Google Spreadsheets now with chart capabilities
Google’s suite of office applications took another step closer to making Microsoft Office all but redundant last week when they announced that Google Spreadsheets can now produce charts from data.
Because of the simplicity of the tools I think that Google Docs & Spreadsheets could be a viable alternative to Microsoft Office for most educational institutions. Of course, I’d recommend that OpenOffice.org remains installed on the network for more complex things and if there’s any problems, but this feature is great! With the upcoming presentations feature, I’d recommend that schools look seriously at getting all their students signed up for a Google Account…
Not yet. I'm in the process of pulling all our resources into a tidy package to share with anyone interested. We're a little busy right now.
In the second week of May we are having our ICT Week – and this year we will be focusing on a Web2.0 Expo. Parents, teachers and students are being invited to workshops where the grade 4's and 7's will demo a number of Web2.0 tools for schools. These tools include various blogs, wikis, social networks, online video and photo editing, podcasting, OpenOffice, Del.icio.us, Studicio.us, Bubbl.us, Google Suite incl. Sketchup, Firefox…
The idea is to show stakeholders the educational benefits behind a decent broadband connection. We will be sure to record the entire process and share it with other educators. My wife (also an ICT instructor) and I feel this is the best way (so far) to create some real movement in School2.0.
Cheers
Paul