Google Docs

Last modified on March 12th, 2019 at 1:29 pm

Website

https://www.google.com/docs/about

Description and Overview

Google Docs is a free-to-use cloud-based Microsoft Office word processing alternative. Use Google Docs to write, edit, and collaborate online. Google Docs syncs with your Google account and integrates seamlessly with Google Drive and other products of G Suite. Version history is available, along with user access permission controls, extensive accessibility features, and options to save files as PDF and many other file formats.

Great for

• Word processing
• Collaboration and editing anytime, anywhere, on multiple devices

Classroom Uses:

• Personal writing/note taking
• Group collaboration and partner projects
• Peer feedback and commenting
• Synchronous real-time editing of documents with multiple users
• Asynchronous editing of documents allows for collaboration at different times
• Publish as web page feature for digital projects

Cost

Personal: Free with up to 15GB of storage for saving within Google Drive
Institutional: Unlimited

Pricing available for entire institution

Ease of use

Easy

Set Up Time

Minimal

Getting Started

Resources

Google Suite Support Documentation
Google Docs Support Documentation

Additional Notes

• Integrates well with Canvas Collaborations
• When collaborating, the Revision History feature allows faculty to see all changes for all collaborators with time/date stamps included
• Ability to include “add-ons” that perform extended functions (e.g. Lucidchart Diagrams)
• Ability to convert MS Word files into Google Docs or vice versa
• Auto-save feature
• Provides cloud drive storage for created Google Documents
• Provides templates for different styles of writing (e.g. resume, brochure, report, etc)
• When collaborating simultaneously, the chat feature can be handy for real-time communication
• Offline editing mode available when Wifi is not an option

Policies

Privacy Policy Accessibility Policy

Statement

While tools have been evaluated for accessibility standards, it is up to you to verify that created works meet accessibility guidelines at your institution. For more information, contact your campus Disability Services department.