Conference Topic: Google Docs & Famundo

Our class conference topic is Google Docs and Famunod. Charlene and I partnerd up and presented on uses of Google Docs in an educational setting and examples and Pros and Cons of Famundo.

Click here to link to our wiki: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Google_Docs

Uses in educational setting & Examples
Schools can use Google Docs for the purpose of bringing communication and collaboration tools to the entire academic community for free. Students, teachers and staff can share ideas more quickly and get things done more effectively when they have access to the same powerful communication and sharing tools. There's no hardware or software to install or maintain, since everything is delivered through a standard web browser -- anytime, from anyplace.

1. Spreadsheets
You can use spreadsheets to keep track of grades, attendance, student projects and assignments. You can maintain multiple spreadsheets, each for a specific purpose, and easily import data from other spreadsheets.

2. Presentation
Teachers can use presentations in Google Docs. You can create a presentation collaboratively and even co-present it online with live chat with your students. Students can easily of create group presentations and access them anywhere. The best part as well is that you could upload presentations on to your Google Docs. This allows teacher and students to communicate based on presentations.

3. Communication
Teachers can publish announcements about upcoming assignments and to monitor student progress. It is an interactive process which allows teachers to give guidance when it might be of maximum benefit – while your student is still working on an assignment.

4. Organization
Teachers will find that Google Docs can help Students learn to stay organized and keep on top of their assignments. It's easy to collaborate online with fellow students, even when they aren't in the same place. Teachers send feedback easily to students, parents, and enter updates anytime from anywhere. Students can go back to the revisions history to see how their assignment has evolved, and who has helped.

5. Documents
Students are able to do homeworks online and automatically send their assignments to their teachers that very day. The writing process can be taught and used by integrating the Google Docs document section in their teaching. It helps to promote group work and peer editing skills.

With Famundo I presented on the Advantages and Disadvantages.

Click here to view our wiki: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Famundo

Famundo has many advantages such as it eliminates one of the most stressful factors in today’s life, keeping the school and family schedules in sync. By providing a version both schools and families, a family’s schedule is automatically kept up to date. Famundo offers different community organizations you belong to like schools, churches and sports teams. Individuals can use the basic program for free and there is nothing to install. Famundo for Families PLUS is a pay-as-you-go service. Pay for it as long as you need it. There are no long term contracts, no sign-up fees and no termination fees. You can cancel at any time. It’s all hosted on Famundo’s secure servers. Basically Famundo simplifies your scheduling processes, keeps your information private and confidential and it simplifies the communication process. But of course Famundo does have some disadvantages such as you are only limited to 250MB of storage on the basic plan and if you want to upgrade storage you would have to switch to the Families PLUS plan and pay $10.00 per month. This was one of the major drawbacks of Famundo due to the pricing, $10.00 was way to much money to be paying for that amount of storage space. Another disadvantage is that Famundo families cannot invite other families to build a large user base.