Google

** Google ** What is Google and what does it have to offer?

Why does Google invade all parts of the Internet?

Check out the list of "Google Products" and choose one that you might be able to use.

Type up a brief paragraph about the Google product that you chose to evaluate. Make sure that you give the name of the product, describe how you might use it, and your name. Responses should be posted by **Wednesday, January 27th.**

Google is a web browser that allows users to search for different topics using text matching techniques. You can type in the beginning of whatever topics you're searching for and it automatically fills in the rest for you. I have chosen to use Google Scholar because I think that it would be a great resource for students when doing reports or essays. It is very user friendly as well. **Alanna Bradley**

My name is Dustin Smith, and I chose You Tube as my Google product. I have used You Tube in the past for presentations, and one of my English professors integrated You Tube into his presentations. I would use this product to find video of lab experiments, which are too dangerous or too expensive to perform in class. Also, many professors now post videos of their research on You Tube, which allows students to see how research is conducted in a professional setting.

Your response should be posted below: The google product I chose to evaluate was Google Scholar. This allows the user to search scholarly papers. Scholar is very similar to the traditional use of google. Type in the subject you are interested in and Scholar searches all available academic papers on that given topic. In a biology class, students could look up Watson and Crick and read about their work with DNA. They could look up chytrid and study this devestating bacteria and it's effects on the world's amphibian population. Scholar will allow students to have access to hard to find papers that their school library would never have. Andy Sizemore I chose to learn more about Google Sketchup. This product allows users to build and share three-dimensional models. It is easily and quickly installed. Users will need practice to use this product effectively; however, tutorials are available. As a geometry teacher, I am always looking for ways for my students to explore real-world applications. In the past, I have had the students draw a floor plan and build a model house using their plan. This project becomes an issue because of lack of materials, difficulty in transporting their models, and lack of space in my classroom for storage. This is a welcome solution to those problems! **SHANNON GOODWIN**

I chose Google Images, as I find it extremely helpful and useful. The Images product allows you to search for, well, just about anything you need an image for. I find it useful in that it allows me to search for images I could use to model artwork I may have in my head, but do not quite know how it would look without a visual aid (much of what I do is based in photo-realism). I would hope to implement this program by creating exercises that follow along those lines, which would allow for both drawing/painting practice, and hopefully an enjoyable experience since they could choose images that interest them. --> Jenny Scoggins

I chose to evaluate Google Translate. I really like this product because in today’s classroom you have more than just English speaking students. There are more and more ESL students coming into the school systems every day. Google translate can help teachers convert anything they need into just about any language. During my undergraduate internship I had four ESL learners in my class. Any time that my teacher needed something in Spanish she would just take it to the ESL teacher and have her do it for her. This product allows you to either type something in or upload a document. I do believe I will be using this site more often, now that I know about it. **~Devin McCullough**

Google Translate allows users to translate text, webpages, and documents with just a few clicks. It offers fifty one different languages for translation. This app is very easy to use and not time consuming. Having an ELL classroom, this tool could prove to be very useful. For students who need text in a different language, I can upload any document, insert a website, or copy and paste text to be translated. It is also easy enough for my 5th graders to navigate without my assistance. Knowing about this application last year would have been very helpful. A student came into my room knowing no English. I would have loved to have this tool to use with her. Google Translate is an awesome tool that I am very excited about! **Katie Lawley**

I chose to evaluate Google SketchUp. SketchUp 7 is available to download for personal and educational use. The program allows the user to create, modify, and share three-dimensional models for free. Google also offers SketchUp Pro for professional use. SketchUp Pro is available at a cost of $495 and includes several more features. Since I currently teach art in a high school setting, I thought this software would be a great tool to use in teaching perspective and design. Using this product would also be a great way to link the art lesson to real world applications. Several careers employ the use of digital media along with knowledge of the basic elements of art and principals of design. Landscape Architects, Graphic Designers, Industrial Designers, Architects, and Interior Designers are just a few of the groups that use this product and other similar software. The students would have to familiarize themselves with the software to complete more complex designs, but I was happy to find several tutorials. I believe SketchUp would be a great addition to the classroom. **-Melanie Hughes**

After exploring several Google products, I chose to evaluate **Google Groups**. As a middle and/or high school choir director, I will be working with multiple groups of students and their parents, and I will need a quick and easy way to disseminate information in a timely manner. With this application, I can create one or more groups to share announcements, testing and performance information, photos, and audio/video files with students, parents, administration and the community at large. It is easy enough to use that I could also delegate these tasks to a parent or student. ~ **Mary Beth Taylor**

Google calendar is a really neat application that allows you to easily keep track of your appointments and other events. You can share your calendar with others, allowing you to coordinate schedules with co-workers. The application gives you control over privacy by being able to choose whether to disclose specific details or to simply be “free” or “busy” at specific times. Also, you can activate notifications to remind you of important occasions so that you don’t miss anything. These notifications can be e-mailed or sent as a text message to your mobile phone. I think this is a great tool for teachers to use in the organization and management of their classrooms, specifically for scheduling parent-teacher conferences, remembering faculty meetings, and keeping up with school calendars. **~Natalie Thomas**

