Gauging G+

I've been a Google Plus "user" for quite some time but only in name. Sure I had an account but I've not really gone out of my way to use it. G+ has largely been yet another social media site that while I had an account hadn't wormed its way into my daily life, however due to class Google Plus was brought to the forefront of my attention.

History of Google Plus

Google Plus if you didn't happen to know is Google's latest foray into social networking. The service was widely launched to those over the age of 18, in September of 2011 after an invitation only beta testing. The launch of G+ initially captured large amounts of attention but that seems to have cooled a bit in recent months as people are still trying to decide why they should migrate from Facebook, the perceived rival of the service.

What does G+ offer?

Google Plus has three major components. First, is the "Stream." The Stream is simply a newsfeed of all the people you're following. Second, is "hangouts." Hangouts are a video chat service that allows for collaboration between you and 9 other people at once. Finally, there's "Circles." Circles are Google's way of organizing your contacts. Through creating circles, the user can not only organize contacts but also set limits on what to share with certain groups.

Additionally, G+ has the usual social media bells and whistles such as users having a profile page and a way to share photos. The photo album is actually quite nice since it's based on Picasa and it allows the user the ability to edit photos as well as creating albums, adding tags and commenting.

Impact on Education

The big question is what impact does Google Plus hold for education? Will Google's new service be the bridge that finally allows social media a proper way to the classroom?

Certainly, Google Plus has some value and it is easy to see how its ability to facilitate communication and collaboration could be harnessed in the educational setting. The tools best suited to this purpose are "Circles" and "Hangouts."

The circles feature lets the user craft custom groups of users with which to share particular sets of information. Teachers might use this ability in any number of ways. Some ideas include, creating a circle of parents with which to share information that is of interest to the entire group, like a daily homework message or upcoming test announcement. A teacher could use the feature to help organize book clubs, study groups or to manage a group project. Hangouts allow similar features and can even allow students to discuss ideas outside of class, further these same students can keep minutes of discussions using Google Docs since it's integrated. This makes Google+ a grand addition to 21st century learning tools as it greatly enhances both communication and collaboration, two of the 4C's.

Google+ is not without its disadvantages. Students need a Gmail account in order to gain access to G+. This means students need to be 13+ which limits the tool's use to mostly high school students. Also, Google+ is a social media tool and there is a good possibility that it will be blocked by many institutions due to fears of security and privacy.

The Verdict

Google Plus can be a very handy tool which I believe will only get better over time. Google is clearly dedicated to seeing G+ succeed where earlier social networking ventures have not. The desire to uproot Facebook as the number one social media tool, "Chromebooks for Education," and the ascendance of the Android smartphone OS means Google has more motivation to succeed than ever before. There can be no doubt that G+ will continue to be refined and provided social media becomes more accepted in education, Google will be well-positioned to take advantage of the trend. The major hurdle for G+ it appears lies with schools, government and the public determining how we want students learning in the 21st Century.