Posting GoogleDocs to The Web

I was excited to find this article at one of my favorite blogs, Lifehacker, because my students are just getting into Google Docs and I know there will shortly come a day when we want to publish their Google Presentations to more than just each other.

To embed a Google Docs slideshow you will just open the presentation, use the Publish tab and paste the code into your web page. It will look a bit like an embedded YouTube video. Lifehacker also enumerates a few of the other new features just added to Google Docs in this post. If you want to see a slideshow about the new features and using the new embed code, jump to the Official Google Docs Blog . Say that five times fast!

I haven’t done as much as I’d like with Google Docs or some other online services yet because most require registration with a personal email. To do any of these activities as a whole class (or 6 classes) means that I have to ascertain whether every student has a personal email, whether I can sign them up for one myself, whether parents will give permission, etc. The students are not allowed to have school email addresses, and furthermore, even if they have a personal email account, they cannot access those at school. Occasionally I will have a student sign in to their personal email on my PocketPC phone if there’s an educational need to do so, i.e. pick up an email with a validation code in it so they can go ahead and use the service in class. This often proves helpful if they don’t have internet access at home. Then they must log off immediately so none of us are violating any laws, edicts, or commandments. These hurdles are part and parcel of trying to incorporate Web 2.0 in my school. I am trying to remain steadfast in my mission to overcome them in creative yet ethical ways. Feel free to share if you are doing the same in your school.