Microsoft Word and Google Documents

Class today was more of a review for me but I still learned a few new tricks. At the beginning of class we discussed some of the tools available on Microsoft Word. One tool that we learned about that I had no idea existed was the "add comment" tool and the editor tool. These tools are very useful in that they allow the author to see the changes made to their document. I think that in the real world this would be very useful in helping say an author start to recognize areas where they need to improve their writing. In the classroom I could also imagine this tool being used to help students collaborate and check each others work. With the comments they could also provide input to help fellow student improve their work.
The other application we learned about was Google Doc's. I have used Google Doc's for some time, but this is the first time I have used it to collaborate with another person. I think that this is an awesome idea and needs to be used more in schools. What I think is so useful about this application is that you don't have to deal with multiple copies of a single document. The one document is in one place and everyone can see it. I think that the only draw back to this application is that a collaborator could possibly add or delete too much and since everyone is using the same document their is no way to see what the original document looked like. So their is a greater element of risk involved when using Google Doc's but I feel that the availability of the program to any user and the convince of the application make it worth it. If I were to use Google Doc's in my classroom I would first use it to teach my student to back up their documents. This is a practice that I believe everyone is going to have to learn better in the years to come as we get more and more into a digital world. The other application I would use it for would be in group projects. I would outline some simple rules for the students to follow and then have them work together to produce a final project. I think that Google Doc's would be a great tool to check on the students and make sure that they are doing what they are suppose to.
Overall today's class was pretty fun and I learned something new.