How I Use It
I embed Google forms on the website to my media center to have students submit online book reviews. I also use Google forms and other Google docs as a way to collaborate with other teachers in my school and across the district. I manage all of these docs and forms through Google Drive. It's very easy to share docs (or have docs shared with me) and add them to my online Google drive. I also installed the Google drive application on my laptop and have the docs stored locally.
The students love the use of Google forms and because the forms don't require a log in, it allows students, even at the elementary level, to feel engaged in their contributions to our media center website. They feel very proud after seeing their personal book review on the site (after I take the data from a connected spreadsheet). We have used Google forms for all sorts of terrific uses within the school including calling buses at dismissal, giving surveys, collecting data, etc.
By using Google drive, I can access all these forms and docs anywhere I am. I have Google drive invaluable to everything I do.
My Take
Google Drive has many facets to it. It functions as an online hard drive for Google's proprietary Google Docs. It's incredibly powerful to have all my docs (particularly the Google forms - please see how I use it for details) in one place that I can access anywhere I have web access. It isn't the most intuitive web application but after I was able to figure out how to navigate Google Drive, and the more I saved and accessed docs through it, the more I realized how Google drive could make my life as a teacher librarian much easier. It allows for easy creation of documents, spreadsheets, forms (which can be used as surveys or instant data collection), and storage of other items which can act as a hub for almost everything I do. Yes, Google docs are limited compared to Office comparables and editing them on mobile devices is difficult. But, having the ability to access my important docs in one place outweighs the lack of functionality.
