I am working on using Google Docs in my classroom, but haven’t really had a lot of success with it.
Caleb McDaniel gives a successful history assignment and asks for other suggestions.
Anyone have any good ideas?
the glory and the challenges
I am working on using Google Docs in my classroom, but haven’t really had a lot of success with it.
Caleb McDaniel gives a successful history assignment and asks for other suggestions.
Anyone have any good ideas?
I haven’t used it in the classroom, per se, as we are moving at too fast of a pace to slow down and wait for technology. But it’s going great so far as a tool for the group project. They all have to collaborate on their group project and using a Google Doc makes it possible so there’s a record of their comments, no papers to be lost, and they can work at it when it suits them, as well as when I reserve the libray’s computers for a work session. One young man is using what I taught him and using Google Docs in his other classes where he has group projects. I like that very much!
I’ve used google docs to create a class document. For example, when we are analyzing a film, I assign each student particular topics to watch (or listen) for during the screening. One student pays particular attention to setting, wind for example or windows and doors. Another watches for interaction between children and adults, and another listens to ambient sound and/or music. Then all post their observations to a google doc which is then available to everyone when they write their analyses.
When a class is working on a literary text in groups, each carefully reading a specific segment or answering a specific question(s), a google doc is a handy way of preserving all the information/analysis, etc., collected by each group, in an easily accessible document. In both of these examples, the students do not necessarily have to post to the document during class, but can post over a period of a day or two.
In another case, I put an open google doc on the screen, and asked groups to post in real time. They enjoyed seeing their ideas come up on the screen. This small “extra” seemed to energize the groups and encourage them to come up with postable ideas.
I recently read an interesting article about google docs. The author has a good system for organizing your assignments.
I used it successfully with a class doing group work on gender studies and magazine covers. I really liked how I could make comments on the student’s work, and when students responded I would get an email.
http://kulowiectech.blogspot.com/2011/07/google-docs-x-organizing-promoting.html