One of the many reasons Fordham University uses Google Apps for Education is the robust possibility for collaboration and sharing documents. Recent updates to real-time mobile commenting on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides now make working on shared files even easier.
These updates to Google Apps are available across all mobile platforms via the existing (but updated) Google Drive app. Simply download the Google Drive, Docs, or Sheets apps and begin sharing your files with others.
To use real-time mobile commenting, create a comment. Then invite someone to the discussion by adding the person’s name somewhere in your comment. When the app suggests the correct person, tap their name and add their email address.
If you want access to someone else’s document but don’t yet have permission, Google prompts the document’s editors to give you access, and then notifies you that you’ve been included in a conversation. All collaborators can then read comments as soon as they are posted.
In an earlier blog post, we delved a little bit into how Google Apps for Education have transformed teaching, learning, and administration at Fordham. Mobile commenting adds to that transformation. With mobile commenting, students can work on projects together. Faculty can easily share and update assignments and syllabi. Staff can work on presentations and other documents in groups. There’s no need to wait until you’re at your computer: these activities only require an Internet connection and can be done anywhere, at anytime.
Read more about the mobile commenting update in PC World’s article, “Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides mobile apps embrace real-time commenting,” by Blair Hanley Frank.