My experience in using Google Drawings was pretty simple and easy.  It is very similar to Microsoft Word, with the same type of funcitons.  Everything is very well labeled and very intuitive.  the inserting drawing fuction was a little different, but certainly didn't need any training to use.  I haven't used Microsoft Word for drawing too much, but from what I saw and can remember it was very much the same.  Probably the greatest advantage of Google Drawing, outside of the collaborative aspect, was its feel.  Microsoft Word is definitely a word processing program with drawing capablities, while drawing felt like a drawing program with word processing capabilities. 

Certainly if I were going to primarily make a drawing document it would be very helpful just using the drawing function.  Below is the drawing I did, it was also very easy to insert it into the blog.  It was even easier to insert it in a document.  It was a very easy and useful program to have. 

What a wonderful lesson plan, and what a great assignment for a chemistry or physical science class.  Right off I can see me using this idea in my class.  What a better way for the student to show that they understand a concept than to represent it graphically.  Already I am trying to decide just how I want to use this either on a particular assignment or allow them to choose their own.  Either way it is very exciting way to show the students alternative ways to think about science.  Also using the Google Documents would allow it to be a group assignment.  The great thing about still have the revision history function would allow a teacher to option of seeing the work that different students put into the program.  I did have one question, does the revision history also save the chat dialogue.  If it did it woudl be very useful to konw and to have. 

(Dr. Krug you said that we are to take a look at these lesson plans, do I also have permission to download them and use them in my class.  I would like to have both the middle school and the High School plans if that were possible.) 


  Google Drawing, as one of the videos put it, real time collaborative drawing is its strength. Whether you are talking about using this as a group project for a class and the students are collaborating together, or as monitoring a classroom assignment in geometry from a teachers desk I this is a powerful tool.  It would be very easy to build a graphic organizer on line and then by giving the students access allow them to fill it out.  Also they would have the ability to make their own graphic organizer or modify the one that was given.  I think that allowing them this option or making them do their own would improve the assignment.  This would be especially useful if at the same  time the teacher could monitor their progress.  Also it would allow for differentiated teaching.    If a teacher made up a geometry worksheet with Drawings the students could work on it at their own pace.  If the file is shared then again it would allow the teacher to keep a constant monitor on the class.  It would be a great way of keeping a group of students on task without having to walk around the class.  (One of the first things a studnet learns is that the teacher can't see across the room very well, this could surprise a lot of kids.)