Martin Spriggs

Was just relaxing on the couch basking in the glow of the San Francisco 49ers’ win over New Orleans (I’m a longtime Niner fan), and flipped on the Denver Broncos vs. the New England Patriots. I’m rooting for Denver not so much because I like the Broncos, but have been following the career of Tim Tebow — a very public Christian who has been heavily criticized for being so forthcoming about it. It was probably no accident then that Focus On The Family aired a beautifully done commercial simply sharing the words of John 3:16. You can see it below. Wow. Nicely done. Goes to show that you don’t need anything more than the word of God. Truly a means of grace. Precious!

John 3:16 Commercial

This is the 7th installment of my series on Chromebooks For The Classroom. So far I have covered almost everything but the actually computer hardware that the Chrome Operating System runs on. There are really only two choices right now, one from Asus and the other made by Samsung. The one reviewed here is the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 Arctic White WiFi.

First the specs:

• Processor: CPU Intel® ATOM Processor N570
• Speed: 1.66Ghz
• Memory: Standard System Memory 2GB
• Memory Type: DDR3
• Maximum System Memory Onboard: 2GB
• Display Size: 12.1″
• Display Type: LED (WXGA)
• Resolution: 1280×800
• Matt/Gloss: Non-Gloss
• Aspect Ratio: 16:10
• Speaker: Stereo Speaker
• Web Camera: Yes
• Internal Mic: Yes
• Storage: HDD 16GB SSD (mSATA)
• Connectivity: WirelessLAN 802.11 b/g/n
• I/O Ports
• VGA: VGA via dongle adapter
• Headphone Out: Yes
• USB Ports (Total): 2
• Multi Card Slot: 4-in-1 Memory Card Reader that supports SD / SDHC / SDXC / MMC
• Input: Track Point Touch Pad
• Touch Pad:  Buttonless type, Gesture Support
• Keyboard: Size Full-size (island style)
• Battery Hour Life: Up to 8.5 hrs
• Dimensions: (W x H x D) 11.6″ x .8″ x 8.6″

Nothing spectacular here. However, the test of any configuration is how well the operating systems performs on the hardware. And in my testing the OS/Hardware combination is a good match. You have plenty of ways to get data into and out of the system including 2 USB ports, and a SD card slot. You also have a speedy Solid State hard drive that has 16 GB of RAM available for users. You won’t want to use this as permanent storage, but it can serve to hold data for short periods of time until you can archive it to something more permanent. Because the components are “easy on the battery” the Chromebook can last for over 8 hours before it needs its battery recharged. You also have no need for any serious fan in the system as the Chromebook doesn’t get very warm at all. Another side benefit is that is is whisper quiet. Perfect for the classroom.

One big advantage this hardware has over most netbooks is the full size keyboard. I have rather wide hands and fat fingers. I find it very comfortable to type. The keys are very responsive. You will notice that there are no function keys…remember you only need keys that a browser would support. In there place are useful keys that a browser would use like forward and back keys, refresh, full screen, brightness and volume keys. And, oh yeah, there is no CAPS LOCK. Thank you Samsung. A key that should never have been invented. In its place is a search key. Nice.

The screen is a nice size with acceptable viewing angles. And a webcam sits at the top. It’s not of super quality, but it will do for most situations.

There are a couple of semi-negatives. One is the onboard audio speakers. Very tinny and not loud enough to be useful. I say semi-negative because rarely in the classroom would you want a student to use the speakers. Each student can plug in headphones. Another negative is there is no delete key, only backspace. Unfortunately they took their cue from Apple which doesn’t include a delete key either. You have to press the Alt-Backspace key combo to delete characters after the insertion cursor. You’d be surprise how many times a pc users might like to use that missing delete key.

The overall case design is attractive, and even though its plastic, it doesn’t feel cheap. The unit is very light…it seems lighter than my Macbook Air…and that’s light. I can’t vouch for its durability however. Since the product is so new, only time will tell. The good news is that all Chromebooks come with a 3 year replacement warranty. All in all I think the hardware is well suited for student use.

So far in this series on Chromebooks I have addressed setup, management, features, and even an onsite visit of a WELS Elementary School classroom using Chromebooks. However, the elephant in the room for many schools is going to be cost. I could have started there, but I wanted to evaluate the solution first before making a judgement call on value based on the price tag. I think we are ready to do that now.

Here are the facts and figures…

Chromebooks (either the Acer or Samsung models) are purchased directly from Google. There are currently two ways to purchase them: 1) A three year “lease”, or 2) An upfront purchase of the Chromebook and monthly subscription charges.

