I use Gmail daily, I can access it at home and on the go with it linked directly to my phone, but for the most part I am not very familiar with Google Apps. In high school I did use Google Docs to work collaboratively with my peers on a creative writing assignment senior year, but I have not pursued using most of the Google Apps since that time. After looking in to the Apps available and watching the videos showing how each Google App could be integrated into a classroom, I found myself most interested with the new Google Classroom App that is currently still being developed. The reason I found this App most appealing is because it seems to take the best of the other available Apps such as Docs, Sites, and Calendar and meshed them into one cohesive App geared towards teachers and students. I especially loved the fact that teachers could use this Google App to upload class notes, homework assignments, and resources without the wasting of paper, and while keying into student interest in a digital education that can be carried into the world after school hours. I feel that the application allows for student collaboration on a new and more intimate level, while not requiring students to be in the same vicinity during the work process. I believe I would have found this extremely helpful as a student, because in many cases it can be difficult to coordinate times and places to meet and work simultaneously with peers. With Google Classroom, students can work from the comfort of their own homes on shared projects such as websites, documents, presentations, or spreadsheets and progress is continually updated and saved allowing for the teacher to monitor work along the way.
Problems that I have personally faced in regards to Google Apps are mostly technologically related. Because I am not necessarily the most computer savvy sometimes I struggle with figuring out precisely how to go about achieving an end product to meet with the expectations I have set up in my mind. Also the nature of technology does come with limitations. Students will only be able to produce a product that fits into the designated perimeters of the software designers that have created the Apps, which could potentially limit student creativity. But by far the most common problem I have faced when using technology is the chances of something going wrong due to simple problems such as internet outages and computer malfunctions. Also by using Google Apps with a class I am making an assumption that all of my students have access to working computers and internet access at home, which I know from my own experience is not always the case. According to a census done in 2012 only 74% of households have internet access. I grew up in a very privileged school district in Rochester, New York and had access to the internet at my Dad's house, but not at my Mother's. Being required to complete all homework online would have been a serious challenge for me had I been staying at my Mother's apartment that week.
I do believe that despite the drawbacks that using internet based Apps may hold, that the benefits are worth exploring because they make for a more computer literate, technologically savvy, and proactive society. I personally am not sure to what extent I would utilize Google Apps in my own classroom as an Early Childhood, and Childhood Educator, but I could personally benefit in using these Apps collaboratively with colleagues. I feel that depending on what grade level I am teaching (especially with the higher grades such as 4-6th) that I might be able to include more and more Applications in my classrooms and I would be particularly interested in trying out Google Classroom in the future. I would first have to determine the amount of internet access available to my students outside of the classroom, and from there I would be able to modify my own expectations of what I would use the Application for and to what extent, but for the most part I think that Google Apps are an innovative way to assist teaching in the year 2014.
Problems that I have personally faced in regards to Google Apps are mostly technologically related. Because I am not necessarily the most computer savvy sometimes I struggle with figuring out precisely how to go about achieving an end product to meet with the expectations I have set up in my mind. Also the nature of technology does come with limitations. Students will only be able to produce a product that fits into the designated perimeters of the software designers that have created the Apps, which could potentially limit student creativity. But by far the most common problem I have faced when using technology is the chances of something going wrong due to simple problems such as internet outages and computer malfunctions. Also by using Google Apps with a class I am making an assumption that all of my students have access to working computers and internet access at home, which I know from my own experience is not always the case. According to a census done in 2012 only 74% of households have internet access. I grew up in a very privileged school district in Rochester, New York and had access to the internet at my Dad's house, but not at my Mother's. Being required to complete all homework online would have been a serious challenge for me had I been staying at my Mother's apartment that week.
I do believe that despite the drawbacks that using internet based Apps may hold, that the benefits are worth exploring because they make for a more computer literate, technologically savvy, and proactive society. I personally am not sure to what extent I would utilize Google Apps in my own classroom as an Early Childhood, and Childhood Educator, but I could personally benefit in using these Apps collaboratively with colleagues. I feel that depending on what grade level I am teaching (especially with the higher grades such as 4-6th) that I might be able to include more and more Applications in my classrooms and I would be particularly interested in trying out Google Classroom in the future. I would first have to determine the amount of internet access available to my students outside of the classroom, and from there I would be able to modify my own expectations of what I would use the Application for and to what extent, but for the most part I think that Google Apps are an innovative way to assist teaching in the year 2014.