At the beginning of this school year, I was introduced to our new technology integration specialist. One of the first things he told me was that one of his goals was to help teachers go paperless. This sounded like a fantasy idea - one that sounded great in theory but would never be possible in a real classroom. He then began to share stories with me about his own classroom and how he went completely paperless. Suddenly, I was intrigued by this being a real possibility. Since then, I have learned a lot and most of the school year, writing assignments became paperless for my class.
Google Apps are my favorite digital tools to use. Last year, my school district had decided to use Google Apps but changed their mind and went with a Office 365 instead. I was bummed because Google Apps seem to be much more user friendly. I continued to use Google Apps for my personal use and for teacher resources and only used the OneDrive strictly with my students and for collaborating with colleagues at school. The concept was very similar to Google Apps but again, not as user friendly (in my honest opinion).
Google Apps are available for free just by signing up for a Google account. They offer a variety of different apps like drive, documents, blogger, and Gmail. Each of these could very easily be used in the classroom and begin that paperless classroom process.
Teachers, students, administrators and other school staff could get a free Gmail account. Then they could very easily not only communicate through email but also share folders and documents saved to their Google Drive. Students could complete assignments using Google documents and save these to a folder that has already been shared with their teacher. The teacher would then be able to access that folder in his/her personal Google Drive. Assignments can be pulled up on the computer, graded, and feedback emailed back to the student. NO PAPER! This is just one example of how it could be used in the classroom.
Teachers and administrators could also share folders and documents in the same way. It would give an easy access point to locate important files quickly. This is a great way to collaborate with one another.
I love using Google Apps and use Google Drive for all my teacher resources files. I have even been able to share with other colleagues who have personal Gmail accounts. I can easily organize my files and save things without worry of corrupted files (that can happy with flashdrives) or computers crashing. One of the best parts is that you have access to these files from anywhere on any computer.
I created a technology survey for my grad class using Google Apps. The survey was very easy to create and the results are easy to access. The results can be viewed in the form of a spreadsheet as shown below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1luP6qD6i5y527rGjQ7r0etsXOFp0Pg4Yjor1M_Rkyes/edit#gid=1637885216
I created a technology survey for my grad class using Google Apps. The survey was very easy to create and the results are easy to access. The results can be viewed in the form of a spreadsheet as shown below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1luP6qD6i5y527rGjQ7r0etsXOFp0Pg4Yjor1M_Rkyes/edit#gid=1637885216
Stacey, I agree with you about Google Apps versus Office 365. My district also did the same thing. However, with no training, no one in my school uses it. I am hoping to show teachers how to create collaborative documents and share resources with it. I haven't played with Google Apps too much professionally, but the resources provided to us have shown me the number of features and ease of use. I would like to learn more about the "paperless" piece of it. Where would you create these assessments for students to take independently? When everything is all in one place (assess, feedback, grade) then I feel like it's one less thing teachers need to think about and search for. Too many different folders and locations on the computer makes my head spin when I can't figure out where I've saved a file. Keeping it together and being able to access it from anywhere, any time is crucial for productivity.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response Christina. I did not use this for assessments but you could email your students assessments and they could respond through email or by saving it to their shared folder with you (whether in OneDrive or Google Drive). Our district uses a program called Interactive Achievement for assessments. Students login to take assessments that you can create based on state standards. The tests are automatically graded for you - again, paperless! I also started using Edmodo a little this year and there is a way to create assessments on Edmodo for students to access and they are also graded automatically.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty organized with my files and folders on the computer. This is where Google Drive has been so awesome for me. Everything is saved in folders and some folders have folders inside of them (for example - my social studies folder will have folders for each unit saved within it). This keeps me super organized and everything is very easy to locate. It is great to access it from any computer anywhere.
Stacey-
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way at first when it came to technology. I began my teaching career with ZERO technology in the classroom then I went to a school that had every possible technology tool imaginable. Now I am teaching in a school that has some technology, but not nearly as much as I would like. My school district that I am teaching in now limits the amount of copies we make as well. So, going paperless is more desirable. Google Apps is a great way to do this. All the apps are very user friendly and easily accessible. It keeps everything organized and everything is always saved. I have had nothing but great experience with Google Apps.