Google started with only one pricing model — as a subscription service directly to education customers, for $20 per month. Chromebook subscriptions extend for three years. After that period, customers own the Chromebooks; they can also choose to renew their subscription and receive new hardware. There is a 3G version for a little more a month, but I can’t think of a good reason to go with that option as it only provides 100megs of bandwidth per month. In a classroom setting, or even at home, they are going to need to be on wifi to be useful.

Google has recently decided to offer a second option which allows customers to buy the Chromebooks up front. The WiFi models sell for $449 and 3G models for $519. For educational customers who want to receive continued support on their Chromebooks as well as access to the administration console, Google is offering support contracts for $5 per month one year after the notebook has been purchased (i.e. years two and three).

So doing the math, option one (the three year lease approach) would cost $720 over the three years. Option two (the pay up front with monthly support fee of $5 after the first year) would cost $569. Either options provides the exact same computer, support and admin console functionality. The difference is the schools ability to front the money or spread out the cost over three years. It should be noted you can’t buy any fewer than 10 units at a time.

There are any number of funding options that come to mind…

1. Budget the needed funds. One trade off that might be possible is the money necessary to build and/or support a computer lab. As you do your budgeting, make sure you try to calculate the total cost of each solution. With a traditional computer lab you will have maintenance, software, replacement parts, keyboards, etc. Don’t forget to evaluate the potential savings with an online curriculum versus traditional textbooks as well. The Chromebooks have the books themselves and any fees you might incur for web app that isn’t free. In my review however, there aren’t too many of those. But you must also assess your wireless network and bandwidth, as it may not be able to handle the addition of classrooms full of Chromebooks.
2. Find a donor or donors. There may be individuals or families in your school/church with a passion for education and the technology that supports it. Grace Lutheran in Oshkosh had a large gift they used for their purchase. Be sure you understand the consequences of using one time money for an ongoing project however. You will need to continue to support the initiative that you have started.
3. Institute a technology fee. Many schools currently have a technology fee in place that parents pay as part of their tuition or school fees. The cost can be included in that, or at least a part of it with the school budget subsidizing a portion. In this scenario, you may want to consider if the students will be able to keep the Chromebook after the three years are up.
4. Fundraising by students or PTA organization. Some schools hold fundraising activities for purchases like this. There are many programs that could be used. The challenge with fundraising is that there will be constant pressure to raise funds each time new books are needed. You also then are implying that this is an “outside the budget” expense, which I believe is at odds with the place of these devices in a schools educational strategy and approach.

There are many other creative approaches to funding I’m sure, but from my perspective the best approach is to figure out a way to include it in your annual budget. If the school is committed to the tool and believes it to be an important part of the educational process, then it needs to be treated as such. Once begun the program needs to be supported in successive years. Chromebooks for the classroom should not be treated as a nice-to-have which can be pulled from the budget if funding is running lean. Either it is worth doing or not.

So there are a number of considerations when evaluating value versus cost and every situation is going to be a bit different. If you believe however that the Chromebook solution is worth implimenting, then do a thorough analysis of the total cost of all options. You may determine that a phased in a approach makes sense, or waiting a year or two until funds can be secured. Regardless of the approach, careful planning is needed, both to insure ongoing viablity, but also support by parents, faculty, leadership and the congregation.

You might have noticed that I didn’t include other potential 1:1 computing solutions like traditional netbooks or iPads/Tablets. That discussion is for another day, but in short, I don’t believe those approaches offer as much upside as the Chromebook…at least in my opinion. Many of those reasons I have already shared in previous blog posts. But they include ease of administration, seamless inclusion in classroom activities, and cost.

Tune in next week as I talk about the physical Chromebooks themselves — their construction and configuration.

Note: This week I installed and used an extension from the Chrome Webstore called ScribeFire to write this post. So far so good as it will allow me to write one article and post to multiple blogs. I’ll write up a more thorough review after some more testing.

A couple of weeks ago I outlined the numerous positives associated with a Web-based computing model in the classroom. “Living in the browser” is definitely doable! However, it’s not all peaches and cream. There are some rough spots when trying to live online. Let’s look at a few.

1. OK. OK. The obvious down side of living in the browser is that you have to have a solid internet connection. There are a couple of concerns here of course. One is the stability of your wireless infrastructure. Many of our schools have cobbled together Linksys routers and aren’t totally sure how to correctly configure them, keep them updated with new firmware, secure them or insure there is solid coverage throughout the building. A second concern is the amount of bandwidth available when more than a few students need solid speeds to get their work done. Cheaper/older routers struggle with too many connections. “Free” internet that some cable providers give to schools may not have enough bandwidth to support a whole class or two of students online at the same time.

