Multiple Individuals Working on the Same File at the Same Time

As a document stored in Google Drive (i.e. the cloud), you never have to download or email a file — you just connect to it through your browser and start working. However, working with Google Apps is more than just cloud storage — it's about collaboration on a whole new level.

Collaborators can access the same document at the same time. You see other people's changes happen on your screen while you're making your own. In fact, you can have up to 50 people making changes on the document at the same time! For students, this means group work can be easily accomplished anywhere there's an internet connection - on a desktop or mobile device.

Faculty and administration can also take advantage of the collaboration features of Google Apps. With individuals working different hours and different locations (both on and off campus) the ability to work on a single document instead of trying to remember where the most recent version is stored, is invaluable. And when done making changes, they can save it as a PDF and upload it to it's final destination (eg. myShare, Blackboard, etc).

What ways can you think of to take advantage of this exciting feature?

To find out how you can take advantage of Google Apps in your area, contact Trevor Beck (beckt@macewan.ca) at 780-497-5053.

Comments

Google Docs Gets New Suggest Edit Feature

Inserting a comment into a document is a great collaborative feature of Google Apps —it allows participants to carry on a discussion about a potential change. However, sometimes you just want to suggest a change in wording. With the Suggest Edits feature, you can highlight a piece of text and type in what you think the text to be (similar to Microsoft's Track Changes feature). Like comments, collaborators can comment on the suggestion, and when ready, accept the change. You can find more from Google Help or watch the video below!

Built in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in Google Docs

Ever had to retype a page of text? It's a long process that nobody really likes to do — except Google! Optical Character Recognition (OCR) lets you convert images/PDFs with text into text documents. All you need to do is scan, upload and Google will convert your document. So let's look at the steps: Scan your document. You can use a regular scanner, photocopier/scanner or numerous apps for your mobile device to scan your document. Upload the file . Currently, to take advantage of OCR, you must do this through your desktop browser. Ensure Convert text from PDF is selected in the settings: Start the upload Once conversion is completed, Google will create a document for you that contains an image of each page followed by the text it converted for that page. This provides an easy way to check Google's work and make any corrections. You can see 2 samples here . For more information see: About Optical Character Recognition in Google Drive . To find out how yo...

Creating Virtual Office Hours with Google's Appointment Slots

As a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) university, Appointment Slots is an exciting feature that we get to enjoy that a personal Google Gmail user doesn't. For faculty, this is a great way to publish office hours so students can go online and pick a time slot. Note: both parties must be logged into their Google accounts. Using Appointment Slots in a Groupwise World Although access is available to Google Calendar, staff and faculty will continue to use Groupwise for their email and calendaring functions (Google Calendar does not sync to a user’s Groupwise calendar). Although you will have to maintain 2 calendars, this does not have to be complicated: when a student books a time, an email is sent to your Groupwise account you can have a daily agenda of your Google Calendar emailed to you You can access your Google calendar by logging into myportal.macewan.ca . From there, select Google Calendar from the launch pad on the left. (if that doesn’t work, you can al...

Google Tips for MacEwan University

Search This Blog