Thing 29 ~ Google Tools

I started by setting up a Google account. I then went though and made up a home page including RSS feeds for local newspapers, weather, and added bookmarks. I changed the theme to a nice puppy (kind of like my puppy).

I looked through most of the tasks to do and then decided to spend the majority of time on Google News. I like the archive feature but most of the article require that you pay for them. I find it hard to believe that students would be willing to pay $3.95 or better for an article for an assignment. I like that the Star Tribune came up with I entered in my zip code. I like the current weather conditions, even though it is really cold.

I then went and looked through the gmail. I have 3 email address already. I have hotmail, yahoo and school email. I do use hotmail for personal emails. I have had hotmail for about 10 years. I don't think I will switch to gmail. I like my Yahoo homepage and the google homepage is nice.

I have used Google docs in the past. The middle school is working on having students use Google docs so they can work at any computer at school and finish it up at home with no problems. Some of the students have been using the feature while others are using jump drives.

I looked at enabling my Google Web History. I am not going to at this time. Web history could be useful if you don't have any place to bookmark sites. I find that I bookmark a lot of sites and then revisit them frequently. When students are jumping from computer to computer in a school this could help keep them a little more organized. I think setting up a Google homepage and bookmarking sites would be a better approach.