None of these issues are show stoppers but they will require a knowledgeable network person (or consultant) and perhaps some funds to upgrade equipment or internet service. I don’t have any concerns about the Chromebooks ability to find and connect to any wireless network. I’ve been on many networks of different shapes and sizes without any issue.

2. The second possible negative of a Web-only approach to computing is that there are just some applications that aren’t available in a web app. Most of these are in the processor (both CPU and Graphics) intensive category of apps. It will be very hard to find a usable application that will allow students to do movie editing within the browser. This may be changing, but right now I haven’t seen anything that can do what iMovie or MovieMaker do. Part of the reason for this is that web apps can’t use a lot of local storage space to cache files.

The potential solution for this issue is to have a few desktop computers in the classroom that could be used for video and audio editing. If that isn’t possible, wait a 6 to 12 months and I’m sure programmers will figure out how to allow these kinds of apps to run acceptably in the browser.

3. The third is similar to number two and is app related. Web-based apps may not be as feature-full as their desktop alternative. As good as Google Docs or Microsoft Office Live are, they do not compare to the full suite of tools available in MS Office or even Open Office / Libre Office. Google has recently updated it’s Presentations tool, but there still is a gap between it and MS PowerPoint or Keynote. Having said that, students may not need the extra features. You will have to make the call.

4. Finally, the last negative in a classroom setting I can think of is that EVERYTHING you do requires a username and password. Almost all web-based apps need to know who you are. Thus your students will need to set up an account for each service they use. Currently there is no “single-sign on” that app makers use. Some use Google, some Facebook and other similar services, but the reality is that students may have to juggle (and remember) different logins (sometimes email, sometimes username, etc) and different password requirements.

That’s it for the “bad” of computing in a Web-only environment. There are probably others…printing comes to mind, but each school will have to weigh the goods and the bads and determine what works best for them. As you may have read in my last post, I visited a school that has successfully moved to an online-only experience quite well. However, that may not be for everybody. My next post will address the cost of implementing Chromebooks For The Classroom.

As I write this post I’m sitting in the back of the 7th and 8th grade classroom of Grace Lutheran School in Oshkosh, WI. Many thanks to the students there and Principal Peter Iles for allowing me to spend a morning with them to observe their use of Chromebooks. After their initial envy of my white Chromebook vs. their apparently boring black ones, they went about their studies as if I wasn’t there. A great environment to watch students, and teacher, use the technology.

Currently the students are spending some time with their Chromebooks using KhanAcademy to practice math exercises. Very engaged. Very smooth. Principal Isles plays music while the kids work and shows the Khan Class Statistics on the screen in the front, displaying a line chart of classroom performance as they answer questions on their screens.

Grace Lutheran School has about 130 students. The 7th and 8th grade has 16 students. They were the very first elementary school in the country to introduce Chromebooks into the classroom. They have had a number of visitors so far this school year interested in watching their progress including the area newspaper. Of course, Google is very interested in their experience as well. Principal Iles was invited to Chicago recently to share his experience with education technologists and teachers.

As they started math class, the students were instructed to get their Chromebooks from a wheeled cart in the back of the room with slots for each laptop with a powercord attached. The whole process took about 2 minutes, and another 30 seconds later the kids had opened their Chromebooks, logged in and were working. Zero disruption to the educational process. Very important and impressive. The “instant on” nature of a Chromebook makes it a much better startup experience versus other more traditional netbooks some classrooms are trying.

The students seem to be very at home with the Chromebooks. Some use a mouse, others just the trackpad. All seem to be fairly proficient at the keyboard. Gone are the day when later years of grade school are spent in Mavis Typing Tutor to get the hang of a QWERTY keyboard. They still have “typing” practice, but not many use the hunt and peck approach I remember. They still also have a paper and pencil handy for scratching out math problems, etc, so it helps that their desks are about 2.5 feet wide. That will be something to consider in whatever computing device you want to place on the students desks. When classroom activities don’t include the Chromebooks (but they might be used later), the students are asked to close the lids. None of the students seem to be distracted by their presence. Just another tool at this point…like a textbook. Very natural.

