The Buzz about Google DOCS

By now you have numerous friends who have raved about how great Google DOCS is. At first glance, the praise for this product seems out of place. After all, why are we getting excited about a web based version of MS Office that is stripped of many essential features? For example, its ability to create tables and font options is very limited and printing with in Google DOCS is a bit tedious. Having said that, I will share with you why Google DOCS matters;

1. Simple Mechanism for Collaborating- All too often our work environment requires us to work on lesson plan, grant proposal, school plan, or some other kind of document in a collaborative fashion. User 1 would e-mail a document to User 2 and so on. Unfortunately, this arrangement would often lead to mass confusion as the team would lose track of which version represented the latest version of the document. With Google DOCS, this problem is a thing of the past as the “sharing” feature will assure that everyone is working with the latest version of document.
2. Revision History- In the old days, (the 1990’s) we were all marveled with Microsoft’s ability to “undo” a mistake we made in a document. However, once you saved the document, the ability to use the ‘undo” command was no more. Google DOCS allows you to roll back your document to any point in time via the “See Revision History”. This feature is especially useful when working on collaborative projects as one will no longer have to worry that their work partner accidentally deleted an important part of the document.
3. Google Forms- Google Forms allows one to easily create a survey whose results will be recorded in a spreadsheet and will also chart the results in a user friendly format. Additionally, this form can be embedded in an e-mail, web page, or document of your choice.
4. Google Templates- Google provides a wide variety of templates (e.g. calendar) making complicated tasks easy.
5. Streamlined Interface- Google DOCS limited features allow the program to respond quickly to the user’s commands even when using an older computer.
6. Never Lose Data Again- Sooner or later your computer will crash while you are working on an important document. We then attempt to launch Microsoft Word and make a feeble attempt to recover the document. However, this effort produces mixed results as the document is often corrupted by the previous computer crash. With Google DOCS, your document does not get corrupted via a local computer crash. Additionally, Google DOCS saves your work constantly meaning you will truly save all of your data.

Hopefully, the above reasons have convinced you to give Google DOCS a try and collaborating on some innovative projects via Google DOCS. Here's to the reign of cloud computing.

The Flash Point, Chapter 2.1, Rock Star Psychologist

My brother David is quite the enigma. As a youngster he would tell tall tales that would blow your mind. When he turned 18, he decided to bike across America. David then wrote a book about his exploits. The book did not sell many copies. However, the travel across America was a great experience for him as it opened him to world of psychology and philosophy.

Six months later he started college and majored in psychology. Over the next 8 years he completed college and pursued his doctorate. Five years later, David started the “Foundation for Mental Fitness”. Within, 3 short years, his foundation serviced close to 1,000 clients. Many of his clients included CEOs from the financial sector, executives from Silicon Valley, as well as production managers from Tinsel Town. He has also graced the covers of a number of magazines, has been a guest on a number of talk shows, and has been a featured speaker on at several retreats and conferences.

Of course, the travelling has had an impact on his family life. His 4 kids barely see him with David being on the road at least 4 days a week. I believe he’s a bit tired of the haul as well. I suppose, time will tell.

The Flash Point, Chapter 7

FROM THE PRIVATE BLOG OF JACK BRITTEL

ENTRY, December 22, 2010

This was quite an unusual day. I started the morning with the regular routines followed by the morning jog. Upon starting my 3^rd lap I noticed a woman wearing a cloak. Of course this is a strange way to dress; especially because the winter is beginning. Naturally, I tried to catch up to her. As I came closer to her, she started running faster. I then tried to run faster to no avail as she only starter running faster. This cat and mouse game continued on for the next 5 minutes. For a brief moment I was closing in on her when all of the sudden she started running faster. Then, in a blink of an eye she was gone. This event is definitely going into my blog filed under bizarre.

