Thing #13: What will the "thinks" think of next?

It still amazes me what is available online for FREE!  I had never heard of Zoho, and Google still is mind-blowing.  The Zoho word processing feature seems comparable to Word.  Here is my screen shot of my simple document.



Also, here is my screen shot of my lovely drawing on Google Docs.


I uncovered on Zoho that there is a collaboration feature called Shoutbox that they recommend for classroom blogs.  It reminded me of the instant messaging feature on Facebook.  I think it would be great to have a classroom website or blog that was set up with this kind of tool.  I would set up my blog to where only registered members could use it; then, I could somewhat control/patrol what was posted.  I can definitely see where classroom blog rules would have to be created.    

When looking on Google Docs, I did not readily see this kind of feature.  However, since I have a little more experience with Google in general now, I am sure I will gravitate towards using Google over Zoho. Students could work collaboratively on a group project by sharing documents/information through Google Docs.

However, if ALL students do not have access to technology at home, I can see where students would be left out.  I would like to talk to experienced teachers who have used a classroom blog/website about this issue.  Anybody have any thoughts on this?

But one thing is for sure, technology for classroom use is not going away, and it is the teacher's responsibility to stay current.  It is great to live in a time where new computer innovations are occurring everyday.  What will they think of next?

So with that, I will leave you with Dr. Seuss......
"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!"

Leslie