Technology integration in education has been a big topic for over a decade now.
School administrators are always looking for new ways to make schoolwork accessible to students via the Internet and to encourage Internet usage for the purpose of educational improvement.
Google Docs, along with its accompanying services like Google Drive and Google Slides, is one of the programs that Old Rochester Regional uses to get kids involved with online learning. Every ORR Junior High and High School student has an account, and a few high school students gave their opinions on the online service.
Senior Matthew Bourgeois has been using Google Docs for several years now and has a great understanding of the program. He had nothing but praise for the way Google Docs makes working online an easy task.
“Accessibility and instant saving are the best features of Google Docs,” said Bourgeois. “I use it anytime I have a project with partners, especially in my history-based electives.”
Bourgeois wishes that all teachers would use Google Docs, and he wishes that those who use it currently would utilize it even more.
“It’s easier for us to use most of the time. You can easily look up teachers’ assignment directions when you’re connected, so it takes guessing out of the equation,” he said.
Sophomore Ari Dias also thought the automatic saving was a good idea on Google Docs’ part; however, she wasn’t crazy about the program as a whole.
“[It’s] slow and kind of complicated. Sometimes seeing a real-life example (in place of what is seen on Google Docs) would help students more,” said Dias.
Dias and junior Jacob Lawrence agreed that English was the class where Google Docs is most commonly used. Lawrence added that he uses it for “every typed assignment.”
In contrast, junior Teagan Walsh said Math and Spanish were the classes she was most likely to use it in, even though her teachers seem to use the website sparingly.
Many students differ greatly on how many days they log in per week and how much time they spend on the website.
Usage time depends greatly on what classes are taken and what teachers a student has, as teachers range from never incorporating the program to making it a part of everyday class life.
For senior Luke Gauvin, it’s closer to the latter.
“I use it five days a week,” Gauvin said, mentioning that Google Docs was prominent in a multitude of his classes.
It’s safe to say Google Docs isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Since the service can apply to so many classes, many teachers feel it is a great tool to utilize. For many students, Google Docs has become part of an everyday educational regimen that also includes services like PowerSchool and other technology-based platforms designed for education.
By Patrick Briand
