Light Switch August 12, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions, Opinion, Tools.trackback
I’m sitting in on a Google Docs session. Great collaboration potential with Google Docs, but like most technology, there is a catch. In this case, it looks like only one person can actually edit the document at one time. The videos all seem to show more than one person typing at the same time, but in practice, only one person is able to edit the document at a time. Pair writing would be a more accurate description than tandem writing. One person edits, saves, and then the next can contribute. This is still the same document, just not synchronous for more than one editor. Technology has a lot of potential, and Google Docs is just one example, but I still think technology needs to be simpler and more reliable. There isn’t much question about how to use a light switch. Flip the switch to turn the lights on or off. When classroom technology is that simple, we won’t wonder how to use it, because it will be obvious and ubiquitous.
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I’ve used Google Docs synchronously for a while now – I wonder what’s not working for y’all.
Hmm . . .