Thanks to Twitter, and especially @msgregson’s constant promoting of Google Docs I decided that I had to check it out. I already use the Google calendar to sync my life. And, all of my wiki sidebar apps come from Google so I was hopeful it would be a great resource.
I was not disappointed! I created a Google Form on my new class wiki. Students will go to the wiki from home, click an assignment to open it, and then answer the questions in the Spreadsheet Activity Form. Then, Voila – their answers will instantly appear in a spreadsheet on my computer!
INSTANTLY, I get the results in a spreadsheet created in my Google Docs. It looks like this and can be edited and sorted.
Spreadsheet generated by the Google Form
Why I love this:
1) It is paperless. I love that it is green AND I hate dealing with stacks of paper. So less paper = happy teacher + better earth!
2) It is all in one place. I don’t have to carry the papers home with me or stash them in my full, full bag.
3) It is organized. I assign my students a number based on their name in the alphabet (1 – 16). I have them enter that number into the form and then can sort their answers alphabetically so facilitate easy grade recording. It is also an easy identifier of who has submitted without using last names. And again, I don’t have to manually alphabetize a stack of papers!
Question – How do you use Google Docs in your class?
How are other math teachers successfully using Google Docs in their classrooms? If you are, please comment below and please provide a link to an example if you have one handy!
I Speak Math 
hey girl! glad i got you hooked! here is the link to how i tested using google docs in the SAT prep class that i teach, to get you thinking even bigger!
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AT2eoHspp_F8ZGN3YmdmN2ZfOTVyM3BnNnRmaA&hl=en
My students collaborate with Google Docs! They write rough drafts of essays and then share them so that they can edit and revise each others! No paper!
In finance we had students do different interest calculations over time (some simple, some compound) and students entered their data on laptops (one per group of 3 or 4 students). As they entered the data, we projected a real-time graph (I had to refresh it every once and a while) so students could see the different growth patterns.
@MrsBMG @KrisReid72 Love both ideas! I wanted to “vote” on survey questions they submitted using poll everywhere but that costs money. I had not thought about the “real-time” graph that I could use if I developed a spreadsheet form! Very exciting – and free!!