Topic 7: Collaboration and Cloud Computing

My opinion of Google: One of the first things written about Google in this week's Moodle topic: "most people either love or hate Google". I love it! I've had nothing but positive experiences with Google. I love Google docs as a collaborative tool for group projects (both as a student and a student teacher). I love Google scholar as a research database. I love using Google images/maps/earth. I'm currently in a C&I course for Social Studies, and we've talked a lot about Google Earth as a Social Studies tool. 

• Google Drive: As groups of PS students, we've had Google Drives as a place for everyone to drop their assignments/resources/unit plans for everyone else to access. 
• I even got to experience Google Classroom in my PS1 - and it was great! Students could work on their assignment in a Google Doc, and "submit" it to me. I could respond with feedback that they'd see, send out group messages, etc. One thing that I noticed about Google Docs and grade 6s: they really struggled without automatic spellcheck! Word underlines any spelling or grammatical errors, something that Google docs does not. It was quite the learning curve for the students to have to think about it on their own!  (Note: As I read the topic, I write as I go! I typed up this part about Google Classroom before realizing that it's discussed in the topic as well. The Moodle topic does a much better job of explaining the features than I did!)
  

Google Hangouts: 
What possibilities does Hangout offer for collaboration between classrooms? 

• If your school had a sister school in another country, you could use Google hangouts to connect with that school to learn more about their culture, country, and curriculum. 
• If your school had an exchange program, you could have a Google Hangout with students from you school and discuss and share their experience in another country. For example, at my PS2 school, a few of my students were preparing to do a month-long exchange with their sister school. 
• If you had pen pals, or e-pals, it would be neat to meet your 'pal' via the Internet.

What are the risks?

• Technology issues would be a risk, in my opinion. During our Google Hangout, I experienced technical difficulties as it was pretty delayed, and I was unable to contribute to the conversation because I was hearing it a minute after it happened. Also, for whatever reason, I didn't have the same features accessible to me as the other students did. If I were more familiar with the tool, I may have been able to fix it. I think that if I were to use this in the future with students, I'd have to be very familiar with troubleshooting the tool before using it. 

Are there privacy concerns?

• During the Google Hangout for this online course, we briefly discussed that the privacy concerns associated with students using Google Hangout in their homes or bedrooms. I think that if this were to be an implemented tool, you'd have to be very clear with the expectations in order to minimize any concerns. 

Is this appropriate for Elementary? Junior high? High school? If yes, what uses are appropriate for each level?

• I think it could be appropriate at every level when implemented properly, like with my examples above. You could even get in touch with an author whose book you're studying, and have a Google Hangout/interview with them. I think it's a resource that could benefit your students when used properly!

What type of information would you provide to the parents?

• I would offer up the times and links to each of the hangouts to parents, so they could be present for the Hangouts if that is something they'd feel more comfortable with. It would provide parents with the means to monitor, if necessary. It would also get parents familiar with this tool if it's something that would be continually used within the classroom. 

Visual Collaboration in English: I've mentioned this before on this blog when we discussed Pinterest. In PS2, while reading Hunger Games with my 10-4 class, we worked on dystopian/utopian collages. I would have loved to incorporate Pinterest - and had students create a "dystopia" board and a "utopian" board. It would have been easier than the traditional cut-and-paste collage format. However, I'm not sure how we'd be able to visually display their collages/boards like we did their collages. Perhaps a screen shot of the board and printed? Or, perhaps I could have made a Pinterest-esque graphic organizer, and students could print their images (on Mac, if you open images in 'Preview' you can print images all of the same size) and glue onto their hardcopy Pinterest board, which could then be displayed in the classroom. 

Significant Comments:

• http://michelleosborneblog.weebly.com/journal/online-collaboration
  
• http://marywauters4764.weebly.com/blog/collaboration