Google Docs

[The Innovative Educator]

Please share questions, comments, and ideas about how you are enhancing teaching and learning using Google Docs in your content area.

[Keith Elgart]

Since I've stepped to the outside of the system, I do not use Google Docs in a content area... but here is how I use Google Docs and similar apps... showing that these are tools utilized outside the classroom in the real world in which these students will live/work in after they are done with school.

I have multiple installation teams and many, many schools all over the state of NY needing installation - we use the Spreadsheet application to post all data about each school so we can see the schedule we need to create. We continue to add information as we confirm details with schools, we attach pdf's of walk-thru sheets, and more... we color code installs so that we can map out locations to create efficient routes and paths (using Google Maps) seeing driving distances and more to create the most effective schedule.

We also utilize a hosted service (Basecamp- http://www.37signals.com) for meetings and other interactions - this keeps to-do lists, discussions, writeboards (like google docs), milestones (project management), chat (for when we want to connect in real time from distant locations) and a file repository.

There are lots and lots of other usages - and some that I would like to implement that I have not as of yet... but to recap, my favorites (the ones most useful to me) right now are:

Basecamp
Google Spreadsheet
Google Document

The ones I am looking at include:

Backpack (also from 37signals)
Highrise (also from 37signals)
Freshbooks (www.freshbooks.com)

Many of these include a free level of usage, so they may be worth checking out...

[Jeff Branzburg]

Keith:

I see in your post that you attach pdf's to google docs; how's that done?

Thanks

Jeff Branzburg

[Keith Elgart]

Jeff - i'll write up a quick step by step for this and post it.

[The Innovative Educator]

If you have access to laptops for all your students, you can use Google spreadsheets in place of student response systems (some call them clickers). Simply put your student's names down the side of the sheet and questions across the top and Wah lah. You can instantly have your students provide their answers. If you're interested in having students vote or rate something just have them place a number in each cell and have the spreadsheet calculate.

[Keith Elgart]

That sort of works/replaces the clickers... but there are many extra steps then in a teacher calculating the data for the class and making 'real-time' decisions on that data. There is also no anonymity which is important for some students. Not many like to get instant feedback tied right to their name viewable on EVERYONE's screen as to how they are gettng incorrect answers, or have a different opinion than the others, etc...

A nice 'middle of the ground' solution to implement to kind of tie in both ideas without more and more hardware is the 'virtual clickers' that are mini-apps installed on laptops/pda's/etc... this way, a student has a response system that ties into the larger classroom response in real time, but can do so from their laptop or mobile device without having to have an additional clicker... but, we've seen for one reason or another (and i get this direct feedback from teachers and from teacher center folks throughout the area, not only NYC) that the students really like having the clickers. Some sense of empowerment and a level of anonymity in responding.

[The Innovative Educator]

I think the clickers are great for classrooms where every child doesn't have a laptop. I'd love to test out the mini-app you speak about for classrooms who do have laptops.

I agree with what you say about anonymity, but there are situations where this isn't a factor. When it is a factor I've seen teachers set up systems where the teacher has set up 30 anonymous Google accounts with fun names i.e. names of celebrities, musicians, etc. and then randomly assign the accounts to students by having them pick the account name out of a hat. The student then is the only person who knows who they are. This takes work on the end of the teacher, but only once and once they get into the swing of doing this it can really take off.

[Keith Elgart]

that's good to do because there are plenty of scenarios and times where students should not have everything specific to them be public (ie - a student that may be having a lot of trouble in a content area always having their answers visible and wrong to the whole class).

How do you tally up the student responses to see right/wrong, % understanding, etc in the google spreadsheet? Are you writing formulas in the end rows/column that convert a correct multiple choice selection? How would you check the Wrong Answer Pattern Analysis? How would check on the distractors and percentage of students who went for a specific wrong answer? Is this easily done with formulas inside the spreadsheet?

If there is a way to utilize the data easily right within the spreadsheet, then that certainly is a great usage of the tool. I am just not picturing how the answers the students give is easily translated to data useful for immediate usage so clarification would be appreciated (and useful for others to go ahead and jump right in a give it a try)...