Google Drive is a service we’ve touted before, because it represents a powerful, cloud-based alternative to Microsoft’s Office suite; but Drive offers more than what it has developed in competition with Redmond, WA. Drive can be connected with a tremendous variety of apps, giving you the ability to produce everything from floor plans to mind maps.

In many cases, there are several apps available in the Drive marketplace for accomplishing the same task, with more always in development. This pluralism encourages experimentation for finding what works best for you. One thing to note: A few of the apps do not have infrastructure for collaboration, as you might expect to be standard with Drive apps. In just about every case, however, there is an alternative which does have collaboration tools.

I have worked with each of the apps detailed below, and return to using many of them with regularity. Each of them does offer collaboration, and is what I would consider to be a choice option for you to begin with in your exploration of Google Drive’s apps options.

Refer to this week’s teaching tip, Additional Google Drive Apps, for coverage of four of my favorite apps which can be added to Drive in this manner.

Chris Malmberg

Former Member of the UAF Instructional Design Team