Google Docs
Google Docs is a free web tool from Google that allows users to upload and create documents online. These documents are saved securely and accessible from anywhere through the Internet. Users can also invite and allow others to view and edit these documents live. Editable documents include Powerpoint presentations, Excel sheets, and Word documents. In addition to several other functions, Google Docs allows users to insert images, change fonts, and text colors just like how these one can edits documents in Microsoft Office programs. Also, users can now also translate documents into to other languages and use translation dictionaries available from Google (Google, 2009).
Google Doc gives users the ability for creative collaboration on documents and presentations within a educational setting. Students can work with classmates to produce documents through Google Docs and, while students create and edit their documents, instructors can observe this process. Instructors can receive updates on who is editing and who has edited the documents and when they did so in order to give students grades based on their work.
In the context of the foreign language classroom, Google Docs can be used in several lesson plans or activities. For example, one lesson plan could include the creation of a research project that students write in French through using the Google Docs to create a word document. As students research the assigned topic, they can add new information to the document then edit their work and their classmates work to create a final document for a grade.
Another lesson might include the same kind of process for a Powerpoint presentation of their research findings. Each of these projects would allow students to practice writing in French, allow their classmates to assist each other on making edits to grammar and vocabulary, and therefore, give the students a first hand and collaborative approach to creating well written documents.
One other option for an activity that features Google Docs in the French classroom is for the instruction to upload a document that needs editing and correction. This would most likely be an anonymous essay from a former student that contains grammar mistakes and limited vocabulary. Students would then have to access the document through Google docs to make the necessary corrections. As students make the corrections, teachers will observe what corrections they make and give students hints and assistance through footnotes or comments on the page.
References
Google. (2009). What’s new in Google Docs. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/google-d-s/whatsnew.html
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