Journal 6

Google+: The Complete Guide

Parr, B. (2011, July 16). Google+: The complete guide. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/

Brogan, Chris. (2011, September 30). Educators- Google Plus is For You. Retrieved from http://www.chrisbrogan.com/gpluseducators/


The blog post, "Google + The Complete Guide" describes Google+ and informs the reader of its features and functions and also rates its difficulty of use. It says that Google+ was intended to compete with Facebook as a social network. Google+ seems to have extra features that Facebook doesn't offer such as video chats (hangouts) and group texting (huddle). But, it also offers circles (friend management) and photos, similar to Facebook. It was supposed to be an extension to Google's website and act as a profile showing notifications, like Facebook, once a Google+ member goes to the Google website. The blog states that it is admittedly more difficult to use than other social networks, but it also took members' comments and they seem to like how everything goes up into the cloud, meaning you can access documents and everything on any computer with internet access.  Google+ has some restrictions to the users it attracts. You have to be sent an invitation to be a part of the network, and also must have a gmail email account. In the blog post, he uploaded videos to show a video of how Google+ works. It describes the benefits of the "circles" feature and how you can talk to specific groups of people only, so people outside the circle that you would not want to view, can't. This is a more organized friend management device than Facebook. Also, you can have multiple person webchats through the "hanging out" application. Google+ also has applications to connect to your mobile phone, which is where "huddling" comes in. You can group text from your phone and have it connect to your Google+ profile. Google+ has more applications than other social networks, but because of that it also may be more difficult to use.

Question: Since Google+ is similar to Facebook, but has extra applications, do you think you would start to use it even though it is known to be more difficult than other social networks? If you decide to use Google+ in addition to other social networks, what aspects separated it from Facebook and other social networks that made you want to use it?

Answer: I think I would definitely use Google+ in addition to other social networks. The video that I watched in the blog that teaches a person how to use Google+ was sufficient enough for me to know the basics of Google+ so the fact that it is a little more difficult to use than other social networks wouldn't be a problem. The features that made me interested in Google+ was the circles, huddling, and hanging out applications. On Facebook, you can not block certain things from people to see, so the circles feature seems effective. The huddling is cool because it seems like it is a chatroom, being able to talk to many people at once while texting. That could be very useful. The hanging out feature is also cool because of the fact that you can webchat multiple people at once. I have Skype but you have to pay to be able to skype more than one person so Google+ is great. It is nice to have all features in one spot like Google+.

 In another blog, Chris Brogan posted "Educators-Google Plus is For You", which he first explains the benefits of the circles feature, that you can share information with a specific group of people. It gives an example of creating a circle of the members of the class you teach, including the students and their parents. This way, you can share lesson plans and the specific members will be the only ones that are able to view them, being private to the outside world. The blog post also discusses the benefit of comments and the ability to answer students' questions and interact with them virtually through hangouts. You can join hangouts with students as well as asking a special guest to join. The article concludes with various links to step-by-step directions about getting started with Google+ and its different features.

Question: The blog post seemed to share many benefits for teachers to use Google+, but it did not specifically identify the benefits for students to be involved with it. What could be the main benefits for students to use Google+?

Answer: Google+ is a great source for students to not only locate homework and worksheets, but also to ask the teacher questions and participate in a hangout if there is extra assistance needed on an assignment. Also, it would be helpful for students to interact with their classmates as well to form study groups, ask questions, do homework together, etc. This tool might also help the classroom unity become stronger because students are more engaged and are building a community with each other. I think by having students interact outside of school through Google+ will definitely improve their desire and interest to learn, their social skills and relationships with the teacher and classmates, as well as their academics by getting extra help and studying with their peers and teacher.