Google docs
TO BE CLARIFIED
This should be the information for the web site about enrolling in Google Docs
Getting Started:
Create a gmail account. To do this:
go to http://www.gmail.com
Create new account
Set up a username and password
Our username is "ceioregon" and password is whatever we set.
Once you have an account set up you now have all of Google's Tools at your fingertips.
While in your GMAIL inbox page, look along the top of the screen. You should see links listed across the top:
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Gmail Calendar Documents Photos Reader Web more
Accessing Google Documents
Click on "Documents" along the top of your screen to access your "Docs Home"
This is where you can create documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. using Google Documents. It is very similar to using MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel).
I have my students using these Tools for maintaining notes, research, and developing their presentations.
Any document you create can be "Shared" with anyone you choose. Simply click the blue "Share" tab located in the upper right hand part of the page and type in their email address or addresses in the box provided.
You have two sharing options... (1) Share as a collaborator - which means the collaborator can make changes and edits to the document you started or (2) Share as a viewer - which means the viewer can read-only. They can save the contents of the document as something else, but the original work cannot be modified.
Two Ways to Create Websites using Google's Tools:
(1) Blogger
Go to http://www.blogger.com
sign in using your Google gmail account username and password.
You will then enter in your pertinent information for the blog site and choose templates and whatnot that suit your tastes.
>From here you can begin making posts that are basic text that use graphics or other media.
Blogs are an easy way for CEI participants to post what they are doing and allow others to make comments about it.
Here is CEI-USA, Oregon's Blog address: http://ceioregon09.blogspot.com/
(2) Google Sites
Google Sites is a bit more complex, but acts more like a typical website with navigation to other places along the side navigation bar. The "Home page" you create can reflect the organization or school, while you would navigate away from the home page to other links that have more specific information, like project details, files and documents relative to the research, calendars, etc.
Setting up a Google Site takes more work, but it is far more helpful than a simple blogger page.
Getting started with Google Sites:
Starting from your Gmail Inbox, click on the "more" link on the upper part of the page.
Click on "Sites"
>From here you will go through the steps given to you to create a new Google Site.
To create the types of pages you want, click on "Create New Page", select the type of page you want to create. For example, instead of using Blogger as a way to keep track of your activities throughout the year, you can select a similar page within Google Sites called "Announcements". This will allow you to post updates very easily. (File Cabinets are good for creating easy access to important Google Documents, PDFs, etc.)
To add your new page to the Navigation bar, simply hit the link "edit side bar", "edit Navigation", "Add New Page", select the page you just created, and then click on it so it shows up on the Navigation bar.
Here are the links to CEI-USA, Oregon's Google Site and one of our affiliates:
http://sites.google.com/site/ceioregon09/
http://sites.google.com/site/ceioregoncascade/Home
Once you get the basics of creating new pages and adding the to the Navigation area, you have most of the knowledge you need to make the site work for you. You can also change colors of fonts, backgrounds, windows, etc.