About
PARACHUTE Collaboration is an addon to Google Docs™ and adds protected, room-based collaboration to Google Docs™ for instructor-led training. It gives instructors a controlled way to let students communicate during classroom activities without requiring personal phones or separate messaging applications. By keeping collaboration inside the assigned Google Docs™, PARACHUTE helps participants stay focused while instructors manage who can communicate, which rooms they can access, and how long messages remain available.
Administrators prepare each activity through the PARACHUTE administration portal. They select and register a Google Docs™, approve participants, create collaboration rooms, assign room membership, and configure room access and message-retention settings. A registered document can support multiple rooms, allowing separate teams to collaborate during the same training exercise.
Participants open the registered Google Docs™ and select Extensions > PARACHUTE Collaboration to launch the sidebar. PARACHUTE displays only the rooms assigned to the participant’s signed-in Google account. To join a room, the participant enters a display name, the assigned Personal or Shared Access Word, and the room’s five-digit PIN.
Once admitted, participants can exchange short-lived messages with their assigned group without leaving the training document. This allows instructors to incorporate team discussion, problem-solving, simulations, and collaborative exercises into a structured classroom session while reducing the distractions associated with external communication tools.
Administrators remain responsible for participant enrollment, room assignments, access settings, message retention, and authorized recovery. PARACHUTE works alongside Google Drive's™ existing sharing controls. Registering a document with PARACHUTE does not grant access to the underlying Google Docs™; participants must also receive the appropriate Google Drive™ permission.
PARACHUTE is designed for managed workshops, classroom activities, facilitated exercises, simulations, and other instructor-led environments where participants need focused, controlled collaboration within Google Docs™.
Google Docs™ and Google Drive™ are trademarks of Google LLC