Why to use Google Docs in the classroom

Google Docs are increasingly being used in today’s technology-enabled classroom. Many schools are taking initiatives to create individual Google Docs accounts for their students and teachers alike. Similarly, teachers are exploring innovative ways to use these user-friendly online tools in the teaching-learning purpose. This article sheds light on some benefits associated with the use of Google Docs in the classroom.

Helping in writing assignments: Google Docs provide on-page writing support to students, owing to the features like integrated reference tools and spell checker. Thanks to the built-in research tool, students can complete research-based writing assignments and create citations as well as links without any hassle.

Facilitating providing immediate feedback: With the use of Google Docs in the classroom, teachers can give immediate feedback to their students’ write-ups.

Enabling collaborative brainstorming: When it comes to a collaborative brainstorming session in the classroom, Google Docs are indeed a great help. Using the drawing component of the doc, students can develop and share their ideas. More importantly, the teacher can encourage all students in the classroom to share/draw their ideas on Google Docs, which is quite unlike in conventional brainstorming sessions, wherein only quick thinkers are able to contribute. Last but not the least, since the revision history highlights and shows track changes to a Google Doc using various colors, it is therefore easy to make out who has shared which idea.

Empowering teachers to share class notes, homework, and assignments: Google Docs have made it easy for teachers to share class notes, homework, and assignments with their students without being present in the classroom.