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Archive for July, 2011
Introducing Google Docs To Your Class: Tips for introducing online collaboration to students 1 of 3
129 months ago
In 2008 I was invited to write a series of blog posts for the Official Google Docs blog. I have decided to repost them here to highlight some of the challenges I faced at the time and in an effort to help you, not only with the use of Google Docs but also other online collaborative tools.
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Modelling expected behaviour and good practice first
As our first Google Docs project began to gather pace last school year, I realised that the children were finding it difficult to work together. With hindsight it is easier to recognise that the children were not only being introduced to a new piece of technology (the Docs tool) but also their traditional way of working was to be challenged by the new concept of working collaboratively in an online document.
It was clear that the children were unsure about the way they should be working together. They were each working on their own laptop and it was not the technical side of things that they struggled with, it was the fact they were expected to interact with others in their group as well as use a screen. I found it very useful to model the process. Just as I would if I were showing the children a style of writing in Literacy or a type of stretch in PE. I worked with a colleague on an example document and gave the class a running commentary as to what we were doing. As we worked we talked to each other and I underlined some of the key features of what made that short demo collaboration successful for us.
I think that every class of children will respond differently to the challenge of working together in an online doc, but it proved incredibly valuable to our classes to model what is expected of them. In September, I’ll have a new class and I will be keeping in mind this idea from the outset. Another idea would be to encourage the students to demonstrate the concept to the class – this is much harder to show but valuable nonetheless. I will be planning in time to model the technical and communications side of working together and also reflective time with the groups throughout the project to discuss and review the process of collaborating.
Introducing group collaboration: entire class, working in pairs, and groups of four
With the 9 and 10 year-olds in my classes, I found it valuable to take small steps towards an open collaborative project with 4 or 5 group members. As I introduced Google Docs to the class, we began to work together on documents that everyone could contribute to, revealing the ways that it worked and how it updates. In many respects this could be labelled as modelling the process that the children will in turn use later on. It proved valuable to be able to prove the concept to the children in a simple “step in, step out” controlled type contribution, nothing protracted. We added ideas to a large grid within a spreadsheet, with the children being told to choose any cell to write in – you could also invite them to fill in some information about themselves next to their name in a class list document. This single contribution to a whole class document was our first step.
It was followed by children working together in pairs on one document – a laptop each, sitting next to each other and sharing the document between them both. Finally the children worked in a larger group of 4 in a more lengthy collaboration as part of a Geography project. I believe it is important to progressively build up to bigger group collaboration and for this coming academic year I will be taking the same approach in developing the children’s collaboration experience over the first 6 weeks of term.
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Next: It’s About the Communication Not The Tool
Filtered Image Search Within Google Docs
29 months ago
It has probably been around for a while but I have just spotted the Google Image Search within a Google Document. But more significant is that the images are automatically filtered according to a commercial re-use license. Whatever you find there will be acceptable to use.
You can see how the image search box within Google Docs works below and I have highlighted the small note explaining the license.
This is of course just one small part of a process of understanding attribution and content usage for students but could be an important little tool for teachers and pupils. Once an image is selected it shows you the website that the image has come from.
Google explain a little more about this change from the Learn More link you can see in the images, saying:
When using the Google Image Search feature in Google Docs, your results will be filtered to include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes and modify it in ways specified in the license. Only select images that you have confirmed you can use legally in your intended context, including with appropriate attribution if necessary.
Once you Select the image it is inserted into the document without an attached link or attribution. This is still a step students will have to do manually which is actually a good thing.
Unfortunately the image search and subsequent filtering shown in this post is only in Documents at the moment and not in Presentations which would be really useful. No doubt things will become more consistent soon.
10 Steps to Kick Start Your Twitter Network
2010 months ago
When you join Twitter it can seem a strange little place, with it’s own rules and secret ways. Having helped many people make a start I wanted to share some of the key things to help you early on so you can tap into the huge potential a Twitter network has. Here are my 10 steps:
- Profile
This is about setting out your stall and saying to the world what you are about. Personally I look for involvement with education in some form or reference to other stuff I am interested in. Make sure that your profile, including a picture, is well updated as it helps others who might be looking to connect with you decide to follow you or not. Add a link to your blog, if you have one, so we can read a little more about you. - Jump IN!
Profile sorted, now just get started. Most people will look at your profile alongside what you have tweeted about recently. Write about how your lessons have gone, a great website you have used today (add the link, everyone loves looking at new web resources), a good digital camera you have in school, problems with your network, revelations from your pupils. Anything really, just make a start!
- Follow people
For me Twitter is all about making connections with fellow, often like-minded, professionals, so find someone you know or whose blog you may have enjoyed reading for a while and explore who they follow and who follows them. Then explore someone else’s follower list etc etc. When you look at someone’s Twitter profile you will be able to see the people they follow and those who follow them, with a few clicks your network will grow. - Piggyback
Give your network a kickstart by asking someone with a whole heap of followers to put in a good word for you. Piggybacking in this way will open up more networks for you to explore and teachers to follow. Just be sure to follow back those that have followed you if you are happy to. - Reply
Along with putting the word out about yourself, engage with people directly by replying (@ before their username) and direct messaging (D before their username – private). If you can help or offer advice of your own then do so where you can. You might be asking for help in the future. - Where else?
