Tools for Creating, Editing, and Sharing Resources

Creating, editing and sharing documents has never been easier. There are a range of institutional and third-party applications that you can use to create effective learning resources for your students.

Want to work collaboratively?

Use Google Docs to build documents, presentations, spreadsheets and more with as many as 50 people, in one document, at one time. Google Docs has many features that can help you and your students (and you and your colleagues!) work together:

  • Automatically saves your file to the cloud;
  • Keeps a second-by-second revision history;
  • Embedded text-based and video chat options foster synchronous collaboration;
  • Streamlined commenting system allows for excellent asynchronous collaboration;
  • Files can be downloaded and saved in a range of formats, including .docx and .pdf;
  • Single account also provides access to spreadsheets, presentation slides, forms and a drawing program;
  • Presentation slides can be used with iClicker;
  • Links to Google Scholar to automatically add citations.

Need to format or style a document in a particular way?

MS Word is one of the more robust word processing programs available. It lets you control paper size and orientation, margin size, fonts, colours columns and more. You can also use this program to insert and edit images, tables and charts. Word is also available for free to all U of T faculty and staff. Some of Word’s key features include:

  • Large range of document formatting options, including fonts, themes and styles;
  • Integration with citation management tools to quickly add references and bibliographies;
  • Track changes option for asynchronous collaboration.

Want to share information quickly with your students?

Use Blackboard to post information online.

  • Paste directly from Word or Google Docs;
  • Immediately share content with students, no need to upload files;
  • Ability to track views and determine how may students have viewed the content;
  • Immediately available to all students in your class.

Need help? Need More Information?

Find information on Blackboard at the UTM Library’s website.

Getting started with Google Docs:

Getting started with MS Word: