Using Google docs – part 1

I really enjoyed Todd’s online google doc session last week – thanks so much for making it at a NZ friendly time Todd 🙂

It prompted me to think about how I use google docs and also how my use has developed over the last few years.  This first post on the topic looks at how I have used  them for coordinating the work of a virtual development team and also for the control of assessments of a f2f class.  In part 2 I will look at how I actually use them interactively in the classroom.

The first time I thought to use them was in an attempt to coordinate a virtual team that I was leading in 2008.  We had gained funding from the NZ government to investigate the potential of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) for NZ tertiary education (the SLENZ project).  We were building two learning experiences in Second Life and I needed to coordinate the work of  around 8 people who were scattered around New Zealand and occasionally in Australia.  Ensuring that we were all using the latest version of our design documents was a nightmare until we hit on google docs.  One document could be used to bring together the work of the IT designers and developers, the tester, the educator, the instructional designer and the project leader.  Not only that but it provides us now with a wonderful insight into how we worked this development.  An example is here and it is worth having a quick scroll through.  (If anyone is interested in knowing more about the development of this project, you can find it here)

After this, I used google docs for myself and for collaborating on a couple of research papers with colleagues but I didn’t extend it into teaching until I saw  a  presentation of this paper “Using google docs for the early identification of ‘at risk’ students”  at our local IT educators conference in mid 2010.  The light bulb was suddenly switched on with one of those – ‘of course – why didn’t I think of that!’ moments and the use of google docs has now become a mainstay of two of my classes.

First of all I use them to control all assignment work in one of the courses I teach.  The students create a google doc in the first class and enter their basic information.  They identify the work that is required by the three assignments and put headings in.  They are then asked to copy in the URL of the blog posts that they do and want assessed as they do them.  I assure them that I will not undertake any assessment of their posts until the due date of the assignment, but that of course I will be reading their blogs and looking at the ones that they are choosing to have assessed.  Here is an example one such document.

This way the students are not constrained in the blogging as they know they will have control over which ones will contribute to their grade.  For me it is the best of both worlds – students don’t become too concerned about putting up a ‘not so good’ post and I get to read them as they happen – at the same time, the students have to make their own decisions about what is likely to be the ‘best’ of their work for assessment.  It also allows me to see who is getting behind, who needs encouragement and who is leaving it until the last possible minute!

At the point at which the assessment is due, I make a private copy of the student’s document and use that as the definitive assessment copy which allows the student to continue working uninterrupted on their own document.  I also use a google doc as my assessment sheet which I can share with other staff members as appropriate and finally share with the student.

Becoming a transparent learner

Sunday morning here in NZ and rather than spending a long lazy morning relaxing, I have been pulled deeper and deeper into some fascinating reading on pedagogy.  (I do have a life, but it tends to sleep in on a Sunday morning!).

One highlight was coming across this post about transparent learning from George Siemens.  It resonated with me on many levels but I was particularly taken by his suggestion that making one’s own learning transparent is useful to other learners.  I would go further than that I think and suggest that as a teacher making one’s own learning transparent and accessible to students  can be incredibly valuable.  If nothing else it is provides insights  on how the learning process happens and provides a role-model of personalised learning that my be more relevant to them than any number of ‘study skill’ tutorials.

Learning how to learn, learning how to find answers and reach decisions are skills that we (as teachers and parents)  are expected to pass on – opening a public window on our own processes is one way of doing that.

And yet my natural inclination is more along the  “formal ‘reach a conclusion and publish’ model ” rather than the ‘put ideas out for discussion and dissection’.   I suspect that this inclination is the result of my fairly traditional academic education and too long spent subscribing to the model of peer-reviewed publications!  I know that I constantly encourage my students to ‘get blogging’ – ‘just put your ideas down’ – ‘get a conversation started by asking for and responding to comments’ and yet I am not very good at doing that myself.

So my first learning in this course ?

• become a more transparent learner myself,
• don’t be scared to put forward my half-formed thoughts and ideas,
• don’t wait until I have a solid evidence-based conclusion before I venture an opinion,
• participate in the dialogue rather than lurk on the periphery……

an excellent revelation for a Sunday morning! This post of course is the start!

What do others think of being a transparent learner and how can we encourage similar behaviour in our students?

*grins