2,953 Reasons I Love Google (Yikes – really?!)

Ok, so I’m not actually going to list 2,953 reasons for anything.  I’m just feeling left out of the put-a-number-in-your-blogpost-title bandwagon, and wanted to jump on board.  I also want to say that more than ten of anything on a list is too many.  Who has time to look through the “65 best web tools” post, read the summaries, download the apps or check out the websites of those that sound interesting to you, and then actually test them out?  Give me your top five. Really.  Sixty-five, ninety-two, or twenty-seven is not vetting.  It’s overwhelming.  And not too time-efficient for most of us.

But, I really do love Google.  Here’s why:

1. Google Drive – This is the easiest way to collaborate on projects with other people.  You can work simultaneously on projects with people around the world, or across the conference table.  Your work is constantly being saved, so no accidental deletions.  Your files are synced and stored in the cloud, so you can access it anywhere on any device.

2. Google Hangouts – Similar to Skype, but I’ve had a much easier time using GHO than I do Skype.  G are also similar to Face Time, but users aren’t restricted by devices.  You can livestream, record, audio or video call, share photos, go back to previous conversations.

3. Chrome Extensions – Extensions are like apps in your Chrome browser.  Again, this is nice because you have your extensions available on any device if you are logged into your Google account.  Todd Nesloney did a great job vetting extensions to give us the Top 10 Must Have Extensions.

4. Gmail/Calendar – Gmail is just easy.  That’s pretty much all I’m going to say about it, but the calendar is my organizing go-to.  I have access to all of the principals’ calendars, my professional calendar, my personal calendar, my task list, the professional development calendar, the testing windows for our state tests, and an events calendar for our junior/senior high school.  It sounds overwhelming, but it couldn’t be easier.  It sure makes scheduling things so much easier than emails back and forth trying to find a common opening.

 

Well, look at that – only 4 reasons.  Of course I cheated a bit and included the link to Todd’s post, but I’m going to let myself off the hook for that one.  And I didn’t talk about Google Earth, Google searches, Google Offers, Google images, Google glass, Chromebooks…so much to love about Google.