Google Drive Blog: May 2008

Pop quiz

Friday, May 30, 2008

Posted by: Garnet Gratton is an educator with experience teaching university-level literature and writing courses. She has also taught high school, 9th through 12th grades, in both public and private settings. Now, she teaches and consults other educators through her @edu blog, which is where we first encountered her story. Ever since I discovered Google Docs' forms, I must confess that I’m obsessed. I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about all I can do with forms: grading and testing and quizzing and polls and information collection and books-read-this-month and surveys and sign-ups. . . . It goes on and on until I fear my head may split.
To put an end to the madness, I picked one option, put fingertips to keyboard and came up with a simple quiz on rhetoric:

A little presentation gives a lot of information

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program ManagerMartin Klasch blogThe topic is interesting, but I was particularly impressed with the way that P-E used the embedded presentation to communicate a large amount of content in short and manageable pieces.

Says P-E, "I've been familiar with the Piraeus Lion, and its history, for awhile. After reading a Wikipedia article on the subject, I thought it might be interesting to others. A fellow blogger wrote something about Google Docs, which seemed to be a great way to communicate this content, so that's what I did."

Check it out here to learn a little about Greek sculpture, the spoils of war, runic graffiti and the versatility of embedded presentations.

Aliza's chronicles, part 4: collaboration, quick and easy

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Posted by: Aliza Shermanlast post

The Do's and Don't's for using Forms

Friday, May 23, 2008

Posted by: Jonathan Rochelle, Product Managerthe discussion on the Google Docs Help Group

DON'T

From the FORM

re-arrange questions using the up/down icons on the left of the question being edited
delete questions you want removed from the form. Note: the spreadsheet column will NOT be deleted, so you won't lose any prior responses, but it will no longer be filled with any new data.

DON'T

From the SPREADSHEET

insert columns for your own data - calculations, notes, etc - which are not in the form
insert rows under your column headers to create calculations of results (such as counts of each answer, etc. New form responses will always be added after the last row with any content.

DON'T try to re-arrange questions by cutting/pasting portions of columns OR whole columns
DON'T delete columns that are in the form - they will not be deleted from the form and will eventually re-appear in the spreadsheet (next time you edit the form) as the first available column at the end of your current columns.
DON'T change column header text, as the next edit of the form will overwrite those back to whatever they are on the form... make all changes to question titles on the form and those will be transferred to the spreadsheet column headers (overwriting what's there).
DON'T expect re-ordering of questions in the form to change the order of columns in the spreadsheet

Featured video: quick and easy forms

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager

spreadsheets form

Google Docs Community channelLet us know

Aliza's chronicles, part 3: collaboration and the long haul

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Posted by: Aliza ShermanLast time I discussed how Google Docs helped me as I migrated documents from my old computer to my shiny new one. This time I'll talk about using Google Docs for long-term collaboration.As I prepared the manuscripts for my upcoming podcast, I started sharing them with my producer on Basecamp. She obliged me and checked them out, but commented that the “writeboard” or whiteboard collaboration feature wasn’t up to snuff because it required its own markup language.“Try Google Docs,” she said. (She had found Docs and was a convert.) She uploaded my first manuscript. I was frustrated because I was hoping to see her previous revisions once I made my changes to the script.“Look at the Revision History,” she said.Revision history? I didn’t know Docs had a revision history feature! I swear a choir of angels sang and trumpets trumpeted in my head with that discovery. I'm looking for a long and fruitful relationship with my podcast producer and am grateful she told me about a new feature in Docs.As I'm sure you know, when you're collaborating, a revision history is really critical. And of course it makes sense that the feature for looking back at previous revisions would be in Docs. I am, of course, a feature-phobe, which means:

I'm terrified to try something that I don't need yet. I use just what I need when I use it.

Did I mention that I hate to read instructions of any kind?

But, each time I discover a useful new feature, it is like Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa and all the other sparkly holidays in one.

Another example of how I'm using Google Docs for long-term collaboration: Every month I send press releases for a client's workshops. To properly format the releases, I refer to a list of workshop descriptions, a list of locations, and a list of media contacts. Now instead of searching for these documents on my computer, I can quickly access Google Docs and copy and paste the content that I need.Occasionally one or more of those documents needs updating, something that's easy to do in Docs. Then the next time I access the files, I always know that the most recent copy is at my fingertips. The collaboration comes in handy when my client wants to update the document. I have a number of ways of getting the most recent version I have to her for her edits including giving her access to my documents in Docs, emailing her a PDF for her to print and markup (yes, people still do that), and downloading to my computer and attaching to an email to her.I love these options and so do my clients and collaborators.Extra Tip: Make sure to name your files clearly so you always know what they contain without even having to open it.In my next post, I'll discuss quick collaborations in Google Docs.

Simply scientific

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Posted by: Stephen RahnWe've been using Google Docs for some time. The fact that it's free helps our rural school district save money that would otherwise be spent on more expensive productivity suites. We've found, especially, that the sharing capabilities have helped facilitate research and collaboration in our school's science classes. Currently, our students are using Google Spreadsheets to enter data collected from water samples from a nearby stream, measuring the pH level in the water and also looking at different types of chemicals present. They then use Google Documents to chart the data they find, and share it with each other. This keeps them all on track, and means that they can learn from each other and draw on a much larger pool of data than if they were simply keeping notebooks, not shared until the project's end, if ever.
We love Stephen's brief account of using Docs to facilitate science learning, and it got us wondering, who else is using Google Docs for science? Are you? Ornithologists, paleontologists, astronomers and armchair biochemists...we want to know how using Google Docs has helped your scientific pursuits.

