Tutor for laying it out so easily for us. This will be a super add-on to our already powerful Google Suite.

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Michael Wesch, creator of the video Visions of Students Today, recently posted on how the digital divide occurs within all cultures. His video had what seemed to be an all-white make-up. While that was not the intent, it was the outcome. Consider his post and the discussion in the comments section. Nobody is pulling the race card here. What they are doing is generating the discussion about access. What are we doing to close the digital divide?

How can we get more technology in the hands of those who cannot afford it? More importantly, consider that the technology use we implement in the classroom may be all some of our students get anywhere. If every educator uses the same amount of technology you do with that student, how well prepared is he/she at the end of the day?

Thank you Michael and Mark for starting the conversation:
Download Video: Posted by markcmarino at TeacherTube.com.

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