K-12 Conference: Oodles of Googles

I chose to listen to Oodles of Googles by Sharon Betts for my k-12 conference. I actually found the lecture very interesting because Betts's main purpose is to show how students can use Google to collaborate while doing a group project. Her key word she uses through the entire lesson is "collaboration." Specifically, she focuses on features that Google has that will be beneficial for group projects. She instructs that all the applications in Google the students need subscribe to them in order to use them, but they are all free. Some features that Betts highlights are notebook, presentation tool, and google groups. Notebook is perfect for storing information gathered in one place that everyone can access. Presentations tool is kind of like power point in that it allows groups to put information together formally in slides to present to class. Google groups is perfect for summations of projects. It is a way for groups and teachers to communicate openly throughout researching projects.

What I took out of the conference is that by having projects on Google it makes group projects equal and have more collaboration with the entire group. Instead of having one person do all the work of collecting the data and putting it all together in some fancy presentation, everyone has the ability to work on it equally because they can access google and the project as long as they have a computer. There is no excuse to not participate anymore. This is bad new for slackers.