There is very little technical infrastructure at the school. Basically they have internet access distributed throughout the school via wireless routers. No large file servers or other enterprise level network gear. Content filtering is provided through OpenDNS which Principal Iles manages by simply opening and blocking sites as necessary. They use the free version of OpenDNS and so far it has been meeting their needs. Most of our elementary schools are going to be in the same boat. The person in charge of technology is usually a full time teacher, so time spent administrating a network with proxy servers, content filters, domain servers and active directory management is not in the cards.

Principal Iles did relate that a couple of days ago a student came to him with a Chromebook that clearly had issues. After trying to work with it, he decided just to wipe it, restore the OS and re-enroll the machine on their Google Apps domain. Presto. Problem solved. BTW, that whole process takes about 5 minutes. All the apps, etc. are restored along with. No further configuration or installations necessary.

Note: Thanks for the cookie (I’m talking a real one here) from the young lady celebrating a birthday!

The students are now in the midst of History class. Principal Iles asked them to open their Chromebooks and then use the “Cornell Notes” template from Google Docs. He has assigned a specific naming convention for their notes (i.e. 20-1), so they can all “be on the same page” when referring to their notes related to a specific class and topic. Again, the entire process from sit down to start note taking was about 30 seconds. Toward the end of the class each student was asked to write a lesson summary.

The teacher doesn’t share his PowerPoints currently, but is considering using the new and improved Google Presentations tool, which he would then share with the students. He tries to keep the slides fairly simple, which then encourages the students not just to type everything they see on screen, but also listen for important points and type those into their notes.

Now the students have “computer class” which starts with touch typing practice using a free app called Touch Typing Tutorial from Typing Club.com. This is still important to speed/optimize note taking and paper writing. Principal Iles then went through a worksheet on Password Tips. A great idea to have class time devoted to essential computing best practices. The assignment is to create three “strong” and “weak” passwords that historical figures might have created (i.e. Albert Einstein and Mark Twain). So Twain might have created Huckl3b3rryFinn (strong) and beckythatcher (weak). The students used their Chrombooks to search for and research historical figures. Wikipedia seems to be a popular resource. Nice mix of tech and history. Some of the kids came up with -!raccoonboyH<3boots!- and TrigrHapy3 (Davey Crockett and George Eastman respectively). Fun.

During their research one student stumbled on a site that had a video that was set to autoplay. She quickly stopped it, but I can imagine that happening quite often during surfing exercises. Just something to be aware of. BTW, the students do have headphones available if they want to play a video they find.

The students only use the Chromebooks while in class, but as most students have computers at home, they will have access to all their Google Apps files from their home computers. This prevents lost and damaged computers, but still allows anytime access to assignments, notes, etc. No need to allow access “into” the schools network. It’s all on Google Apps.

Principal Iles uses other tools to interact with his students including the built in email and even Google Talk/Chat to address questions from the kids. Over lunch with Peter I explored a number of other topics including printing, paying for the devices, the relationship with Google and many other topics that I’ll share in future posts.

For now, I’d like to again thank Principal Peter Iles and the students of his 7th and 8th grade classroom. You guys were great. I had a good time and learned a lot. Blessings on your continued use of Chromebooks and your growing in knowledge and faith!

Earlier this week I was able to secure a Samsung Chromebook and have Google essentially “emulate” the experience a school technology administrator and a student using the device might have. Normally Google will not allow an off-the-shelf Chromebook to connect to a Google Apps environment. So with a 30 day variance my objective with this project is threefold:

1. Determine the fit for our typical WELS classrooms considering a 1:1 computing initiative (primarily our high schools and elementary schools). This will include the budgetary impact and suggested ways to fund them.
2. Test the administrative capabilities of Google Apps and the Chromebook to see if our overworked technology coordinators will save time with a more centralized computing environment approach
3. Identify web-based applications that will serve as suitable substitutes for traditional (i.e. PC-based) applications used in classrooms.

Each blog post in this series will examine a different aspect of the project, but what I’m looking forward to the most is the feedback I hope to get from teachers and school technology coordinators.

Introduction
For those not familiar with the Chromebook or Google Apps, here are a couple of links to get you started: 1) Intro to Chromebooks and the Chrome OS, 2) Google Apps for Education. In short, the combination of a internet-only netbook and online web applications suggest a student computing experience that can be flexible and manageable by the teacher and school tech guru. This is not a traditional computing environment. It is entirely browser based — Google Chrome in this case. All content that is created needs to be stored “in the cloud” as the Chromebook has only limited and temporary storage. This also means that no traditional downloadable or disk-based application can be installed on the machine. So every application needs to be able to run in a browser. This, I believe, will be the challenge. As we go through the review, things will become a little clearer if you are still a bit fuzzy.

