Maybe Google Should Take Over the World, or at Least Education...

I have become increasingly reliant upon Google docs in my personal life and it has become the tool of choice among my friends and I when planning activities such as our weekly Pathfinder game. While trying to decide on a topic for this weeks blog post, I suddenly had a flash of insight and it became clear that the single most underutilized tool in the 21st Century classroom might very well be staring us right in the face... Google Docs.

What is Google Docs?

Google Docs is an easy to use web-based productivity suite that operates much like Microsoft Office. Google Docs users can create documents, spreadsheets and presentations but with the added benefit of these materials being saved online using your Google account. Google Docs also features built in file sharing and collaboration options.

How can Google Docs be utilized in the classroom?

Google Docs can be used in the classroom with students in a variety of ways.

• Easy group collaborations: Students can share a single document to record their ideas and contributions on group assignments. This might encourage students who are shy to speak up. Also since the document tracks user edits, teachers can check to ensure all group members are participating.
• Create quizzes and tests: Teachers could use the Google Docs as a tool to conduct testing eliminating the need for papers and even for a certain degree of grading. This is mostly through a forms feature.
• Provide feedback for writing: Students could share their work with a teacher and the teacher could offer feedback through the commenting options.

Google Docs could also be used to increase productivity of teachers. Some ideas here include:

• Collaborate on a document with other teachers: Just like the students, teachers can collaborate as a group to plan any number of activities from an awards day ceremony to an interdisciplinary lesson across several subjects.
• Lesson planning: Google Docs could serve as a repository for lesson plans. This would make the plans living documents as they could easily be updated as new ideas or new information needed to be added. These lesson plans could also be shared easily to help out new teachers.

Benefits to using Google Docs?

There are a few benefits to having students use Google Docs that should be acknowledged.

• Online storage from Google: This was mentioned before but it's worth pointing out that students will be able to easily modify their documents or continue work from class at home with ease using Google Docs. Students will no longer have to worry about how to transport their files to and from school nor will teachers have to worry about how the students will submit assignments.
• Cross platform support: Google Docs being a web-based service means that any web browser will allow access to your documents. There will be no worries about conflicting versions of Office software once the student gets the files home, nor will there be any compatibility issues due to OS (Mac vs. PC vs. Linux) differences.
• Security: Google Docs is a secure service and users need access to be able to view files. This should help with any legal issues concerning student privacy.
• Cost: Google Docs can be cheap depending upon how a teacher decides to deploy it. Districts would want to subscribe to Google's services but a classroom teacher with the assistance of parents could have all their students access Google Docs for free.

Acceptance so far?

Sadly there seems to be little information on how many teachers or students are already using Google Docs. This number is likely to rise as Google continues to roll out their Chromebooks for Education program. Chromebooks are laptops designed to utilize the Chrome browser to offer internet and apps to users in a safer more manageable environment. Early numbers show that hundreds of schools across 41 US states have at least some Google presence, it was not stated what percentage of these schools are K-12 vs. colleges.

Implications for 21st Century

I believe Google Docs to be a great tool for 21st Century Learning. The collaboration tools offered by Google Docs alone makes their use in the classroom worthwhile, but depending upon how these tools are used the possibilities for addressing multiple 21st Century student outcomes are staggering. Four C skills will develop as never before as students find creative ways through collaboration to display their mastery of subjects. Repeated use of Google Docs will allow students to develop a deeper sense of how to use media and we will even be able to see their development as creators since they will be able to look back at their earlier works.

Meanwhile, teachers will also benefit in the realms of professional development and curriculum and instruction. Teachers will be able to craft more in depth learning experiences for their students by collaborating with other professionals. Imagine how much a first year teacher could learn from a veteran teacher willing to share their Google Docs files and imagine the time saved since those files are online rather than in a dusty old file cabinet.

Is Wikipedia the Future of Education?

Ever visited Wikipedia? According to the Pew Research Center, over fifty percent of adult Americans reading this have. Wikipedia is the most widely known example of "the Wiki." Today's blog entry will discuss: what wikis are, how wikis can be used in 21st century learning environments, potential considerations when making a wiki and where you can go to create your own.

Wiki 101:

The term wiki comes from the Hawai'ian language, where 'wiki wiki' means fast. This will make perfect sense once you see a wiki space in action. Pages use a stripped down version of HTML that require little to no background in coding to operate. This has led to the complaint that wikis are ugly but functionality is the preferred goal.

Wikis look like a basic webpage, with a few minor differences. Wikis will typically have navigation on the left of the page that links the wiki page to the rest of the site. Wikis are arranged by themes or topics with individual pages being devoted to a single topic. Next, you'll notice tabs across the top of the wiki pages. Tabs may vary but usually include a tab for discussion of the viewed page, a view source tab which allows the user to view/edit the page and a revision tab that will show a record of the changes of this particular page.

In the case of Wikipedia, the left navigation connects you to the larger Wikipedia community, allows for change of language, allows for quick viewing of current events and allows you to browse the contents much like someone would a book. Wikipedia pages also feature several of the tabs mentioned above. The first being "article" which switches the user back to viewing the main topic page. "Talk" is next and this page is for discussion or planning of that pages content. This can even include whether the page deserves to be a part of Wikipedia. Finally, there's the "read," "view source," and "view history" tabs. View source of course allowing the user to edit.

Unlike web pages, ownership of a wiki is another matter entirely. Wikis are designed to be a collaborative document, therefore users can edit your wiki space which is the point of the wiki. The idea is that multiple users come together to create and share information to produce a document. Goals of wikis might be to just create a space where users can brainstorm, or as in the case of Wikipedia to create the world's most detailed encyclopedia. As previously mentioned, most wikis track changes, but no single person can claim ownership of the document.

Wiki use in the classroom:

Can the wiki revolutionize classroom learning? I believe the wiki can be a beneficial tool in classrooms, but it will require challenging traditional methods of teaching and grading. Due to the nature of the wiki, teachers will want to embrace group work and constructivist methods of teaching. Students will need to be allowed to drive instruction instead of a teacher-centric model.

A few of the ways wikis can be used are:

• group project spaces where students can collaborate on ideas, gather resources, and create documents.
• creating a class record of learning.writing practice, such as journals.
• creating a classroom FAQ.
• student created knowledge base with citations, like Wikipedia but on a smaller scale.

One of the things I would like to try is having students develop a geography wiki for our social studies classes. This would be a year long project and it would be flexible enough that students could expand it to suit their own individual research ideas.

I envision starting the students off with a page detailing the seven continents, then as we cover various regions they would build and expand upon the wiki, adding information on countries, culture and places. The result would be a product the students would be able to look back at the end of the year on with pride, since they would see the results of their year in social studies due to the written record they had created. The biggest obstacle I see is how to divide labor to ensure all students are working and engaged. Other hurdles of course are access to technology.

Implications for 21st Century learning:

Wiki creation requires students to possess such a wide spectrum of 21st century skills, that wikis might be the single greatest tool for accomplishing all 21st century learning goals. Studnets would gain core subject knowledge through research then demonstrate it with the content of their wikis. As students gain proficiency in using wikis, the four Cs would become second nature as they communicate their findings, make presentation choices, create engaging articles, and collaborate in groups unlike ever before. Other wiki side effects would include the gaining of information, media and technology skills in a hands on setting through conducting research and building the wiki. Meanwhile, all of this work would translate into life and career skills that would serve as a great foundation for any number of professional jobs.