Ain’t Nothing Gonna Break My Stride

We’ve all heard it before. “In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.” Of course with the advent of You Tube, blogging, and various social networking tools this concept has been taken to the next level. As a child of the 1970’s and 1980’s I remember a time this was not true. 1984 was probably one of the richest years musically as it introduced us to Madonna, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, WHAM, Duran Duran, and many other pop acts. Lionel Richie released “Can’t Slow Down”; his best selling album to date. This album included “All Night Long”, “Running with the Night”, “Hello”, “Stuck on You”, and “Penny Lover”. These songs were instant hits, which received significant playback and is still played on Light FM and oldies stations regularly.

A few years later “Dancing on the Ceiling” and “Say You Say Me” were released. This would be his last commercially successful album. In a changing world, the music of Lionel Richie no longer fit the times. Over the next 20 years, music would have a harder edge. Heavy Metal, Grunge, and Rap became the new anthem. To be fair, many of the musical offerings from these newer genres are enjoyable. After all, who did not enjoy “Hey Ya”, “Crazy”, and “Let’s Get it Started.”

Thankfully, 1980’s nostalgia seems to be an all time high. Lionel and his long forgotten music seems to be on the radio more often these days. Thank You Rock of Ages!!! Thank You Glee!! Thank You Lady GaGa!! Still I miss the ballad that rocked and the memories that it seems to conjure. From first loves to freshman year the music seems to serve as a soundtrack of days that have long passed. I suppose that is why these songs of old can often seem larger than life. I suppose the new tunes shold be about new memories. So… do you remember what was happening the first time you heard “Boom Boom Pow?”

What’s Up Doc? Cartoons in Education

When many of us were children, we devoted many hours towards watching cartoons. Depending on what decade we were born in our favorite cartoon will probably differ. Another words, someone born in 1960s and someone born in the 1980s will have a very different opinion on which cartoons are classics.

Having said that, I am sure that we can all agree on the following; the cartoons of our childhood definitely conjure nostalgic memories and were definitely very enjoyable at the time. Likewise, the children of this generation also enjoy watching cartoons most of which are featured on Nickelodeon or the Cartoon Network. It also comes as no surprise that children of the previous generation and this generation are easily motivated by cartoons as evident by the wide selection of books featuring cartoon characters.

For this reason among others, creating cartoons is a great vehicle for encouraging students to write original stories or create stories centered on their favorite cartoon or comic book characters. Naturally, one will need some kind of computer application to aid with this process. For younger students I would suggest using either Kid Pix or Pixie. Older students will want to use a more sophisticated program such as Adobe Flash. Naturally, many would debate whether these software applications are the best for this purpose. To this end, I will briefly explain the reasoning behind my choice. For the younger students simplicity and wide spread usage were the guiding principles. Clearly, Kid Pix is one of the most widely used applications with younger children. However, I provided an alternative to Kid Pix as it is well known that many educators are not pleased with the recent changes made in Kid Pix. The choice of Adobe Flash is a little more straightforward. It is no secret that most of the web based games and cartoons are powered by Adobe Flash. Subsequently, my choice of Flash was a no-brainer.

Naturally, there are many wonderful applications that have “Flash like” features and I certainly would not want to discourage anyone from using those applications. More importantly, I encourage you to explore the value of developing cartoons with students, as it will unleash great creativity within your students.

The Flash Point, Chapter 1.1, Down in the Hole

This is Jack Brittel your nighttime host. Up next, were going to play one hour of uninterrupted Van Halen music. So get ready to “jump” after these messages.

Jack cues the pre-recorded commercials and then cues Van Halen’s Greatest hits. He then proceeds to make a cup of coffee. Along the way, he crosses paths with Jen from the news department.

“Hey Jen. So how is the weather?” “Very funny Jack. Things are actually going great. I’m doing a follow up interview for a TV anchor position.” “Well good luck with that.”

Jack goes back to the radio booth and proceeds to play rock music for the next few hours. At around 5:30 AM the morning crew starts to set up for the morning show. “Hey, John. How is the family?”

“The family is great. Judy is starting high school next year and Phil is starting college next year. By the way the boss wants to see you on the way out. I think he needs you do some coverage for some vacationing DJs.”

Jack leaves the radio booth and heads to the manager’s office. He is glad to cover for vacationing staff in the hope he might get a better time slot.