Using Google in school

I'm probably behind the times. In terms of using google in school, I know that probably anyone reading this is streets ahead of me, but in terms of the "pencil" analogy,I like to think I'm a sharp, so am happy to steal ideas from you Leaders out there.

So, here is how I've found Google useful to me in teaching in 2010, and bear in mind that in 2009 all google was to me was a search engine (and maps and google earth, but that's all!).

1. Google Docs for coursework. I read the idea in #movemeon and ran with it. About half my Y10 GCSE Statistics class created a google account, and used that to write their stats coursework. As they worked they shared it with me, so I could go in, correct / annotate it as they went along. On first glance, those that used google docs have got better coursework than those that just worked on it on their own. Obviously I kept to exam board rules and guidelines, but I was able to have the sorts of conversations I'd have had in class, at any time.
I've shown it to other departments now and have discovered they are using it to good effect. I've also uploaded our department handbook to GoogleDocs, so that anyone in the team can edit it if they need to.

2. Google Docs for Parents Evening. We have a system whereby students collect subject consultation evening appointments on little scraps of paper stuck in their planner. This system works, after a fashion, but there was a flaw this year as one of my form was off sick, and parents still wanted appointments (reasonably enough).
So, I set up a spreadsheet, emailed teachers the link, and told them to make appointments for this family. This meant there were no clashes, as the teachers still set the times, and I could leave a copy of the times at the front desk for them.
I'm not sure this would work large scale yet, but for this particular case it was brilliant.

3. Google Forms for reply slips. As inspired by Tom Barretts (as always) excellent blog on how he used google forms to collect data. I'd never even realised google forms existed until then! We've run a Y10 maths information evening, and have sent out invitations to ALL year 10 parents. To get an idea of numbers there is a reply slip at the bottom, but I decided that I also wanted to get parents to be able to reply online (the weak link in the slip system is that it's students that have to return the slips!).
Setting up the form took about half an hour (and would be quicker next time), and then I created a cutomized bit.ly address to make it more attractive.
I actually put the address as a www (www.bit.ly/jbsmathsevening) as I thought parents would be more comfortable with a web address starting www. I'm indebted to 2 members of my twitter PLN who 'roadtested' the form for me, and gave layout advice, @tomhenzley and @jobadge. We had about 30 parents come, with almost half of the replies being electronically. For a first effort, I was very pleased.

Next steps - make SLT aware of how we can use these resources, and get other departments to use them. Not quite sure how yet!