Google Drive Tutorial

Introduction

Our tutorial is based on Google drive. It is a system that allows you to store all your documents

into one place so that you can access them anywhere and on any device! This tutorial is based on

learning how to operate and get around easily on Google Drive. It is great in so many different

ways. Not only is it useful between teachers but also it is also handy between friends in your

everyday life – which makes it web 2.0. Teachers or other friends can drop a document into

Google Drive and then another individual of your choice can access it with no problem.

Step by step Instructions: How to use it and how to apply

Welcome to Google Drive! Google drive only requires you to have Gmail account through Google. It’s free and easy to use! 1) Go to Google and after signing in to your Gmail account just select the ‘Drive’ bookmark on Google’s tool bar. A page will open up, and to the left hand side you are given the option to Create a new document or Upload a document from your computer

2) Click the Create (or upload) button –for the purposes of this tutorial I will be creating a new Document.

Note: You can create a new folder, Document, Presentation (PowerPoint), Spreadsheet (Excel), Form, or a new Drawing all from this point. There are so many options that Google Drive offers, without having to buy expensive software.

3) After opening a new Document, you will see something similar to a Word document.

From here you will be able to type in your document, edit the fonts, and insert external images.

4) After you are satisfied with your document you have many options; however, a great feature of this application is that you can share it with others via email and they can view and edit your document (if allowed). You are the controller of this document and decide if you want other people to be able to edit.

Click the Share Button in the top right corner to add people to your viewing list. 5) Add people, Manage your document settings, and share link.

Here you can add people and give them access to your document. Also, if you would like to change your Document to private/ public you can do that here as well. When a document is Private, only people you invite to see it are allowed to view the document.

6) After you add a person to view your document, you can choose if they are allowed to edit your document or just view it. (This comes in handy when you need a paper revised).

7) When collaborating with people in your Document, you can click the comments button on the top left hand side of your document and discuss aspects of the paper that may need to be changed. This is another good feature when having your paper revised, because it allows real time communication between two people.

8) Another feature of Google Drive is you can see who is viewing your document in real time and it color codes each individual for editing purposes. For example, if someone was editing my paper on Google Drive, I would be able to see where their cursor is on my paper via their personal assigned color; therefore, if you have multiple people collaborating on a paper you are able to differentiate between individuals.

9) Finally, when you have finished collaborating with others on your document, you are able to save it externally as a Microsoft Word Doc, OpenDoc, RichText, PDF, PlainText, or Web Page. To do this go to file at the top left of the page, and select download as.

10) However, if you do not want to externally download your Document, all changes are saved in Drive. The Drive uses the Cloud, therefore your information will always be there without you having to externally save it.

This is just the beginning beauty of all the things Google Drive is capable of. After you explore the application it will become easier to understand and to use. Enjoy! How it can be used for Education

Google Drive offers a sharing capability for the classroom. Anyone can sign up for an account

and it is free. Google Drive can be used for uploading and sharing a wide array of documents

including word documents, power point presentations, PDF files, images, videos, and more.

In the classroom as a teacher, one could upload presentations to Google Drive where students

could access power points that they may have missed if they missed class or if they want to refer

to them for studying. I can see this being used in many ways for storing information used in class

so that students can go back and review what they may have missed during class such as power

point presentations, videos, and other documents. From a student perspective, Google Drive can

still be a very useful tool. If there is a group project, students can share a document on Google

Drive and add their own pieces of the project to the document from Google Drive. Students

could also use it to share work with a teacher so that the teacher can show what needs to be

revised on a paper or project. Google Drive is an online project collaboration, which has infinite

uses in the classroom.

Pros and Cons of Google Drive

Google Drive is data storage and a data synchronization application service provided by Google.com.

Pros

Cons

Google Drive gives all users 5 GB of cloud storage to start with.

Cloud storage is not secure storage. External flash drives are larger than 5GB and secure.

A user can get additional storage, which is shared between Picasa and Google Drive, from 25 GB up to 16 TB.

Additional storage is through a paid monthly subscription plan, which costs $2.49 per month for 25 GB. 16TB would cost more obviously.

Data storage of files up to 10 GB total in size. External hard drives and flash drives are able to handle files much larger than this.

For the Google Drive to synchronize files on the user's computer in the cloud, the Google Drive client application software must be running on the user's computer.

This is a security risk because the cloud is public domain. Sensitive data could be compromised. This requires software that is not required for external hard drives or flash drives which offer a higher level of data security.

Google Drive has only one terms of service and privacy policy for all its products.

Google retains a broad claim to reproduce, use, and create derivative works from content stored on the Google Drive. This license is forever even after the deletion of content.

Users retain intellectual property rights. The Google Drive license allows extraction and parsing of uploaded content to customize advertising and other services that Google provides to the user.

Google Cloud Sync maintains previous Microsoft Office document versions and allows multiple users to collaborate by working on the same document at the same time.

This can be a document control nightmare. Cloud storage is not secure storage. A simple server will also allow multiple users to collaborate in a secure environment.

Made by: Kristin Earley, Rebekah Hale, Sarah Collins and Samanda F.F de Adams.