Maximizing Classroom Collaboration Using Web 2.0 Technology

TLT Group

www.tltgroup.org

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center www.utmem.edu/nursing

Specifically, using Google Docs & Spreadsheets …

or …

As some like to say …

Your facilitatorsCynthia Russell: Professor, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC)

Heather Carter-Templeton: PhD student, UTHSC and Instructor, Mississippi University for Women

Wendy Likes: Assistant Professor, UTHSC

Stella Nwokeji: PhD student, UTHSC

Reba Umberger: PhD student, UTHSC and Research Coordinator, Memphis Veteran Affairs Medical Center

Steve Gilbert: President, TLT Group

Our Qualifications on this Topic: We’re avid users of technology in ways that help learners and teachers attain positive outcomes. Plus we’re avid users of Google Docs and Spreadsheets!

Web 2.0 Technologies

Emphasize online collaboration & sharing among users

Wikipedia’s description of Web 2.0:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

Wikis – Wikipedia, TikiWiki

Blogs – Blogger, WordPress

Social Bookmarking Sites – del.icio.us, BlinkList

Web-based applications – ThinkFree, BaseCamp

Google Docs and Spreadsheets

Resource Web Page

The TLT Group has prepared a resource page from one of their sessions that highlighted Google Docs & Spreadsheets. You’ll find this at:http://www.tltgroup.org/oli/20070309GoogleDocsEdUsesResources.htm

We have created a Google Doc to accompany this presentation. It’s located at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg5jm3fj_2g97c5g

The document is published so that anyone can view it.

Would you like to be a collaborator on the document and work within the document? If so, send an email with your name and email address to cynthiakrussell@gmail.com to be added.

Session objectives

Describe benefits & obstacles to collaboration. Whether among students, among faculty, or between students & faculty.

Identify online tools that support collaborative work. Particularly collaborative work on a shared document.

List examples of specific uses of GDS to support collaborative teaching & learning. Identify examples from your classes or work where a collaborative environment such as this is useful.

Determine how to evaluate whether or not to use GDS for certain educational situations. Dependent on your instructional goals or context and characteristics of learners or teachers, etc…

By completing this session, you will be able to:

Definition

Collaboration - (kuh-lab-uh-rey-shuhn) n. the act of collaborating. Working together for a common end.

Latin roots: “to labor together.”

What do we collaborate on?

Manuscripts

Grant proposals

Presentations

Classes

Group projects

Papers

Other things

How do we collaborate?

In the past, more slowly & at more expense:

Postal mail documents

Telephone calls

21st century collaborators often use:

Emailed documents

Skype or other VoiP service

Now you!What are some strategies that you’ve used to:

Collaborate with Colleagues & Other Professionals

Collaborate with Students

Now you!Rate how well your collaboration strategies have worked (overall or specifically)

Why don’t our standardcollaboration strategies work well?

Multiple people

Multiple versions of material

Retaining material

Limited access to most current material

What students want in collaborative projects…

Anytime access to the most current version

Ability to use programs they already know

Ability to retain all versions, in case of the need to add material back in

Automatic saving, just in case they forget that important step

Ability for faculty to identify contributions of the various group members

Now you!What collaborative activities do youuse in classes?

Papers?

Presentations?

Other things? (please describe)

Consider how well these collaborative activities work – for you as faculty or as student!

Programs Facilitating Collaboration Skype – computer to

computer calls

FolderShare – file sharing

Stickam – synchronous video

TalkAndWrite – synchronous document interaction

Tikiwiki (or others) – collaborative creation of materials

Google Docs & Spreadsheets – centralized storage of documents for editing by multiple persons

Now you!Have you usedGoogle Docs & Spreadsheets?

Yes NoI love it! I had some

issues with it.

I’ve heard of it, but didn’t think it would be useful.

This is the 1st time I’m exploring it.

With colleagues

With students

Specific use of Google Docs & Spreadsheets in a Class Qualitative Research Methods.

Graduate hybrid class.

Met F2F once/month. Otherwise online.

Group work with 3 students/group.

Qualitative Research Article Critique.

Group project with student co-construction of document to be turned in.

Qualitative Research Proposal.

Individual student development. Group members required to comment/edit. Other class members invited to review/comment.

