Google+Docs

**Google Docs**
__**Nature**__ > > > >
 * Google Docs provides an online office suite that allows you to access your documents from any computer via a web browser. It also facilitates collaboration and sharing. More - []
 * Authors: Each document is created by an individual.
 * Collaborators: Docs can be shared with a small team of collaborators at one time (synchronously). A larger number of users can collaborate asynchronously.
 * Organization: Each document is separate. Users can view all docs that they create or collaborate on at their Google Docs home page, which allows organization in folders. A published document can be viewed as an individual website.
 * Updates: Docs are usually created and edited for a specific purpose, but they can be saved indefinitely for reuse at a later time.

__**Benefits**__

> > > >
 * Google Docs are the best choice for synchronous collaboration on a single document - with some delay, users can see others changes as they occur! The system handles conflicting changes well.
 * A history of revisions is kept for all documents.
 * Each document has a built in chat room for collaborators.
 * Each presentation has a built in chat room for viewers. (This has changed presentations! You can now share the link to the published presentation and invite others' into the chatroom... and the others can be in the room or anywhere in the world. Suddenly, presentations can be interactive and can create a permeable classroom by allowing experts and peers into the room - and allowing students' thoughts out into the world.)
 * Upload and export most files and folders.

==**Docs in Education** ==

Resources
 * [|Google Docs for Educators]
 * Google Docs Blog
 * [|Google Docs] (Session from the Google Teacher Academy)
 * [|Google Docs in The Classroom] (PDF from the Google Teacher Academy)
 * [|Create a Permeable Classroom - Part I: Google Docs Presentations]
 * Get Started: [|http://docs.google.com]

==**Additional Resources** ==

[|Role of Online Shared Learning Spaces for Competency Development] A graphic representation of which tool to use for different purposes in education, by Leigh Murrell and Heidi Beezley, who presented a similar topic at the CUE conference: []