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10. Create new documents fastHere's a trick from the Official Google Docs Blog [googledocs.blogspot.com]. Drag the following link to your browser's bookmark bar:New Document [http://docs.google.com/?action=newdoc]Select the bookmark to make a new Google Doc.

11. Open MS Word docs in Google Docs with FirefoxDownload the Google Toolbar for Firefox. Go to the installed Toolbar's options and choose "Tools". Tick the box labelled "Google Docs" and click "Edit". Tick the box labelled "Double-click a file icon". Save the changes and Microsoft Word docs will now open in Firefox.

12. Take it to the limitGoogle Docs files can be up to 500k in size with a limit on embedded images of 2MB. There's a combined limit of 5,000 documents.

4. Batch upload filesClick the "Upload" button, then use CTRL-Click to selectively highlight multiple files or SHIFT-Click to select a continuous list. Google Docs will put them in a queue and upload the lot.

5. Back up Google DocsYou can export multiple documents to a ZIP archive.

6. Synchronise documentsThe free personal edition of back-up tool Syncplicity [www.syncplicity.com] enables you to connect your Google Docs account with a designated folder, which in turn can be synchronised with a folders on your computer.

Commanders say that behind all the PowerPoint jokes are serious concerns that the program stifles discussion, critical thinking and thoughtful decision-making.

Senior officers say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information, as in briefings for reporters.

The news media sessions often last 25 minutes, with 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone still awake. Those types of PowerPoint presentations, Dr. Hammes said, are known as “hypnotizing chickens.”

Absolutely yes, we've seen tremendous success in our district through the SUSD SWATTEC program. We've done nearly zero training on the laptops themselves, yet students are using them for amazing things on a daily basis, and teachers have embraced them to the degree that they are regularly used all day, every day in the learning environment. Is it replicable? Absolutely. All the software and every detail is available in true open-source fashion on the SUSD SWATTEC web site. Six school districts in four states (that we know of) are doing it now, with great success.

When it was necessary for education to be performed face to face, a number of services were bundled together. When it becomes digital and online, this may no longer be the case, as we have seen in most content industries, such as music and newspapers (education has some similarities with content and also some significant differences). The first round of learning tools replicated the centralised model, but as the tools have become easier to use, and the methods for integrating them simpler, so this centralised approach seems less applicable. Clay Shirky (2008) argues that the ‘cost’ of organising people has collapsed, which makes informal groupings more likely to occur and often more successful:"By making it easier for groups to self-assemble and for individuals to contribute to group effort without requiring formal management, these tools have radically altered the old limits on the size, sophistication, and scope of unsupervised effort"Part of the function of universities is to provide this organisation, for example by grouping individuals together to form a student cohort who are interested in the same subject. But as this grouping becomes easier to do online, it becomes less of a valued function of the university - ie you don’t need to go to a university to find like minded people. Education then faces the same challenges regarding the cost of organisation that, say, the Encyclopedia Brittanica faced from wikipedia. Returning to the theme of this paper, Shirky’s argument can also be applied to technology, namely that the ‘cost’ of integrating technology has drastically reduced, meaning it is now feasible for individuals to do this, thus alleviating the need for centrally provided pre-integrated solutions. For example, we could reword the above quote to read:By making it easier for tools to (self) assemble and for applications to contribute to the environment without requiring integration, these approaches have radically altered the old limits on the size, sophistication, and scope of any individual to create their own environmentProjects such as SocialLearn, illustrate that the conceptualisation of a learning environment goes beyond technical, or even pedagogical considerations. In a digital society it comes to represent the institutional response to changes in the nature of knowledge creation, sharing, and participation, in short to the nature of education itself. Shirky argues that ‘when we change the way we communicate, we change society’, and the new socially based technologies we have today are doing this in fundamental ways. It is only by exploring their potential that universities can remain relevant to the society they are helping to shape.