Instructify

Imagine the scene: you’re at your computer adding the last touches to that tome of an essay you’ve spent weeks (or hours) on, happily doing a final read through. You have that glorious point of completion just in your sights. Confidently, you guide the arrow towards the “print” command. Unfortunately, your word processor has chosen this precise moment to embody the persona of an uncooperative two-year-old and refuses to acknowledge your repeated pushing of keys, your muffled curses, and pathetic pleas. You could panic. But luckily there is Buzzword, Adobe’s new online word-processing program. With this free and simple web-based word processor, you can store, edit, and print documents with ease from any computer with an internet connection.

Once you establish an account, you can upload documents from your computer or create documents on the site itself. The site is easy to navigate with clear markers for printing, uploading, editing, and sharing documents. Not only can others view and edit anything you choose to share, you can also meet in an online chat room facilitated by the website so that multiple people can work on a document at once.

A fantastic resource for high school and college age students, Buzzword can also serve as a great teaching tool to use with middle and elementary school aged children. Rather than having students turn in their work in hard copy, teachers can allow their students to upload and share their essays and make all necessary comments and edits online, thereby saving paper and preventing the necessity of having giant teacher bags to carry loads of student work. Teachers can be both environmentally conscientious and look good doing it (which is what teaching is about, after all.) Also, with its built-in web chat tools, Buzzword can be useful for group projects. Each student could upload his/her portion of the assignment and the group as a whole could put it together in real time without having to meet in a specific location.

Buzzword has many possible uses both for the classroom and for the individual student. If you’re a fan of Google Docs, Buzzword will make you swoon with delight. So sign up, upload, and happy writing. -TUA CHAUDHURI

Adobe Buzzword

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