I have fallen in love with Google Docs! It’s partly the result of my loathing for group work. Google Docs has solved some of the issues such as:
However, everyone has to be on board. I was in a group in which one member, for whatever, reason, shot down my suggestions to use it every time. It was frustrating because I knew that Google Docs would solve our problem of only having one person being able to edit or project at a time. However, I recognize that each of us has our own preferences which need to be respected.
Resume
Recently, I have been using Google Docs to work on my resume and link it to my portfolio. It has been a rather surprisingly frustrating experience. At first I tried uploading my existing resume and linking to it in my portfolio. The resume looked great on Google Docs, but when I followed the link, the formatting had changed so that my neat columns of information were slanted across the page as seen below.
I downloaded my resume from Google Docs as a PDF and uploaded it to my portfolio as a down-loadable file but even the PDF had strange little quirks. This time the changes were few and minor enough so that I could go to GD and change a few things to create the desired look in PDF form. I’m glad I could fix it but it’s still annoying that I had to do that. The reformatting seemed random as well. Sometimes it recognized my tabs and sometimes it would ignore the tabs and move my information left or right. I’m hoping that there is something in the settings that can be changed as an easy fix but so far I cannot figure it out. It is also frustrating that Google Docs is not divided into pages. So, when I viewed my resume in PDF form it ended up being 4 pages and had awkward breaks instead of the 2 pages that it was in Microsoft Word.
I figured out that using the URL at the top of my browser keeps the formatting correctly
but then future employers would be viewing my resume in GD which I'm not sure is desirable.
Before, I was using the URL given to me by GD when I clicked “share” and then “publish to web”
which makes a finished product look that I am going for, if only the formatting wasn't messed up.
I ended up just taking the embed code and modifying it so that it looks like this (my resume in my new portfolio)
You can also email the form or embed it:
-Cannot physically meet due to distance or scheduling issues. Also, my group knew we had to make a few minor changes to our project but didn’t want to set up a meeting just for 15 minutes of work.So, we used G Docs.
-can work on the project at the SAME TIME as well as communicate with others working on it.
However, everyone has to be on board. I was in a group in which one member, for whatever, reason, shot down my suggestions to use it every time. It was frustrating because I knew that Google Docs would solve our problem of only having one person being able to edit or project at a time. However, I recognize that each of us has our own preferences which need to be respected.
Resume
Recently, I have been using Google Docs to work on my resume and link it to my portfolio. It has been a rather surprisingly frustrating experience. At first I tried uploading my existing resume and linking to it in my portfolio. The resume looked great on Google Docs, but when I followed the link, the formatting had changed so that my neat columns of information were slanted across the page as seen below.
I downloaded my resume from Google Docs as a PDF and uploaded it to my portfolio as a down-loadable file but even the PDF had strange little quirks. This time the changes were few and minor enough so that I could go to GD and change a few things to create the desired look in PDF form. I’m glad I could fix it but it’s still annoying that I had to do that. The reformatting seemed random as well. Sometimes it recognized my tabs and sometimes it would ignore the tabs and move my information left or right. I’m hoping that there is something in the settings that can be changed as an easy fix but so far I cannot figure it out. It is also frustrating that Google Docs is not divided into pages. So, when I viewed my resume in PDF form it ended up being 4 pages and had awkward breaks instead of the 2 pages that it was in Microsoft Word.
I figured out that using the URL at the top of my browser keeps the formatting correctly
but then future employers would be viewing my resume in GD which I'm not sure is desirable.
Before, I was using the URL given to me by GD when I clicked “share” and then “publish to web”
which makes a finished product look that I am going for, if only the formatting wasn't messed up.
I ended up just taking the embed code and modifying it so that it looks like this (my resume in my new portfolio)
Survey Form
I have also been playing around with GD’s survey form. I created a simple one just to see how it works and invited a few friends from my PLN to answer the questions. I made the first mistake of not filling it out myself to set the example. I also should have had a question asking for their name but I didn’t realize that it would present the responses in table form without any indication of who wrote it.
Under the tab titled “Form” you can click “Show summary of responses” and it shows the multiple choice answers in a pie graph which, I think, is pretty sweet.
You can also email the form or embed it:
I really like Gabrielle Gauthier’s idea of creating a Google Form for students’ parents to fill out at the beginning of the school year. So, I think I might do something similar in the future. In addition, mid-semester forms could be made to do a quick check-up on the parent-teacher-student relationships.
I love the idea of using the surveys for parent/teacher communication. I think it makes it easier than phone calls (it avoids telephone tag) and even emails becuase it's easy to open an email, say you'll respond later, and then forget to. I'm assuming you can also have anonymous replies, which would be great for mid-semester call evaluations so you could see what your students like/dislike about your class and make changes from there. I always worried that teachers would recognize my handwriting so it wasn't really anonymous. This way it would be.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way -that the teacher would recognize my handwriting. At least, until I got to college in which most of my classes the only thing I turn in handwritten is the evaluation. Even still, I find myself thinking, "I need to make sure I say things using different words and phrases than I usually do." But really, I shouldn't be that paranoid about it as long as I'm being appropriate in my criticism.
ReplyDeleteOnce again you have made your learning so transparent. It was my goal to have students really struggle and work through problems--enough to have them feel they have accomplished things--you have done this (I hope!) Nice work!
ReplyDelete