Installation
The setup process for starting a Chromebook and getting a student going on it right away is a snap. The school, of course, needs a Google Apps account. Refer to the previous link to get signed up. Any school can get one for free. This will provide email, document storage, calendaring, web sites, chat, etc. The school technology administrator will need to create accounts for each student who will be using a Chromebook. You don’t really need one laptop per child to make this work, but each child will need an account on Google Apps. One of the sweet things about a Chromebook is that anybody with an account can use the device with no fear of any security issues. The laptop is just a web browser and thus there are not files left on desktops or differences in applications. Therefore the laptops can be shared easily. It doesn’t matter which one the student grabs.

Before the laptops get distributed for use by the students the administrator will want to start each one and follow the setup instructions. It takes about 2 minutes (depending on whether the Chrome OS needs to be updated–it happens automatically). You will need to find the local wifi, enter the credentials for it, and then “enroll” the laptop. It’s a simple key combination and then enter in a username and password that belongs on the Google Apps domain. After that, just log off the machine and close the lid. When the student opens it for the first time, all they will have to do is enter their Google Apps username and password. Their desktops, applications and extensions will be all ready for them. I’ll write about how to set that up in a later post.

My guess is that the prep time per machine will be about five minutes tops. The domain setup will take longer depending on how much customization you want to do, but that discussion we’ll save for another day.

First Impressions
After one day with the Samsung Chromebook and just playing around with the Google Apps configuration settings, I will not have a lot of depth to my reactions. But here are a few…

1. The Samsung Chromebook is adequate, but not a powerhouse by any means. I’m probably not going to be able to provide a very balanced review as the only thing I really have to compare it to is the Macbook Air. The two are similar in size and weight, but that is about as far as it goes. Now the Macbook Air is about three times the price, and you can tell. The place where I notice the most is the screen, especially viewing angles. Having said that, I think the Chromebook is perfectly suitable for classroom and homework use. It seems durable. The keys are responsive, as is the touchpad. There are special keys on the keyboard well suited to web browsing–a search key replaces the caps lock, and browser type buttons (back, forward, full screen) have replaced the function keys.

2. One of my first challenges was trying to fine a tool to write this blog post. I do most of my writing on a Windows machine and absolutely love Windows Live Writer. It allows me to write one article and publish across the three blogs I maintain. Working within the Chrome OS I was unable to find an “app” that came close to providing that kind of functionality. To be fair, that grade of tool is also not available on the Mac OS X. I wound up simply using the built-in web-based authoring tool within WordPress. Two of my three blogs are WordPress based. The extra step of course is that I have to copy the content from one web site to another.

3. Setup was a joy and at first blush, the configuration of the domain and user preferences looks to be equally as easy. This will be key as an initiative like this must be administrator friendly. Admittedly the fact that everything is web-based can be a double edged sword, but in the case of centralized administration and user updates, this is the way to go.

Conclusion
Overall a great start. The hardware seems workable, the setup easy and the entire concept of cloud computing in the classroom intriguing. My next post will cover the Google Apps configuration process and how easy/hard it will be to configure a standardized computing environment for any student who cracks open a Chromebook.

My wife Debbie and I have been reading through the Bible in one year. It’s been a wonderful experience to do it together, and there is something special about reading it out loud. I will have to say however there are some very challenging parts of the Old Testament to actually read out loud. You probably all know the parts of I’m talking about. Yes, those sections filled with extremely hard to pronounce names. Here is a sampling from our reading this evening…

“Those who sealed it were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hakaliah. Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malkijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluk, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai and Shemaiah.” (Nehemiah 10:1-8)

You get the idea. While we do our best we have found that listening to someone else read sections like that is preferable – namely Max McLean via the Listener’s Bible. This audio Bible is available for MP3 download for $49. However it is free if you use YouVersion on one of many mobile devices including the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7 and Android. I’ve mentioned YouVersion before. Just a wonderful little application that provides the entire Bible in digital form, as well as reading plans, bookmarks, note taking tools, and more.

Once you happen on a chapter in the Bible that you’d like to have read to you, click on the microphone icon at the bottom of the screen and you will hear the beautiful voice of Max McLean. This is an excerpt from Max’s bio on the Listener’s Bible home page:

“Max McLean is President of Fellowship for the Performing Arts, narrator for the Listener’s Bible audio line, and speaker on the daily radio program Listen to the Bible which airs on over 670 radio affiliates worldwide. But he is best known for his theatrical presentations of The Screwtape Letters, Mark’s Gospel, and Genesis. Each of these has received critical acclaim in a wide array of publications including the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.”

