EdTech 541 Relative Advantage of the Basic Suite

When I saw the content for this week and read the words Basic Suite, my mind immediately went to the Google Suite family. I had to remind myself that prior to the G Suite family, the basic suite had been around for some time. While the Microsoft products were the "go to" product for some time (and are still around) there were even earlier iterations that I remember using back when the screens were green and the discs were large and floppy. 

Relative Advantages of Basic Suite

Quality: The first relative advantage that comes to mind for me is the improved quality of both instruction and the improved quality of student submissions. In the Basic Suite, I can consistently create professional looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations for my students. I'm able to create templates for any number of needs (rubrics, assignments, etc.) and can modify any of the work without having to start over or use white-out to remove information or fix mistakes.

The students, in turn, are able to create higher quality projects and turn in a higher quality of work. When I first started teaching I dreaded having to decipher the hieroglyphics that some students turned in to me when they submitted written assignments. The word processing in a Basic Suite allows students to avoid the issues they may face with sloppy handwriting. Students can use other components to share data and present information with their classmates in ways that would have been hard to replicate prior to the availability of the Basic Suite software.

Access: In the past, only students with a home computer or access at school were able to consistently use the Basic Suite for classwork. With the introduction of Google Suite into the picture, it has opened up the possibility of using productivity software for students. A student can now access their classwork in any location where they have a device and internet capability. I have students in my classroom who access their classwork at home using a tablet or smartphone at times. In addition, students have discussed working on classwork at their parent's place of work, the local library, and many other non-school locations. The advent of the G Suite means that students can no longer state that they forgot their work or that they lost the assignment. It is stored online and is accessible to them (and me) at any time. An additional advantage is that students can share their work with each other with a few simple clicks to aid in collaboration and peer reviews.

The ability to share and collaborate with colleagues is another component of access that the G Suite offers. I can work with colleagues at my school, across the district, or in other places to refine lessons and build curriculum that we can use. I no longer carry around a USB drive or stacks of paper to meetings as I can just grab a Chromebook and accomplish a higher quality of work with less effort. I get feedback from my peers without having to interrupt their schedule or class. I can work on lessons at home or grade students papers without having to physically transport anything. It makes my life so much easier.

A last component of access to discuss is that previous Basic Suites (Microsoft for example) were "pay to use" products. You had to have a license if you wanted to use their tools. G Suite is free, which eliminates another hurdle for my students and their ability to access tools for schoolwork. 

References:

Roblyer, M. D. & Hughes, J. E. (2019). Integrating educational technology into teaching: Transforming learning across disciplines. New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.