Tool #3: Wikis. Google Docs / Osseo Apps

Shared documents are called wikis. Like Wikipedia, there are multiple authors with various degrees of access to the documents. This access is controlled by the document owner.  Osseo Apps is our district's version of Google Docs/Drive.

In general, we will be using our personal e-mail address for accessing the tools in the TTT program. However, for this tool and the next, we will be using our Osseo Apps addresses. Your Osseo Apps e-mail address is identical to your district e-mail address except that immediately after @, “apps” is added. For example, my Osseo Apps address is hilgendorfd@apps.district279.org.

To complete tool 2, you will need to:

1.   Create two different types of documents using Google docs. Try to make the documents meaningful to your technology learning goals and useful  in your work environment. For example, create a 3-slide presentation that illustrates how you might use a new technology in your work. Or make a document that encourages collaborators to add their thoughts about a question you have or project you’re starting. You could also create a proposed agenda for a meeting, such as your next data team meeting, to which others could add. This can be something very simple. The idea is that you learn how it works, not requiring you to spend a bunch of time creating something beautiful.

• Document types include: Document; Presentation; Spreadsheet; and Drawing

2.       Put your new documents into a folder
3.       Share one or more of your new documents with at least 3 other TTT participants (check the right side panel of the TTT blog for a list of participants),
4.       Answer the question posed in one of the documents entitled “TTT Tool 3 Question” that I've shared with you. Type or draw right into the document to do so. Here are links to those documents:
a.       Spreadsheet
b.      Drawing
5. Once you've completed the requirements for tool 1 and/or tool 2, put an "X" in the self-tracking spreadsheet so that I know to check your work and add your completion to the official tracking spreadsheet. Here is a link to the one that you can edit.
6. Comment on a document.
7.       Share your experience in a post on your blog.

If you need further instruction, view this 11-1/2 minute screencast to see how these tasks are done using Osseo Apps, our district version of Google Docs: 

Here are general instructions from Google about how to use Google apps: http://edutraining.googleapps.com/Training-Home/module-1

Google Docs works better with the Firefox or Google Chrome browsers than in Internet Explorer. If you have a personal Google account that you are using, you are likely to run into some issues with your login. You can set up your Google profile so that it allows for multiple logins, but if you're working in two profiles simultaneously (eg. Osseo Apps and your Blog), it can be confusing and frustrating. One way around this is to use Firefox for GoogleDocs/Osseo Apps and use Chrome to access your Blog and other tools associated with your personal account. To easily access Firefox, click on the Start menu at the bottom left corner of your screen and type "Firefox" into the search bar. When it appears, above, right click on it and select "pin to taskbar." This will make it accessible from the bottom of your screen any time you use that computer. I hope this helps.

Tool #3 optional challenge activity and 2nd year participant requirements:

1. If you teach classes*, have your students use Google Docs for their next presentation, paper, drawing, or spreadsheet. This is especially handy if they are working in groups, so they can share a single document, and access it from any Internet-connected device. 
2. Have students share their documents with you, so that you can keep track of what they are doing , add comments, and have the final product at your fingertips, watching it develop formatively, as well. Add comments to at least one document created by someone else. 
3. While you have a shared document open, go to the file menu and select “See revision history.” You’ll see who has contributed what, and when. Then share your results on your blog! 
4. If you haven't already done so, set up your apps e-mail to automatically forward to your regular district e-mail. This way, you don't have to check both of them all the time. You do this within the mail settings once you've logged into your OsseoApps Gmail account.

*If you don’t teach classes, you can create a shared agenda for a meeting or a slide or two to share with a co-worker or students. You can also share folders so that anything you put in that folder will be shared with those with whom you've shared it. Drawing documents can be shared, too. 

Have fun!