Google Docs & SpreadsheetsAnytime Access

Internet connection

Your time

Your place

Convenience

Working students with conflicting timelines

Immediate access to latest version of document

Google Docs & SpreadsheetsFamiliar Interface

Some similar icons to commonly used word processing programs

Mouse-over reminders for what each icon allows users to do

Sometimes exported document to Word for formatting – from Google to Word and back again sometimes created problems

Tables were sometimes problematic – both within Google or when downloaded to Word

Spellcheck sometimes caused problems

Google Docs & SpreadsheetsRevision History

Maintains a history of revisions

Easy to compare revisions

Can quickly locate and open any version

Can get “busy” if you don’t clean up comments

Google Docs & SpreadsheetsAutomatic Save

Automatic saving of document every few seconds

Author able to click save at any time

Author also able to discard changes so that the revision isn’t kept in history (only in documents, not spreadsheets)

Some issues with multiple people trying to edit document simultaneously

Will show editing even if people merely have logged into the document and have it minimized in browser

Google Docs & SpreadsheetsIndividual Contributions Viewable

Each person’s contributions noted by:

Unique color

Username

Date

Time

Google Docs & SpreadsheetsEasy to Set up & Add Contributors Click the Collaborate tab at the upper right-hand corner of the

screen to add individuals

Invite people to either

Collaborate – editing privileges

View – see the document’s progression

People you add are sent an email with the document’s unique location

Some issues if person has multiple emails in Google – consolidate!

Now you!Brainstorming about the use of Google Docs & SpreadsheetsConsider:

Instructional goals

Institutional/instructional context

Characteristics of learners

Characteristics of teachers

Resource Web Page

The TLT Group has prepared a resource page from one of their sessions that highlighted Google Docs & Spreadsheets. You’ll find this at:http://www.tltgroup.org/oli/20070309GoogleDocsEdUsesResources.htm

We have created a Google Doc to accompany this presentation. It’s located at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg5jm3fj_2g97c5g

The document is published so that anyone can view it.

Would you like to be a collaborator on the document and work within the document? If so, send an email with your name and email address to cynthiakrussell@gmail.com to be added.

For more

Resources from the TLT Group

If you want to go into this subject more deeply, …

Resource page for an earlier session on Google Docs & Spreadsheets:http://www.tltgroup.org/oli/20070309GoogleDocsEdUsesResources.htm

CheatSheet - Additional tips developed by Bonnie Hunter of TLT Group (this is, itself, a Google Doc!)http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ajcxc7jhbwxg_30dvc7rb

INTERACTION - OPTION What are your favorite educational applications of Google Docs & Spreadsheets?  What are their educational implications?  Please answer briefly as a comment to this TLT-SWG blog posting:http://tlt-swg.blogspot.com/2007/03/fridaylive-google-docs-spreadsheets-5.html

Resources from Barbara Millis on cooperative learning:http://www.idea.ksu.edu/papers/Idea_Paper_38.pdfhttp://www.tltgroup.org/resources/rmillis3.htmlhttp://www.tltgroup.org/gilbert/millis.htmhttp://www.tltgroup.org/gilbert/cooplearning.htm

For more

Reviews of GDS Official GDS Web sites

Home page of Google Docs &Spreadsheets (GDS):docs.google.com

If you want to go into this subject more deeply, …

Great review of GDS by Bill Webb:www.lockergnome.com/nexus/windows/2006/10/16/google-damps/

Tour of GDS:www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html

GDS blog:google-d-s.blogspot.com/

PC Magazine’s review:www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2032345,00.asp

CNET’s review:reviews.cnet.com/Google_Docs_Spreadsheets/4505-9239_7-32115919.html

Google for Educators:www.google.com/educators/index.html

Clothing the Emperor Myths

Everyone likes to work/learn in teams and knows how to participate well

Most students do not like to work/learn in teams and they do not know how to participate well

Clarification

Neither extreme is accurate – as usual!

Some students worry that other, less conscientious teammates will unfairly benefit

Some worry that their own contributions will be irretrievably distorted or lost

Some faculty worry that they will be unable to determine who contributed what to some document – especially if team members argue about that!

Constructive Alternative(s)

LEADERSHIP: Faculty et al. must take responsibility for guiding, supporting team work/learning

TOOLS: Google Docs & Spreadsheets (and others) can help with key problems, make some activities easier; need to be realistic about limitations, too.

for your participation!We hope you’ve discovered some

ideas for innovative uses of technology to support collaborative learning and projects.

In addition to this live presentation and the Google Doc we prepared, we are also hosting an asynchronous discussion in this conference on our topic. Please join us there with your ideas and questions!