Google Docs Goofs! Techer goofs that is...

Here are two minor issues I've run into using Google Docs in my classroom. Not big things, but minor headaches none-the-less. I had my Multimedia students create a Google Site. It was the first time I taught this in class and my students did great. My two snags occured as I started to grade the projects.

First, I had one class make me a collaborator. I figured I could just go to my account and then open each Site at my leisure. This worked fine. What I didn't anticipate was the volume of Sites in my account with no way to organize them into folders. So, I've now got 30 plus sites filling up the Sites section of my Google account. Not a big problem, just a bother. I wised up for my next class and had each of them email me the link to their site. This was much more manageable. I'm also now wondering if I need to have all my kids un-share me to get those sites out of my list?

Second, as part of the Sites assignment, they had to embed several Google docs into their pages. This worked...kind of. If they don't also share the doc with me, I can't see it. I get a message that says I don't have permission to view the document. This never occurred to me until I opened the first Site to grade. So, once again, a minor problem that I can fix by having them share the doc with me, but still, a bother.

Next time I give this lesson, it will be perfect! OK. Maybe not perfect but better.

[Image: Mashup of a screenshot from my Google Site and some eyes with a good dash of Photoshop. No restrictions on this. Use it if you want with my blessing.]