Some of these tools seem to have a somewhat narrow application. Google Sketch-up is a wonderful tool for the budding artist, architect, or mathematician. Some of these tools have a much wider application. iGoogle is a smart organizational tool, especially as the availability of technology in our schools becomes more individualized. It would provide a personalized desktop, allowing students to easily access and organize their work.
As we begin to intensify our focus on collaborative work, both for students and for ourselves as teachers, the tools such as Google Docs and Gtalk increase the ease of group or partner work for both groups. Using Google Docs for our first group work assignment was a surprising, positive, and effective experience.
However, one of my favorite tools is Google Reader. Personally, this is a tool that will shortly make its way to my desktop, an easy way to stay on top of issues of personal interest. In a classroom, I could see it being used in many exciting ways. In a Smartboard classroom, it would be an engaging way to follow the Iditarod as it is taking place, or to follow Martin Luther King Day Events across the country.
Tools like these, as well as others like embedded videos and slideshows, certainly can help make a good lesson even more engaging and effective. They give us and our students access to more good, relevant information. They open wide the door of creativity.
