Lets Work Together

Collaboration is a great strategy to in the classroom. It allows students to learn from each other and to be able to evaluate their own learning progress. By the use of collaboration, students are able to work on a project where they can provide their own perspective, opinions, values, and thoughts which can bring a bigger idea to the project that working alone may not. Students are able to learn a new concept or way of looking at something when they collaborate on projects. Students also can learn different writing styles, vocabulary terms, or grammar use by working with students in their class. Collaboration is another way of expanding the comfort zone of student work.  

Teachers are always concerned about having students work on a project together because of time issues. Students have a full schedule as it is these days; asking students to get together outside of work can be difficult for many. And the results can be a poor planned project that is not up to the students who worked on its full potential. Google Documents (slang is Google Docs) is a great collaboration tool to use in the classroom that can aid in this dilemma. Students can work from any location; classroom, library, public library, home, or other location where they have computer access. This takes away from trying to plan the time to get together. Students can work on the document when they are available, not when the group is available.

Google Docs is easy to set up an account. Once the students set up an account they can begin to work on their projects. Then they would invite their partner to the document, which is private from all their other documents. This allows for students to have multiple collaboration projects going at one time. Students are able to take the same document and make improvement and/or changes to one document. The documents are backed up so if the students need to go back to a previous change they are able to. Students are also able to make comments to each other at any time and indicate the exact section they have the concern with. Students can communicated through Google Docs similar to doing it in person.

The big plus I see to working with Google Docs is, as a teacher you are able to monitor the progress of the students’ work. Once the students invite you to their document, as a teacher you can go in and make comments toward their work; suggest improvements toward their writing styles, grammar, vocabulary use, content, connection to the assignment, provide higher level questions to allow students to think beyond the obvious. And like the students, you can indicate the exact location of your concerns. This allows for great feedback for the students learning progress instead of having to wait to the end of the project. Students will be able to develop their literacy skills that they possess as well as learn from their peers and receive immediate feedback from their teachers. The feedback will allow the students to apply their new knowledge within their work and experience the results immediately. The teacher can make positive comment on the correct use and/or provide more feedback if not used correctly instead of waiting to receive feedback after handing the paper in, waiting for the teacher to correct it and then in many cases, never get the chance to make the improvements to see how it works. Remember our goal as teachers is to have student achieve within their learning, not about the grade. Google Docs is a great way to help guide students towards achievement.  

This video will give an overall view of Google Docs

I have a project coming up this semester for the students on Birth Defects. Students will work in pairs to research, write a paper, and give a presentation on their findings. This project is an example of how using a collaborative tool can aid in the production of this project. Students will be able to use Google Docs to complete their projects. For the research part, students can research the questions independently, go to Google Docs document and submit their answers and/or add to their partners answers, then write up the paper together. Students will work together to develop their literacy skills.

The next step for the students is to create a presentation to present to the class. But why not change this and have the students present it on a Wiki space, another collaboration tool. (Side note – Wiki is a Hawaiian word meaning fast) Wikis allow the same kind of collaboration on a project; private or public setting, saves the revisions of the documents, allows for comments. The Wiki space works in a similar way as Google Docs but in a Wiki space you are able to add visuals such as videos and photos. Adding visuals allows the project to go one step further by use of the same tool. The other plus to a Wiki space is that once the students complete their projects, they can open it up to classmates, school staff, and/or parents for comments on their work. This becomes a great feedback tool for students to help to enhance their literacy skills as well as their on-line skills.

 

Using Wiki vs. Google Docs as a collaboration tool to enhance literacy skills is a choice of the teacher depending on what is wanted for the outcome. Both work in a same manner although Wiki may take a little more time to set up the space, but not much and not difficult. Whatever is used, the benefits for the students to collaborate and learn from each other are invaluable.

What do you use in the class? How do you see a collaboration tool aiding in student growth? What fears, if any do you have about using these tools in the classroom? What can you tell me about these tools that I should know for my students?