Google docs, for better or for worse

Google Docs and services like it have their place in both a physical and virtual college campus, particularly with students who are working on group projects. For use as a collaborative document service, Google Docs is great. It's easy to set up and share, and has basic editing tools. Personally, I don't see myself using it as a Microsoft Word replacement, but it serves its purpose as a quick and easy document editor.

However, I can see why some people, both faculty and students, would be opposed to it. If it's a class-wide effort like ours, everyone would need a Google account. Most people already have one and wouldn't be bothered by it, but for the technophobes that somehow still exist, it would be another online account to keep track of. I can see how a prof wouldn't want to have to keep track of various accounts, and how students would not want their prof to be able to "check in" on unfinished work.

Luckily, some of my previous professors have welcomed the idea of document sharing. I had a professor last year who used a wetpaint wiki in lieu of eCompanion. Another professor required the class to keep blogs. She used hers as a general announcement tool, we used ours to turn in assignments. For a "progressive" or "nontraditional" professor, social software such as this can be successfully harnessed to enhance the class. It's a move I'd like to see more people make.