Simply scientific

Posted by: Stephen Rahn, Information Technology Specialist at Kennesaw State University, currently teaching and working on a Ph.D in Instructional Technology

We've been using Google Docs for some time. The fact that it's free helps our rural school district save money that would otherwise be spent on more expensive productivity suites. We've found, especially, that the sharing capabilities have helped facilitate research and collaboration in our school's science classes.

Currently, our students are using Google Spreadsheets to enter data collected from water samples from a nearby stream, measuring the pH level in the water and also looking at different types of chemicals present. They then use Google Documents to chart the data they find, and share it with each other. This keeps them all on track, and means that they can learn from each other and draw on a much larger pool of data than if they were simply keeping notebooks, not shared until the project's end, if ever.

We love Stephen's brief account of using Docs to facilitate science learning, and it got us wondering, who else is using Google Docs for science? Are you? Ornithologists, paleontologists, astronomers and armchair biochemists...we want to know how using Google Docs has helped your scientific pursuits.

Write us a note and let us know what you're up to, or submit a video, showing us how you use Google Docs for your science projects.

Docs on the iPhone with Chris Pirillo

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager

Chris Pirillo, Gnomedex Conference founder, CNN.com Live technology contributor, and one of our regular guest bloggers, uploaded a new video recently, giving an overview of using Docs on the iPhone (one of my favorite features :)

Check it out, below, and check out the accompanying post on his blog.

Notes from the computer graveyard

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager

I'm running late for work, the trains are packed. I arrive at the office a little winded, set down my coffee and open my laptop. Hello? Laptop? Try that again: close and open my laptop. No go. Shoot. I manually restart, plug and unplug; I change power outlets and restart again. Nothing.

And so it is, 20 minutes later I'm at the tech stop (our IT department), my laptop declared dead on arrival.

"How long will it take to get me a new machine?" I ask.

"That depends," Fernando, one of our IT gurus responds. "If you have a lot of files on the hard drive, it could take a day or so to transfer them over...if we can get to them. But, if you don't need much from the original computer, then we can get you up and running in a few hours."

Now, there were some music files, and a random PDF or two that I wanted. But, by and large, my important documents were all on Google Docs. So, while Fernando set up my new machine, I was able to work, business as usual, from the clunky loaner-computer.

Waiting at the tech stop for a morning isn't my idea of an amazing party, but since my documents were online and accessible, it didn't have to be the definition of a total time sink, either.

Aliza's chronicles, part 2: surviving the computer shuffle

Posted by: Aliza Sherman, author, speaker, TV and radio producer

In my previous post, I talked about finally turning to Google Docs to save my bacon while working on a major client job with multiple players, several simultaneous projects and too many versions of spreadsheets and documents flying around in email. After working with Google Docs for the remainder of the project, I didn't use it again for a while, at least not with my clients.

Then I hit another document crisis moment. I was trying to figure out the most efficient way to transfer files from my old PowerBook to my new MacBook and began misplacing old files and current versions of files. That's when it hit me: Why not just upload the current versions to Docs? So I did. And it was a good thing.

By using Google Docs as the bridge between my old and new computer, I was able to not only access critical documents from my new MacBook but also from any computer I happened to be on, anywhere. Ahhhh, I was seeing the light.

I didn't upload every document making the transfer but instead used the following criteria for uploading:

1. An open project with a client or collaborator
2. Any document that I would need to share with anyone
3. Documents related to an ongoing project

As I migrated old files to the new computer, I hit another snag. My new Intel Mac did not accept most of my old software, and it appeared as if I would have to purchase upgrades or new versions of all my most important software programs. To avoid this, I discovered NeoOffice, a shareware office suite software. Although I can convert any .ODT file (word processing) or . ODS (spreadsheet) file into a .doc and .xls, I don't really have to with Google Docs because it accepts the NeoOffice formats. What a relief!

I don't know about you, but feeling a sense of relief while using a Web app is a sure sign that you're on the right track.

My next blog post will explore using Google Docs for longer term collaboration.

Embed your forms

Posted by: Andrew Chang, Marketing Manager

Since we launched spreadsheet forms in January, one of the top user questions has been "How can I embed my form into a website or blog?" Last night, we added this option. You'll see this new feature during form creation, when you're prompted to invite people to fill out your form. Just skip the invitation step and look for "Embed" in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Paste the code provided into your blog or website.