I chose to evaluate Google Books. Google Books is a collection of digitized fiction and non-fiction books, and magazines. Google Books allows the user to use a variety of search methods, including, searching by author, publisher, or subject. I believe that Goggle Books would be beneficial in all aspects of education. Google Books opens up a world of literature to students that might not otherwise be available through the school library. In the classroom, Google Books would allow the entire class to review a single book or article at the same time assisting in group instruction and class discussion. Additionally, Google Books would be an essential tool when writing book reports, doing research, or even casual reading. Overall, Google Books was user friendly. However, after reviewing several books, some print was too small to be read easily and even after magnification of the page the print was blurry and unreadable.~ **Christa Garner

The Google product I chose evaluate was YouTube. For instance, if I wanted to give a student an example of correct marching technique and posture, I would refer them to YouTube and have them search for any drum corps ensemble rehearsal video and they would be able to view correct marching technique, as well as proper posture. I believe that this resource will reinforce the techniques that I am trying to implement and give the student(s) the ability to see these techniques used on a much larger scale. - Casey Clark**

I chose to evaluate **Google Groups**. In Google Groups you are able to create different groups via the web allowing you to connect with people, access information, and communicate effectively over email. I think this would be a great way to communicate with parents in each one of your classes. This would also be a great way to share information with different sets of parents or if you were in charge of any extracurricular groups. It would allow you to send out mass communication emails as well as have any online discussions. You are also able to upload and share documents via the group page. I feel like these features would make Google Groups a very efficient way to communicate with parents and students. ~ **Carrie Carpri**

Google is a web search engine. It relies on various servers to recall information from the world wide web. It is able to analyze the relevance of websites and provide a ranking of the most significant sites. Google also offers a host of tools and products to meet the needs of its users. Google invades the entire internet by analyzing the backlinks for a website. This process is know as "crawling" the site and is carried out by "bots" or "spiders". The product I chose to explore is "You tube". I teach 9th grade Biology and feel that this product could be used to engage students in the lesson. Video clips could be inserted into a lesson to spark interest in a topic or show it's relevance to life. I am also interested in any applications in science for "Sketch up" and "Skype" if anyone knows of any applications please let me know. Could "Sketch up" be used to draw models of cells? Does anyone know of any "Skype" connection that applies to Biology? - **Richard Colley

Maria Hanvy **

The product I chose to review was **Google Earth**. I think this tool will be very valuable in the classroom because as an elementary teacher, I will be able to show my students an overhead view of the country or state we are discussing. As well, they will be able to see where this location is in relation to them. i think this will help them to make a connection to the world and places we are discussing. This program is more user friendly and customizable than Google Maps. The only downside I saw is that it must be downloaded but I didn’t have any problems, nor did I get any junk downloads with it. -- **Susan Talley**

From my research I found that YouTube would be an effective instructional tool. YouTube videos could be presented in a whole group instruction setting. As we know, students have varying learning styles. YouTube would would be a way to reach those students that are audio/visual learners. With parental permission and supervision, students could use YouTube as a way to create projects and upload their video clips to be viewed by peers. Bianca Williams

Google Earth is an application that allows users to view satellite images of the earth as a continuous map. Google Earth also features 3D images of terrain and buildings. Users can save tours, add notes to locations, and visit famous sites like the Grand Canyon, Mt. McKinley, and Stonehenge. As a social studies teacher, the uses for this product are endless! During my student teaching, I used Google Earth to give students a visual of the campaign trail for each presidential candidate. Since it showed 3D images of the buildings, students were able to really connect the point on the map with a real place. -Amber Pope

Wallis Wesson**
 * I have found Google Maps to be a very useful product. This service could be used in a wide range of class subjects, from geography and social studies, to mathematics and history. The maps help to illustrate how engineers and designers build roads and link cities and towns. As a teacher or student, one could use the satellite or road views to show how older cities were constructed, versus how newer cities are laid out. A math teacher could point out how roads within older New England cities were set up using cartesian coordinates, and how roads in Alabama towns, for instance, are set up using rectangular coordinates. I have been using Google Maps for a few years now, and believe this to be a very helpful service.**

Google is the most popular search engine on the internet. It also has email, networking, video sharing and many other web services. These are funded by advertisers allowing them to be free to the internet user. In addition, Google’s goal to serve the user (not necessarily the advertisers) allows it to have more credibility with its users and thus users will be more likely to use their other web services.

Google Scholar is a separate more specific search engine which looks at academic articles, paper, books, etc. to find current relevant information in a specific area. This will be extremely useful in giving me additional resources in my teaching. For example, when I used it to look up “College Algebra”, I found articles and books that were more specific to academics than I found in a general Google search. Some of these articles are on the web, others that are not can be found by clicking on the link “Find in a Library”. This link lists libraries in my area (based on my zip code) where I can find the article I’m looking for.

Joe Lane