Google+Wave

===Google Wave is a new beta-version limited release by the online giant Google! It is their answer to the question of "what would email look like we were to invent it today, rather than more than 40 years ago?"===



Wave combines many Web 2.0 features into one package. At its heart is a live real-time wiki. In many respects, it elevates the wiki to a //**platform**// on which one can run many of the Web 2.0 applications we are examining in our workshop. Wave enables drag/drop of images, auto-creation of maps, easy insertion of all of the Google docs documents (surveys, forms, word-compatible text, ppt slide shows, spreadsheets, etc.).

One of the many useful features for higher education is the //**playback**// option. Just as any wiki has the option to "view history" of the edits in the document, Wave keeps all of the previous edits. But, in the case of Wave, you can playback those edits in a kind of frame-by-frame view (much like a movie). Imagine being able to playback an essay or research paper written by a student - seeing how it came together. You could comment during the writing process and see how the student responded to your comments and suggestions. For example, an English composition teacher could work with students in the writing and editing process.

One very good introduction to Wave (less than 8 minutes): **http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pgxLaDdQw**

The potential is enormous. Some of the most exciting waves at the moment - at least to me - are the public waves of faculty members around the world brainstorming together on the potential of the tool. We all are waiting for a quality third-party gradebook to be offered for wave. With that, we will have a complement of tools that exceeds those of most learning management systems - **//for free!//**

Imagine doing group projects or a small seminar in Wave. Imagine joining your class with another class at another university to do a shared module or joint group project for one or two weeks of your class.

So far, 100,000 initial invitations have been sent out - another four invitations accompanied each of the first 100,000 - so soon there will be half a million people using this technology. There is no public commitment on the date of open release of Google Wave, but many expect it to be publicly available early to mid 2010. In the meantime, third party developers are working to establish tools that will run on the new platform. Suggestions have been made that Wave will supplant Facebook as a leading platform. The Chronicle of Higher Ed even recently ran an article suggesting that Wave may replace the learning management system for some in higher education - especially in these difficult financial times.

Although most of us have been unable to go 'hands-on' with the Google Wave, the potential seems enormous. If you use a blog in the classroom you can embed a Google Wave and use it for a very interactive, multi-media discussion. One of the drawbacks of using a tool such as the Blackboard Discussion Board is that it is very linear and compartmentalized. Everyone has their own separate posts and each post follows sequentially. Interaction, while possible, can be stilted and artificial. Using Google Wave, however allows for more dynamic interactions, not only because of the multimedia capabilities but because of the fluid structure and open editing system.