Review by Paul Cancellieri, Common Sense Education | Updated February 2013
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Google Drive

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Nifty tool for collaboratively editing docs and syncing files across devices or online

Subjects & skills
Subjects
N/A
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Character & SEL
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
9–12
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (170 Reviews)
Price:  Free, Paid
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

4 images
Drive's interface is similar to many other Google products.
Drive provides many document types.
The word processor is very similar to many desktop tools, with fewer options.
The spreadsheet tool has all of the necessary functionality of MS Excel without the bells and whistles.

Pros: You get much of the functionality of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and it seamlessly keeps files in multiple locations.

Cons: Poses privacy issues for classrooms with multiple students sharing one device.

Bottom Line: Google Drive is a smart choice for budget-conscious schools, with its free productivity tools and file syncing.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

For classroom use, power users may need more than formatting, formulas, and animations, but Google Drive should perform most of the functions you and your students need. You get a word processor as well as spreadsheet and presentation tools. Add the ability for multiple users to simultaneously edit documents, and you have a real tool for collaboration. The days of passing a draft back and forth or navigating MS Word's Track Changes feature are over. Each user can see the colored and labeled cursor of every other user while they work on an essay, a spreadsheet, or a class presentation. There’s even a window for chatting while you work. Projects ripe for Google Drive might include writing workshops, group projects, class discussions, and peer review.

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Standards:

Originally called Google Docs, Google Drive is a combo online-productivity software suite and cloud-based, file-synchronizing service. Basically, it does everything and lets you put everything somewhere. Each student needs her own Google account to use Drive, which requires an email address. From there, a user simply clicks on the Create button and chooses the type of file to create. Documents can be arranged in folders, and you have complete control over how the file is shared (read-only, password-protected, or completely private) and with whom. The Upload button allows you to add files to the 5GB cloud storage (Google Docs don't count against this total), and they automatically sync to any device with the application installed (iOS, Android, Chrome, desktop).

The office apps alone make Google Drive a fantastic free tool for your students to complete and collaborate on assignments. They won't exactly learn anything besides, perhaps, how to expertly use tools they may already be familiar with, but the tool will help streamline their learning on other topics. Most functions are pretty intuitive, but the help area provides lots of advice when needed. One big drawback for classrooms with multiple users sharing a device:  there's isn't a sign in/out feature. If students are using their own accounts, they'll need to add and then delete accounts each time they use and then stop using a device. Otherwise, every account that has accessed the device will be accessible by all subsequent users of the device.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?
This isn't the type of website that's fun, exactly -- it's meant to increase productivity -- but live collaboration should be engaging for older students.
Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?
The tool itself doesn't teach much. But when it's used to electronically submit student assignments and help students work collaboratively in a classroom, it can become a highway to feedback and learning.
Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?
Google is well-known for the huge quantity and high quality of its support materials, and Drive is no exception. There's also an active community of users.
Common Sense Reviewer
Paul Cancellieri Classroom teacher
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Speaking & Listening

  • SL.9-10.5

    Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

  • SL.11-12.5

    Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Writing

  • W.9-10.5

    Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.

  • W.9-10.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

  • W.11-12.5

    Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.

  • W.11-12.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 170 reviews) (170 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Jeremy B. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
Thomas M. Ryan Intermediate School
Richland, MI
The All In One Tool-Google Drive Does It ALL!
Our students live in the Google Drive world. Everything they create is stored, shared, and collaborated on from Drive. It plays perfectly with applications like Google Classroom and other LMS type tools. It is free to use and 100% web based so it is accessible anywhere students have web access. The only downside is the lack of internet in some homes as web access is required.
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