When thinking back to my undergraduate studies in the late 1990's, it's amazing to see how far word processing has gone! My freshmen year of college I had to do my papers on a typewriter and what a mess that was. English 112 was especially a mess because I had to hand in the intro paragraph and then it would come back with teacher comments on it, which meant I had to retype it. Then we had to hand in the the first two pages and that would come back with teacher comments, and I had to retype that...and so on. I can't believe I survived. Needless to say I got my first computer that next year and it was awesome. The idea that a document could be SAVED was my new best friend. Now with the online word processing programs, I love the idea that a document is saved on the web so you don't have worry about your computer crashing. Another great feature is that you can collaborate with others in real time to work on a document. Who would have thought of that in 1999? :)
I definitely think I could and will use these online word processing programs. My only issue is that most of them require an email address. My school doesn't have school email addresses for students and it can get a little tricky when students use their own addresses. So I will most likely use Type With Me but that program is just word processing. I like Zoho as well because it has power point along with a spreadsheet option, but once again it requires an email address. I have posted this before for a different class but I repost it for this class. I have found a way to "trick" websites that require an email address into accepting new accounts for students. Here's how its done. You need a gmail account and after the teacher's login add a + and whatever the students decide (maybe their name) and then the @ gmail.com. This essentially is creating an umbrella email account that the teacher receives the emails and not the students because its the teacher's account. For example I created an umbrella email spreiss1211@gmail.com and students would use spreiss1211+jennifer@gmail.com I like google docs but probably won't use it because it doesn't allow the "trick", maybe because google docs and gmail are the same company. Zoho accepts the "trick" emails and students will have to get the web address for their document. This all seems confusing but it works like a charm for most Web 2.0 apllications. I feel that a teacher can never be too careful with adolescents and the Internet.
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I can certainly associate with your typewriting days, as I found the same problem when writing my Bachelor's thesis over and over because of the red pen corrections. Upon my return to school in the mid-90's, I found a word-processing typewriter that had dual functions, which allowed me to save documents, print and correct in the word processing "mode" and also use as a regular self-correcting typewriter. WOW! What a time-saver that was. Now, with computer technology, that machine gathers dust in my basement, but still functions as a typewrite, which, believe it or not, I still use on occasion for forms!
I love your "trick" and plan on using that for my on-line students, to add some new features on collaborative projects to add some interest and excitment for us all!
I did enjoy finding an on-line typewriting program, Writer(http://writer.bighugelabs.com/) but one commment found the black screen with green writing hard to get used to. I didn't find it too difficult to use, however. Take a look if you have some time and see how you like it.
Thanks for posting about the dummy accounts. I'm having my students use Animoto.com next week and need to set those up. One reason I want to use the dummy accounts is so that I can monitor what they are doing on the site, not just so that I receive all of the e-mails. If I need help with it... I know who to contact now! :-) ¡Gracias!
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