Google+Sites

 Tisha Duncan [|WWW.Sites.Google.Com] Google Sites is a wiki that makes sharing information and collaborating easy. Users can design the look and feel of their site or use one of the already created templates that Google offers. Users have the ability to add text, insert pictures, video, presentations and links to other websites. Create as many pages as you want, organize content and subscribe to site updates so that you receive alerts anytime the site has been updated. Your site can also be made public or private and the owner of the site can control the type of access other users have (view or edit). A major benefit for me is that it works well with a company intranet. Google Sites is very easy to use and best of all it is FREE.

I found that it was extremely easy to create my own site especially since I used one of the predesigned templates. However, it would have been a lot nicer if the help tool was a lot more visible. It took me days before I found where to obtain some additional information and tutorials on how to do different things on Google Sites. There were a number of resources that could be used to get you started and so that you could make changes to your site. I have listed links to several tutorials below as well as the webpage where a lot of other helpful links can be found (i.e. working with sites, adding pages, changing the url, etc.). I have not found any real challenges to using this tool but I am still playing around with it. Google Sites Tour: [] Google Sites : Simple, Secure Group Websites : [] Google Sites – Other Helpful Links to using this tool: []
 * Google Sites Help Tools : **

How would I use this tool on the job of for one of my training classes? For the last few months I have been designing a live course to teach our employees how to Design Effective Business Presentations. This course will include putting together and organizing the content as well as designing the PowerPoint presentation. The end result of this course is for the participants to take what they have learned and design a business presentation. The goal is for them to work on a presentation that they actually need to design. Google Sites could be used for the following reasons. First, it can be used as a way to manage the progress of each participant’s project. Second, it can be used as a resource for everyone because we can post tips and tricks, questions and answers, links to useful websites, pictures, video tutorials, etc. Third, because the participants will be posting what they are working on they can obtain feedback, ideas or help from others who are also taking or have taken the class. The participants can look to each other for guidance instead of having to just rely on me. In addition to my training, employees can use this tool to help each other design better business presentations.

Even though the tool is relatively easy to use, I could face a number of challenges trying to integrate the tool into any course that I am teaching. Once challenge that I could face if I tried to use any web 2.0 tool is employee access. A lot of sites are blocked by my company. Unlike teachers who work with the same students on a daily basis and can find a way to use a tool such as this one in the classroom things are a lot different for me. I am unable to try this tool in my Design Effective Business Presentations course until someone signs up to take the class and then I will have to go through a lot of red tape to get permission to use it. Even though I find Google Sites to be a great collaborative tool, I can not simply use these types of tools at work. Another challenge would be employee resistance. The younger generation would be a lot more receptive to using a tool such as this one to collaborate and share information. Those who have been in the business for a long time may have an issue with using technology that they are not familiar with.