I’ve been using Writely this semester to store all of the word processing documents I create in a typical semester: lecture outlines, reading quizes, a copy of the syllabus itself. It’s a web-based word processor that Google now owns. It is part of Google’s growing stable of web-based office/personal productivity applications. And it’s good stuff. Having all my essential docs in one place is incredibly helpful. It also allows collaborative editing, though this is not a feature I’ve explored.
I’m forcing myself, this semester, to write fairly structured lecture outlines. I’ve always done this to some extent, but this time I’m being a lot more disciplined and systematic about it. I find that it helps me structure my thinking about the stories I’m teaching. And it allows me to have all my quotations from the text or from secondary sources at the ready.