Remember that Twitter is just one part of a broad online network – make sure you spend time exploring other tools such as blogs (WordPress and Posterous) Google Plus, Plurk etc You will see that these social networks overlap, you will see different types of people and conversations taking place. All good. - Hashtags
These are little tags we use on Twitter to label different tweets. By adding a hashtag that update is added to a conversation that may be running in real time like #ukedchat or just a topic based tag that is more of a collection of tweets like #classblogs. By using these labels our tweets will be seen by more people, even if our network is small. If I am interested in science and I search on Twitter for #science I will see all of the tweets labeled with that tag. I may or may not have those people in my network but I will see their updates. Hashtags are a way to organise and filter conversations on Twitter and also a good way to discover interesting people to follow. - Blog links
Explore the blog links people share on their Twitter profiles and see what these people say about their work in more than 140 characters. Also look out for Twitter badges and widgets on blogs you read regularly. They will normally appear in the sidebar saying “follow me” and will lead you to their Twitter account. I think it is equally interesting to see how eloquent bloggers distill their thoughts to 140 characters as it is the other way around. If you have a blog you should think about adding links on your Twitter profile. - Worry less
Once things are up and running and you have followed a whole bunch of people you may start to worry what you are missing. Well don’t! Many people have described reading Twitter updates like trying to drink from a fire hydrant! Sometimes it can feel like that, you will no doubt adapt and adjust the ways you interact with Twitter as you continue to use it. I see it as a constant stream or flow of information+ideas which I interact with when I am there. When I turn away… c’est la vie. - Perservere
In the early days of Twitter use it can be very quiet, few replies, not much going on in terms of conversation. Do not be discouraged – try to perservere and stick it out and keep using it, soon enough there will be a “tipping point” when the connections you have make reap a bountiful information harvest.
Twitter is whatever you want it to be – it is a great place to start building a Personal Learning Network but not the only place. It is your personal choice how and if you use it.
Your profile is key as it sets your stall out clearly from the outset, especially if this is to be a professional network. I hope you have enjoyed exploring some of these ideas and they help you make a start!
Good luck and see you on Twitter!
This is an updated version of 5 Things To Get Your Twitter Network Off The Ground (2009)
Will Google+ Encourage us to Sidestep Serendipity?
3510 months ago
Since leaving the classroom I have had the opportunity to read more widely then I have done at any point over the last 10 years. The work I am doing now takes me down paths including design thinking, business, social media and of course education. It is the variety of new domains of information and perspectives that I have found so engaging.
Not only have I been able to work with and immerse myself in ideas from outside of education but I have begun to see ways learning can benefit from them.
I have seen Twitter grow and grow into a huge global tool for educators. However those of us using it are still, for the most part, in the minority. However difficult it is to admit it, teachers using any digital tool to connect with fellow teachers are still in the minority. The prospect of a new social tool, such as Google+, was hugely exciting to see. It was great to start in a fresh space with the customary intuitive interface we have come to expect from Google products. So all rosy? Well not quite.
My main concern is a key difference between Twitter and Google+. When Twitter users connect with each other they basically ask themselves is this person interesting or in my line of work? Yes = follow. We all have our different methods but I suspect that covers most people. When I look at those people who have followed me on Twitter recently I can see very quickly (on a single page which I can just scroll up and down) what they do from their profile and just click follow if a) they interest me or b) they are in education. That’s it.
Importantly with Twitter there are no ways to target your messages to groups within those who follow you, it is an “all in” sort of method. My updates go to designers, teachers, classes, professors, executives, artists, whoever makes up your network. Do I think this adds value to the replies and perspectives you gain? Absolutely.
With Google+ Circles are we creating silos of information? By saying to users, “do you only want to share with those that find it 100% relevant?”, are we in fact encouraging a narrowing of perspectives? What about those that might find it 60% relevant? Or whose current project makes it highly relevant to them, but perhaps not at other times. Of course we have the choice to make things public in Google+ and the choice to have different circles, but Twitter’s default broadcast state is always set to public. An open style of sharing is not a choice.
Perhaps targeted sharing, in the style of a Google+ post, will just give me what I always get. The isolation of ideas, fuzzy-warm acceptance but nothing to challenge them. Alternate expertise has no way of peaking in or seeping into the reaction.
Of course this idea of cross-fertilising ideas from different domains has a strong history with, for example, Innovation Time Off or 20% time from Google or bootlegging product development at 3M that led to the early concept of the Post-It note.
I think I will probably not use the Circles feature of Google+ because I think that I will be limiting the reactions I get and actively avoiding the opportunity to connect with other professionals who could add a valuable perspective beyond education. I still prefer a model that is more open by default and puts the responsibility of information filtering on the consumer, not the producer of the information.
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Pic Back of Beyond by violscraper
New Early Years Foundation Stage Framework Viewed as a Wordle
510 months ago
by tombarrett
in Curriculum
Thanks to Steve Philp for sharing this interpretation of the draft Early Years Foundation Stage Framework which will be implemented from September 2012 and until the end of this September is under public consultation.
I have a pretty close understanding of the EYFS after spending some time in that age group and getting through a county profile moderation. It is interesting to see the intention to slim the framework down. From the Department for Education
A new, slimmed down early years curriculum for 0-5-year-olds, more focused on making sure children start school ready and able to learn, will be introduced next year under changes set out today by Children’s Minister Sarah Teather.
Responding to the Tickell Review of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the new framework radically reduces the number of early learning goals from 69 to 17. It focuses on three prime areas of learning critical to making sure children develop healthily and happily. These areas form the foundations on which children can then master the basic literacy skills they need for school.
Steve’s Wordle interpretation cuts through the gloss and acts as a good simple look at the language used which does help for us to see the overall theme or language trend. At my previous school the headteacher got into the habit of running policies and other planning documents through a Wordle to quickly look at the main focus on the piece.
As Steve Philp points out with regard to the below image - Interesting that ‘children’ and ‘must’ are the two biggest words…
I am not so surprised “children” appears so large, but the word “must” feels a bit odd in this context, and seems largely out of place. I’d be really interested in your reactions and those of current early years teachers to the proposed changes and to the Wordle itself and what it implies about the language and phrasing contained within it – why not leave a comment.