Write us a note and let us know what you're up to, or submit a video, showing us how you use Google Docs for your science projects.

Docs on the iPhone with Chris Pirillo

Monday, May 19, 2008

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program ManagerChris Pirillohis blog

Notes from the computer graveyard

Friday, May 16, 2008

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Managerby and large

Aliza's chronicles, part 2: surviving the computer shuffle

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Posted by: Aliza Sherman

Embed your forms

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Posted by: launched spreadsheet forms

Making across the country feel like across the classroom

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program ManagerBrian Crosby and Lisa Parisi came to my attention when I stumbled across a video they'd made, showing their students collaborating on short stories using Skype and Google Docs. Over the course of some weeks, we worked together on a post describing the details of their project.Harris Burdick Collaborative Writing Project The Mysteries of Harris BurdickwikiFor those of you who have questions, or related stories of your own, please leave a comment below.

For teachers who'd like to get started using Docs, check our our teachers guide, Using Google Docs in the Classroom. It has all the basics teachers will need to get up and running with Docs.

Functions, Formulas and how you can relieve the Frustration

Monday, May 12, 2008

Posted by: Regina Dinneen, Docs User Operations (aka Google Docs Guide 2)
user groupfunction documentation

adding your own examples

Aliza's chronicles: climbing out of document hell

Friday, May 9, 2008

Posted by: Aliza ShermanAliza Sherman first wrote a version of these posts in a shorter item for Web Worker Daily, entitled Learning to Love Google Docs. She's generously expanded the ideas in that post for us here, and included tips and tricks for those of you attempting to incorporate Google Docs into your lives. Here's the first of a 5 part series we're calling Aliza's chronicles. Gmail Besides hating to read instructions to anything, I tend to always zero in on just a few capabilities of any Web-based application because I often feel overwhelmed by the options and possibilities. First, I test out an application at the moment I'm in desperate need of a viable solution. Then if it isn't easy to use without a manual, I continue to use it until the crisis is over. If it really makes my life and work easier, then it becomes second nature to me.
I gave in to my Docs resistance, the dark clouds parted, the sun shone through, and suddenly, there was order in the chaos.

Google Docs in burning marshmallows

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program ManagerSeascape ResortSanta Cruz, CA

Thank you, teachers

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager and Andrew Chang, Marketing Manager Happy National Teacher Day! To celebrate, we have some inspiration, and some instruction.

Awhile back you may remember that we asked teachers to share their stories about using Google Docs. And did you ever. We were humbled by the exceptional creativity that you expressed to us. Reading through these submissions, we realized that we had to share these ideas, and the along with them the evident passion for teaching.
For anyone who's looking for inspiration on using Docs in the classroom, we've gathered a sampling of the ideas and stories we received from these teachers and put together this document, showing many creative uses of Docs in education.
But, while we were constructing this document, we realized that these solutions, while great, won't be immediately straightforward to those not familiar with Docs.
For people who'd like to know a little more before diving in, we've created a getting started document targeted specifically to educators: Using Google Docs in the Classroom. This Docs-specific resource is available, along with other documents covering many Google applications, on the newly-revamped Google for Educators page.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Posted by: Meredith Whittaker, Program Manager and Andrew Chang, Marketing Manager

Good things come in multiples: multi-size embedding and multi-select

Monday, May 5, 2008

Posted by: Embedded presentations

Want your docs to be stylin'?

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Posted by: Joelle Fornengo, User Operations Team
If you've ever wished that you could add your own personal style to your documents, wish no more. We've recently enabled custom styles through an 'Edit CSS' function, so that you can apply your unique styles to your documents.Some of you might be wondering what CSS is and how it can help spruce up your documents. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. In essence, CSS is a type of style sheet markup language which enables you to create a personalized look for your web page or documents. For example, using this markup language, you have control over font type, colors and sizes. CSS's most common use is to style HTML for web pages. How is CSS different than HTML? HTML is a markup language that focuses on document content; CSS focuses on document presentation. A picture's worth a thousand words, so take a look at the example below of a styled doc created by our very own webmaster, Melissa Louie (aka "The CSS Master"). You can also make a copy of this example for yourself, with all of the CSS in place.

Here's how you can get started in becoming a CSS master like Melissa:
1. Check out inspiring examples of styles that you can create and apply by checking out Melissa's tips and tricks page.
2. Engage with other Docs users in our user group community. There, you can share styles with each other and help each other create new styles.
3. Try it out for yourself by adding some CSS code to your own document.

We can't wait to see what you create. Interested? Go to any doc, click on 'Edit CSS' in the 'Edit' menu and style away!

Google Docs goes wild

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Posted by: Gill, wildlife enthusiast

We're thrilled to have Gill as a guest blogger. Through the evolution of Google Docs, she has been one of the most courteous and helpful members of the Google Docs Help Group, assisting users with all manner of questions.
local wildlife group.

I can enter the records from home, from work or from a friend’s computer; this means I don't have to remember what I saw at lunchtime till I get home.
The records are safe on Google’s servers
Friends and family can enter species they have seen, after I invited them to collaborate
Other members of the Society can see the sheet, as viewers
The results can be made available, in real time, on the website, by publishing the sheet (click on the link to Current year’s records, in progress)

Oct	NOV	Jan
	12
2015	2016	2017