Week 9: Google docs

This week we learned about google documents. They make sending attachments much easier. Instead of sending individual emails with attachments on each, google docs allows you to keep attachments on the internet and send emails from them. They help you stay organized, because you only have one version and can make changes of powerpoints or articles immediately. If there are multiple people working on one project, they can all make changes instantly and everyone can see them. Google docs also allows you to control who has access to the project and who is allowed to see them. Instead of having four copies on the computer, which is what happens when you send an attachment, there is only one. Plus, google docs will save all your previous versions so that you can look back at them and have them organized. Google docs also has other cool tools like power point, spread sheets and online calendars.

Google docs can be extremely useful in the classroom. As a teacher, I could have students email me their papers and instead of having tons of attachments to keep track of, I would have everything in one place. Another neat tool is the google docs calendar. This is especially useful for teachers. The google calendar can be put on a website which can then be acccessed by parents and students. Teachers can easily add activities to the calendars and make any changes necessary. It also eliminates the waste of paper from having to make copies for everyone, and by sending it online teachers are sure that parents will receive the calendars so that they can stay posted on what is going on throughout the year.

We also learned about cloud computing. The three parts to it are: applications, platforms and infrastructure. It allows information and projects to be stored in an online "cloud" so that they can be accessed from any computer anywhere. This eliminates the hassle of having to bring your own laptop with you or emailing a project to yourself when you need to work on it. Platforms allow companies to obtain on demand services and pay only a subscription fee. Cloud computing makes it easier to run any programs without having to pay for the software. Companies are able to cut back on costs and are able to access information more efficiently with this new tool. Platforms allow users to access from centralized servers, such as Amazon. The final part is the infrastructure. It is the most important because it provides the storage space and the capabilities for these programs to run.

This is a really helpful article that cleared up a lot about cloud computing:
Cloud computing article