Here's what a form looks like once it's been embedded into a blog.

Making across the country feel like across the classroom

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager

Brian Crosby and Lisa Parisi came to my attention when I stumbled across a video they'd made, showing their students collaborating on short stories using Skype and Google Docs. Over the course of some weeks, we worked together on a post describing the details of their project.

The Harris Burdick Collaborative Writing Project began because the teachers and educational professionals involved have become part of a network through their blogs, Twitter, Skype and other web applications. Brian Crosby in Nevada and Lisa Parisi in New York initially connected through their fifth grade students’ blogs, which are hosted on ClassBlogmeister.

“Our students were communicating through the comments and assignments on their blogs and just seemed a good fit for one another,” Parisi noted.

Crosby added, “Lisa and I ended up connecting further through Twitter and email and a collaborative project just seemed a natural extension of what had already begun.”

The project was simple: the children would use Docs to collaboratively write stories based on the book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris van Allsburg. The book is really a set of 14 drawings each of which is inspiration for a different story. Children from one class in New York would be partnered up with children from the other class in Nevada to brainstorm and write a story about one of the pictures. Google docs would allow them to work both synchronously and asynchronously and have text discussions, since updates are almost instantaneous.

While the students worked on the projects individually, “The real collaboration happened when we arranged to have both classes working on them at the same time," Parisi remembered: “Students were sharing ideas about characters and plot as well as the story, and they could see each others’ work as it was being done!”

Because they had experience video-conferencing, Crosby and Parisi added Skype video-conferencing into the mix. They set-up computers with webcams in their respective classrooms and their students could then see and hear each other while at the same time working on their Docs live. “This added another powerful collaborative element,” said Crosby, “Now they knew what each other looked like and it “humanized” their relationship.”

Reported Parisi, “We would give partners 5 minutes or so to video-conference, and usually only when it was necessary to deal with a problem they were having with their story. Each time we worked synchronously we only had 45 minutes or so because of our schedules, with 14 groups that might need to meet there was no time to waste.”

Once the project was planned, Brian and Lisa decided to invite teachers from around the globe into the activity. There are presently 14 classes, ages 9 -12, working on the stories. Each class is paired with another and all are using Docs to communicate and write.

Interestingly, students experienced some of the same issues they would when working with an “onsite” classmate. There were a few disagreements and even some heated discussions between collaborators. One student even erased the work done by their partners.

“Fortunately Google Docs allows you to go back to every version of the document," disclosed a relieved Parisi. “We were able to return to the version that included the erased section, so we were able to restore the lost work."

“This became a teachable moment and we had discussions about appropriate behavior. But this same kind of behavior happens during collaboration between students in the same classroom. This was no different," added Crosby.

Parisi and Crosby are already discussing similar projects for next year.

The final stories will be published in Google docs and linked to a wiki for viewing by all. A VoiceThread will give the students one final opportunity to comment about the various versions of the story or about the project itself.

For those of you who have questions, or related stories of your own, please leave a comment below.

For teachers who'd like to get started using Docs, check our our teachers guide, Using Google Docs in the Classroom. It has all the basics teachers will need to get up and running with Docs.

Functions, Formulas and how you can relieve the Frustration

Posted by: Regina Dinneen, Docs User Operations (aka Google Docs Guide 2)

If you haven't been following along in the user group, you may have missed the new spreadsheet function documentation that we released a few months ago. Due to frequent requests for help finding and understanding the hundreds of functions available, our own Melissa Louie created Version 1 of the function helper:


We're now working on the next version of the documentation. It'll include a real example of each of the different functions and formulas. From simple to complex, we're going to try to have examples for all.

Please join us in this effort. You can help us by sharing your own function examples by visiting our user group and adding your own examples.

Note: If you're not a member of the user group you'll need to click the sign-in option in the top right-hand corner and join the group. Joining the group will also give you a chance to chat with other users, get some of your questions answered and/or ask a few questions of your own.

Come and check it out - all of your fellow spreadsheet users out there are waiting for help with those complex functions you've mastered. :)