Google Docs Group Project

Group members: Rob, Ryan, Yumi and Brianna  

   Our tool was Picassa Web album. Picassa is a site in which people can upload photos and then share their album with others. Notable features include the ability to:
- remove red eye
- crop pictures
- straighten pictures
- auto contrast
- auto color
   
   Picassa can be used for productivity to provide students with visuals outside (or inside) of class. Having the ability to log on to a created album allows students to see pictures/illustrations/images of important course content. Having the opportunity to review images that were seen in class can reinforce the material and provide further visual aid in the learning process. In terms of personal productivity, Picassa would be useful for Language Arts in the classroom because I could create a sense of community; I envision myself as a teacher providing options for students to express their meaning in multiple ways. Some students may opt to write a traditional essay to express their thoughts while others may create an art project of some sort. Taking a picture and uploading their work to Picassa would allow all students to see the creativity of their peers, allows individual students to take pride in their work (if they are comfortable with it being uploaded), and sets an example of various methods in which meaning can be conveyed. 
 
   From a teaching standpoint, I can see how Picassa would be a useful tool for students to see visuals of important course content. However, as a current student, it would be nice to be able to add to other’s albums. When Rob created our album, he was able to upload a photo and send us a link. However, we were not able to contribute to the album nor were we able to be involved in the creation process as only one user at a time can create the album (to my knowledge). In this sense, the creation of the album was an active learning activity for Rob as he was designated to create the album, but a passive learning experience for me as I had to be invited to view the album and only learned how to create an album by creating a separate album. 

   My learning curve was all over the place with this project. I had used Picassa before and knew how to create an album, but I had no idea how to share an album. Prior to this course I had a close friend live in Nicaragua and upload her pictures to Picassa then email us her pictures, which was great. Working on this as a group did have it's frustrations and limitations though as we were unclear as to whether only Rob could add photos or whether we could all contribute to the created album. In the sense that the collaboration portion was not possible, Picassa was frustrating. However, once I created my own album I realized that the program itself was very straightforward and easy. I wish I had been able to contribute to the Picassa album. However, since it only allows one creator (Rob), I instead contributed to our group by writing our process on the google docs document that Ryan created.



Our google document link 

Our picassa album link