Sharing Resources and Knowledge: Google Docs

I'm fortunate to work with a group of colleagues who are all very interested in integrating technology into their classes, though each of them is at a slightly different place in terms of tech skill and comfort. Of our group of six, two of us have been working on the Dig Co-Lab project; the others know this (and one has now signed up - welcome Aliscia!) and are always curious about what we're learning and creating and how they can apply technology in their own classes. In order to help everyone along, I suggested that we add a half hour to our weekly staff meeting for technology sharing. I started things off with a session on Google Drive.

I chose to start with Google Drive because a couple of us had started extensively using the Google apps, and I thought that there were some classroom needs and staff communication needs that the Drive tools could address. I chose to focus on two things: the features of Google Drive documents, and using the Google Drive app on the iPad.

The feature of Drive documents that I think is most useful for communication with students and staff is the ability to share and edit documents - even in real time. It took only a few minutes to demonstrate, and people immediately began thinking of uses for this type of collaborative document. For students, Drive is great because the document is dynamic. Rather than uploading a static document to Moodle for students to access, for example, you can link the document to Moodle. That way, if you edit the document (say, from one term to the next) students will link to the most recent version of the document without the need to update any files in Moodle.  Also, students can be given sharing rights so that they can add to or edit the document, which opens many possibilities for group projects, collaborative writing, etc. Among staff, we've been creating meeting minutes in Drive - one person takes meeting minutes, then saves the document into a shared folder. During or after the meeting, others in the group can add to or edit the minutes. This takes pressure off the notetaker and requires no emailing or saving of notes.

What really makes Drive useful for the classroom or meeting is the ability to access documents from nearly any device, including the iPad via the Drive app. The app has it's limitations (you can open Presentations but not edit them; there are fewer formatting tools for documents and spreadsheets in the app, etc.), but for those of us who use iPads in the classroom, it's a great tool. I demonstrated how I create documents and presentations to use during my class - thanks to my iPad and Drive, I know longer use an overhead projector and rarely use my doc cam or classroom PC. I've heard a lot of complaints from other teachers about how finicky doc cams are, so everyone appreciated having an alternative method for projecting worksheets, diagrams, etc.

What I did not have time to demo in this first tech workshop was how I import my Drive presentation slides into an app that allows me to annotate the slides - that will have to wait for another day!

New Term, New Student Survey

Last term I created a Google Forms survey for my reading students so that I could assess their reading skill, comfort, and habits, and gather some basic information about their goals. Students accessed the survey through Moodle and completed it during the first week of classes. This worked well for me as an instructor, because I was able to quickly get a sense of who my students were as readers and gather information that helped me decide how to focus my class. For example, I learned that while I had some GED students in my class, the majority of those students planned to go on to take the LCC placement test. Knowing this, I was able to set up a term plan that included some GED-type questions, but a greater focus (especially at the end of the term) on Accuplacer practice.

The other thing that I really like about using the Google Form is that after the survey results are in, Google Drive can generate a graphic summary of the data.  I went over this with the class once everyone had completed the survey, and it lead to discussions about reading preferences, anxiety, and goals. Seeing the similarities and variations among the group was really valuable to students, who often have trouble seeing other students as a peer group and may not know how they fit in to the group.

This term, I'm teaching only math, and I wanted to collect similar information from my math students. I also had a second goal, which was to collect up-to-date contact information for students. To do this, I created a Google Form similar to the Reading Survey, but with questions about contact information and preferred means of contact. Students again accessed the survey through Moodle during the first week of class. Results for Google Forms compile in a Google Drive spreadsheet, so when all of the surveys were completed, I was able to assess the data and print out a contact list for my own records. I was then able to share some of the survey summary with my class (I took out data for the questions relating to contact information) so that we could discuss the range of previous experience, math anxiety, etc. in the class.

I imagine that I'll continue to adjust this survey over time, but I feel like I've created a useful tool that I can continue to use in my classes for many terms. If you'd like to see the survey in full, click here. If you'd like an editable copy of this form, email me and I will send you a copy.

Reading Survey with Google Forms

One of my biggest challenges when it comes to integrating technology into my classes is keeping my digital life streamlined. Always in the back of my mind is a concern about introducing too many applications / passwords / websites / etc. into my own digital workflow; I try to be especially mindful of what I ask of my students. This is difficult for me, as there are so many cool resources out there, and I want to try them all! Ideally, I'd like to have one online "hub" that connects multiple resources behind the scenes - thankfully, Moodle works pretty well for this, and I've been learning more about connecting and integrating resources into Moodle.

One way in which I've streamlined my digital world is by trying out different digital resources in different ways with different classes, and seeing which ones "stick" - those that are useful and user-friendly enough to support content rather than overwhelm content are those that I continue to use. The other way in which I've streamlined recently is to switch over to the Google family of applications rather than using the Office Suite, Dropbox, and a host of other applications. I don't love everything about the Google world, but the convenience and connectness outweigh the downsides for me. Most recently, I've been experimenting with Google Forms as a platform for surveys. 

In the past I've used the free version of Survey Monkey, which is easy to use but limits surveys to 10 questions. After watching Barbi's video post on using Google Forms for quizzes, I decided to create a survey using this platform. For this first form, I decided to create a reading survey that I can use with my Core College Reading students at the beginning of the term. Previously, I've given a similar paper-and-pencil survey in class, but I wanted to digitize this for several reasons. First, I wanted an activity that would help introduce students to Moodle. Second, I wanted an easy way to compile and display the responses to the survey. Creating an online form accomplished both of these tasks. 

Creating the form went very quickly. The Google Forms interface is intuitive and easy to follow. I found that the tools were adequate for what I wanted to do, though I did wish for a larger response box for "other" responses. (I think it's easier for students to type a longer response when they can see all of their text on screen, as opposed to having it scroll through the box.) The most time-consuming part of the process was typing the questions and options. 

My favorite thing about Google forms is that I can revise and update my form whenever I like without having to upload another document or change the link in Moodle. I will definitely make use of this tool again in the future.