Google Drive allows students to work together in or on the same document, slidedeck, spreadsheet, or website project at the same time.  "Same" means a single file as it exists on the web, not copies that would later need to be combined or reconciled.  This is much more efficient than having students work in separate .docx or .pptx files, to later have to combine their work to hand it in.  Previously, we identified group project as a key element that extends social presence in online coursework.  For this, Google is second-to-none.  

This works because files in Google Drive, unlike files on your hard drive, are "hosted" on the internet.  "Hosting" means putting files on some computer or "server" somewhere, that people across the internet can access.  This Google Site is hosted on (probably multiple) servers scattered throughout Google's vast dominions.  By contrast, other data is hosted in servers owned and operated by Canisius College.  

(When you see advertisements for "web hosting," that's what this means: you can rent space on the web to build and run a website, for example.  Institutions like Canisius College run their own web spaces, and rent others in various forms, such as D2L or Qualtrics.) 

Google Drive has a series of applications within in it, including:

• Google Docs, a word processor

• Google Sheets, a spreadsheet builder

• Google Slides, a slidedeck creator

• Google Sites, a website builder.

All of these allow students to work together on the same project at any time or at the same time.