Techlabulous

The power of this technology isn't in what it can do--there are already MS Office apps that let you create presentations, spreadsheets, forms, etc.; it's the remote accessibility and the collaborative potential of Google Docs that make it exceptionally useful. Sick students could catch up on lessons if they were created in Google Docs; parents could log-in to view the assignments you've given and to evaluate the quality of their child's work (and your own--caveat educator!); though I didn't yet create a "form" in Google Docs, I could see this being a great way to create and "publish" quizzes and tests. A further extraordinary capability of G-docs is that it allows students (and teachers in their work with administrators and fellow staff) a handy and technologically powerful way to collaborate on team projects (I'm using it that way in one of my own MSU classes, turning what [pre-G-Docs] could have been an onerous project with lots of time-consuming meetings and unproductive face-time into a far quicker and easier enterprise). In terms of giving feedback, G-docs could speed the process along to the extent that you could offer real-time comments(!). Last, I also see this as a wonderful administrative tool for warehousing assigments and syllabi, storing class rosters, keeping track of grades, etc. Although people have criticized Google for being too big and too powerful, this is a case where they've provided something that's free and remarkably useful.