Evaluation of Communication Tool:  Gmail

CRITERION	SCORE (1-3)	NOTES
Learning Effectiveness	2	- Provides real world experiences - When combined with teaching, the application extends the student’s learning
Reliability & Support	3	- Student is able to access the program with no support - Efficiency in speed and design - Easy to correct errors
Ease of Use	3	- Program automatically saves work - Students at all levels are able to learn the tool easily - Student can use several applications within one tool (video, communication, presentation, audio)
Safety	3	- Ad free - Individual login - Secure environment - Class roster to share work & interact with other users
Technology Requirements	3	- Unlimited free student & staff - Can lead to simultaneous collaboration on projects, documents - Web-based - Use on multiple platforms:  laptops iPads, iPods
Curriculum	1	Non-applicable

One of the best and simplest tools for communication I use with my 5^th and 6^th graders is email.  I know compared to so many sophisticated Web 2.0 tools available, this one seems very simplistic, but it has proven to be essential to learning.  I use email to message my students any time of day.  Frequently, I’ll receive a student email in the evening that I’m able to respond to immediately, which truly helps the student. 

Students can use their school emails to communicate with anyone on the Internet.  Maybe we’re researching an author or public figure where emailing to obtain information gets to the recipient immediately rather than in the past when we were all dependent on paper mail.  In order to write emails students must rely on their language arts skills for communication.