10.+Google+Documents

= 10. Google Documents =

Name of Technology Tool:
Google docs

===Rationale for Using this Technology Tool:===

Google docs is a great tool for brainstorming ideas with a group. Participants can access and edit the same google doc from anywhere and work on it at times that are convenient for them. This eliminates the problem of scheduling meetings when everyone can attend. (An often impossible task.) Also, this tool allows for expression of ideas in writing, which encourages shyer group members (who might not speak up in a meeting) to participate.

===Description of Scenario:=== The school librarian in a preK - grade 5 school would like to encourage parent volunteers to help with the annual spring book fair. She scheduled one meeting and a core group of parents were able to attend, but there were many more volunteers who were unable to attend the meeting at the time scheduled. The librarian wants to get input from as many of her volunteers as possible so she sets up a google docs page about the school book fair and invites all parent volunteers who have expressed an interest to help plan the book fair through the google docs page.

===Rationale for Using This Technology Tool In School Libraries:===

This technology tool allows the librarian to invite participation from and improve communication with her parent volunteers who all have busy (and different) schedules. All parents who have expressed an interest in the book fair can help with the planning through this document. Once an overall plan has been brainstormed, necessary tasks can be listed and decided upon. Then volunteers can sign up for tasks right from the google docs page. By encouraging participation from the parent volunteers in her school, she is giving them a sense of ownership of the school library, which will turn them into library allies. Parents are also more likely to purchase items from the book fair if they have had input in the planning of the event.

===Detailed Description of Scenario in School Library Setting:=== The school librarian hosts a meeting at the library in January for parent volunteers who would like to plan and staff the annual spring book fair. Several parents expressed regret that they could not make the meeting at the time scheduled. Because the librarian wanted to encourage as many parents to work on the book fair as possible, she set up a google docs page and invited all interested parent volunteers to join. She made sure all her parent volunteers had access to a computer at home. They all did. (If a parent did not have home access, the librarian would allow the parent to use a library computer to access the google docs page.) The librarian started off the document with a summary of what had happened at the January meeting. She ended the document with a request for more ideas on what would be needed for a successful book fair. She gave a deadline of three weeks for comments to be made. She was pleased to see discussion go back and forth through the google docs page, and a better plan emerge than what had been arrived at in the January meeting. In February the librarian listed individual tasks on the google docs page that would need to get done for the book fair to happen. She asked for feedback on the tasks, with a shorter deadline of two weeks. Then the librarian asked for individuals to sign up for tasks they would like to do. She signed herself up for the tasks she would have to do (like contact and schedule the vendor) and for any tasks that were left over after the sign up ended. In early April the librarian posts time slots for parent volunteers to help staff the book fair (which is scheduled for the last week in May) and asks parents to sign up for times that fit their schedules. To keep communication going, the librarian sends out regular email blasts to her parent volunteers to remind them of different deadlines on the book fair google doc.


 * submitted by Pam McCuen