Tool #4

Google Reader seems to be a quick way to follow blogs and access updated information posted on sites that discuss topics of current interest to you. It feels like a very personalized 'favorites list.' Instead of going through endless pull-down menus to get to where I need, it's all in one place. Nice. So, when my interests shift to another topic, I can make an updated collection. This looks like a good way to create a collection of sites where both teachers and students can contribute their favorites to jumpstart research or a project. About Google Docs, in order to see how it works right away, I invited my two children to work with me on a science vocabulary Word document I had saved on my desktop. I uploaded it and then shared it with them. We all worked on changes simultaneously, which made my college age daughter rethink her flashdrive for some of the group work she'll have to do next semester. Then I created a Google Docs folder and saved the document the same way I do in Word. The only down side was, and I'm not sure whether this is a laptop issue or a server issue, but Google Docs ran very slow for some reason. There are more features I want to explore.