Google Drive As A Digital Library

Google is becoming the most popular platform in education. Many of the school districts I’ve worked for or with are using Google Apps for Education. This gives every person in the district access to Google Drive, but it seems an under utilized resource.

Most people use Google Drive as a Microsoft Office replacement. They edit documents, spreadsheets and occasional share a file. But it can do so much more.

Every school has a library. The library should have a digital catalog through a shared Google folder. It can be organized by grade, topic, class, or however you want. This would give students and teachers the resources of the library in a searchable, always available system.

The folder could be populated with public domain books, audio files to use in projects, videos made by other students, or code snippets. Google Drive can handle just about any file type you can think of. And all these files would be curated by the librarian and staff. Ensuring it’s appropriateness for the student body.

Student could easily find sound effect to use in a video project. Administrators could share a daily video announcement. Teachers could upload cheat sheets and extra practice for lessons. All things that could be access by everyone in the school and used over and over again.

I haven’t seen this implemented in a school wide system, but would like to hear about it if you know of any. Leave a comment or find me on Twitter.