During the transition, students may continue to sit in rows using a combination paper and electronic tools. Assignments will be stored on flash drives, local hard drives, and school servers. However schools will begin thinking about a transition from hard drive based software such as Microsoft Office to open source software and web applications.

As we move into the cloud, students will increasingly work in cohort groups with teachers as their guides. Tools such as Google Apps will be used for many applications such as reading, writing, calculating, presenting, and collaborating. Information will be stored and shared at a distance. Students will easily organize and share documents virtually. The tools people use to access the cloud will vary from to include iPads and netbooks in additional laptops and desktop computers. Tools for augmented reality will become increasingly common.

For this workshop, it's helpful to have a Google Account.

We'll shift from a world where the school is separate from the rest of the world, to an environment where young people are immersed in real-world experiences and augmented reality... from trees to clouds.

How can assignments be transformed through cloud computing and Google Apps?

Let's explore five areas:

Collaborative Environments. Students work with others to create synergy.

• Real-world Problems involve young people in creating problems for others to solve.
• Real-world Problems. Students design a problem, post their problem, solve a peer's problem, and discuss problem-solving.
• Task Roles such as unifier, researcher, editor, writer, director, scheduler, organizer, brainstormer, etc.
• The Last Book in the Universe. Explore a wiki that incorporates the roles of creator, enhancer, and evaluator.
• Perspective Roles such as career roles, views on a social issue, or societal roles.
• Build a Kingdom. Explore a wiki where students take on roles in a medieval kingdom.
• Element Roles such as focusing on the elements of a story (character, plot, setting)
• Some assignments may simply incorporate collaborative elements such as sharing ideas or data
• In Short Story Characters, students invent characters that others can use in their writing. Characters are added to a shared Google document.
• In the Miles Walked project, students and teachers enter their steps and miles walked into a shared spreadsheet.

Learning Resources. Teachers provide guided learning experiences.

• Templates. Search and adapt Google Templates. Then, build your own.
• Practice. Use tools such as Google Presentations for practice environments. Use Animal Math as an example.
• Tutorials. Use tools such as Google Presentations to create tutorials such as Sewing and Philosophers. Use Safeshare.tv to edit videos and get safe links.
• Pathfinders. Use Google Docs and Presentations to create pathfinders young people can follow for information inquiry and research projects. Explore Infectious Diseases for an example.
• e-Worksheets. Use Google Forms to create electronic worksheets such as Plate Tectonics and Jesters.
• Quizzes. Use Google Forms to create quizzes such as Homophones (document).
• Google Docs Self-Check Quizzes - Wonderful resource by Tammy Worcester.

Organized Access. Teachers provide organized access to materials through web-based learning guides.