Google Docs and Google Presentation

Almost, if not everything can be found with the search engine Google. Google not only offers links to sites to answer our questions or help us with our research, but Google offers two free programs that many schools are taking advantage of, Google Docs and Google Presentation. Due to not having PowerPoint on our computers at school, our students have had to use Google Presentation. Google Presentation is a great alternative to PowerPoint. Most of the options that PowerPoint offers can also be found on Google Presentation. The best part about this program is that a group can work on the same presentation at the exact same time. For example, If Bill, Sue, and Jane are working in a group together and have their own computer in front of them, what Bill does on his Google Presentation automatically appears on Sue and Jane’s presentation. The only reminder is that one group member must share in their other members, which is as simple as typing in the other members’ gmail address. This program makes creating presentations for school projects less of a hassle and the students really enjoy watching other members’ additions appear on their screen.

Now that I have talked about how wonderful Google Presentation is, I do have some issues to Google’s other program, Google Docs. Google Docs is a very generic version of Word. Formatting on Google Docs is very difficult, and sometimes when you indent a section of text, the rest of the document will be affected as well and it becomes impossible to correct. When typing a document, many of us rely on spell check. It is very difficult to spell check with this program, so either you copy and paste your document to another program to spell check, look up all questionable words, or, as many students do, assume it’s all perfect. Honestly, the only major plus that this program has is that it can be saved in your gmail documents and you can access your document from any computer, not just the computer you typed it on.

With how strong Google is, I wish that Google Docs was a better program because it is very convenient for students and adults, but it just doesn’t compare to what Word or Works is capable of doing.