He is good and provides a depth to the reading that you will enjoy. What’s more…he seems to have a good handle on Hebrew pronunciation! I would highly recommend giving him a try.

You can also listen online to any selection by using the Bible Gateway website at: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/audio/.

Of course there are many personal uses for an audio bible, which could include downloading the entire recording and playing it in your car each day on CD or MP3, using the 1 Year Bible Version, or simply playing selected passages as mentioned above. Beyond that however there are some other more public ministry uses that include:

• playing selections for your classroom or catechism class,
• using the recordings as background “music” in the narthex or other church locations,
• providing copies to shut ins or those with vision difficulties,
• as a pronunciation guide for some of those difficult names of people and locations,
• to assist with Bible passage memorization
• as a giveaway to visitors or confirmands,
• and the list goes on.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our very own Through The Bible in 3 Year audio podcasts read by retired Pastor David Witte of Fond du Lac, WI. Those can be found at http://www.wels.net/streams/podcasts/series/through-my-bible. These take a somewhat slower pace through the Bible, but allow you to listen through the Bible in 5 to 10 minutes a day.

Audio books are very popular these days as we often find ourselves in situations that we can’t really open a book and read (in the gym, running/walking, in the car), but can still listen to God’s word in some ways via a very similar delivery method as was practices in ancient times…having it read to you. Enjoy.

This post is a part of the Summer 2011 WELS Hacker series on the WELSTech Podcast.

Most of you are probably familiar with Google Docs – Google’s offering for cloud-based word processing docs. It’s OK, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could get those familiar Microsoft Office programs in the cloud? Well, now you can. There are cloud-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote all available…for free (with Project and Visio coming soon). Let’s walk through how to set this up.

1. The first thing you will need to do is sign up for a Windows “Live” ID with Microsoft. Just go to http://www.live.com and click on the Sign Up button. Fill in your info and you’re set. If you have ever used Hotmail, MSN Messenger or XBox Live, you already have an ID.

2. Now with your freshly minted ID, login to live.com. You will see all kinds of social options. For now you can ignore those. Later you can hook up Facebook and all kinds of other things to the account, but right now we are interested in the link at the top called SkyDrive. SkyDrive is your hard drive in the sky. It can hold up to 25 gigabytes of data AND it supports the cloud versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. I should say at this point that the cloud versions of these applications don’t have all the features of their big brother computer based counterparts. However, they are just fine for general word processing and the like. If you have Microsoft Office on your computer you can sync documents back and forth, or go into the full product for some serious editing. It should be noted it doesn’t matter if you use a Mac or PC, or what browser you are using…although Internet Explorer is recommended.

When you hover over the SkyDrive link, you will see a listing of everything you can store on your SkyDrive – photos, documents, as well as the ability to create new documents. Go ahead and click on “New Word document.”

3. Give your document a name and hit “save”. You may have noticed there was a link called “change” next to “sharing”. We’ll come back to that.

4. Now you are in full on edit mode. You will see the edit window and the all too familiar ribbon toolbar. Go ahead and write your novel, or sermon, or lesson plan.

5. Once you are ready to save, all you have to do is click on the little save disk icon in the upper right, or click on the File tab and click save. It saves it to your SkyDrive for future access. You may have also noticed the “Open in Word” option at the top. If you have Word installed, go ahead and try it. Once you hit save there, it saves the document back to the SkyDrive by default, where Microsoft takes care of backing things up for you. Even if you use advanced editing features like footnotes, etc. they are saved to SkyDrive as well. You can’t edit them online, but you can “Open in Word” at any time to continue your advanced editing work.

6. Now about sharing. This part is really cool. Click the File tab and then “Share”. You can use the slider to share this with different groupings of people, or you can type in email addresses of those you’d like to share the document with. They will need to have a Windows Live ID as well. But once they have that, they can come in to edit the document with you…at the same time if you like. You will see what they are working on, and they will see your edits. This even works if you both open up the document in your local copies of Word. This works for Excel and OneNote as well.

Give it a shot. Microsoft has done a nice job of bringing their popular Office suite to the web. There are many other features I have not even touched on, but I’m sure if you kick the tires yourself you will begin to see the possibilities.

This post is a part of the
Summer 2011 WELS Hacker
series on the WELSTech Podcast.