Summer Quest: Google docs overview

As I research Google docs for my summer web2.0 quest, I stumbled on this quick link: Google for Educators. The site provides brief information on Google docs and its uses for educators.

I have used Google docs for professional collaboration but actually had not considered using it for student collaboration. Exploring this site made me wonder if this would be a good avenue for some of our 5th grade GATES projects. One aspect that especially caught my eye was the ability to to monitor and store student work. Additionally through the revision history, Google docs is able to show educators who

"contributed to what assignment and when; if a student says he or she worked on a given project over the last two weeks, it will be documented (no more "dog ate my homework" excuses)."

This has been one of the bigger problems for me in collaborative work--making sure that everyone is contributing to the project. The other is coming up with an appropriate rubric for assessment--but that is another topic for another time!

I've been trying to get permission to use Edmodo for my 5th grade GATES program for communication, polls, assignments, library, and other purposes. Would Google docs be a viable alternative if I cannot use Edmodo? Something for further consideration.