Google Docs (Thing 15)

I did know about Google Docs before this class and I use it occasionally. I think it is great for sharing documents (I'm notorious for forgetting to attach documents when I email them to someone so it eliminates that hassle) without having to worry about whether or not the recipient has the same software (and version) and will be able to open the file - it eliminates the need to save documents as "97-2003" compatible! (I can't count how many emails I have gotten saying "I can't open the file" because the person I sent it to uses an older version).
The collaboration aspect is also great. I've used it in grad school to work on group assignments and with fellow teachers to create and get feedback on lesson plans.

I had not ever created a form in Google Docs before today - and I was surprised at how simple it is!! I've used MS Access to create forms and have them linked to spreadsheets, but this was much easier! I could see myself using this to collaborate and get input from parents, as a formative and summative assessment tool to get feedback from students in college courses that I teach, and even for data collection! I really want to get DDTrac (data collection software) to allow me and my paras to collect data on a PDA - but I *think* that I can play around with the forms on Google Docs and come up with something similar to hold me over temporarily until I win the lotto or convince the school system to order DDTrac lol.

I see several advantages (mentioned before - collaboration, access from anywhere, eliminate problems with incompatible software) but the only disadvantages that I see are 1)that you couldn't access your documents unless you were somewhere with internet access and 2)not a lot of the more advanced options (though plenty for basic documents) like mail merge, automatic table of contents, etc. And though there are several templates available, not as many as for Microsoft Office applications. (I also noticed that there aren't very many presentation templates for the presentation - which could be a good thing since many people over-decorate their powerpoints, but also gives you much less personalization and creative options.)