Google Aps

Google Alerts will send a list of selected links to a designated email box once a day.  This week, I signed up to receive Google Alerts on two topics, one of them being "Web 2.0 in Higher Education."  Google Alerts finds information so much better than I do when I search the web.  One of the most interesting links in today's batch was "Employers Want 18th Century Skills" http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Employers-Want-18th-Century/21687/
from The Chronicle of Higher Education.  Who could resist a title like that?  The author asserts that schools are moving away from effectively teaching linear thinking skills.  The author believes that education stresses Web 2.0's non-linear thinking and interactive writing too heavily, harming students' abilities to succeed in the sciences.  The article in itself is interesting, but the attached comments are more compelling.  It got me thinking about my choices and responsibilities as an educator.  Curious?  Follow the link above.

One Ap I would like to use is Google Sites.  It provides simple templates for setting up web sites into which one can embed various gadgets.  I'm overwhelmed, but one of the templates, Project Wiki notes that users can "Pull all [their] project information together in one place and stay connected with [their] project team. Includes a project blog, a place for to-do items, team profile pages, a file storage area, and more!"  I can see using this not only for the classroom, but also for group projects with colleagues.