Using Google Docs with my GCSE students

I introduced Google docs to my Year 10 ICT GCSE class last term as a way in which they could work collaboratively on presentations and make the theory work that we are doing a little more practical.

Prior to the lesson I set up a presentation, set it so it could be shared with everyone & anyone who had the link could edit it and then shared the link with them.

We had a ‘play’ for 5 minutes to allow for the necessary ‘messing’ (deleting other people’s work / posting daft messages). However, they soon settled down and were able to get on with researching their topic and completing their slides.

There were a few teething issues, such as too many people trying to format the background / work on the same slides and it was a little slow at times, but they worked very well and create a collaborative presentation which they were able to download to their own areas. It could do with a little refinement, however it does the job of collating all their research and knowledge in one place ready to share.

They worked incredibly well throughout the lesson and I gathered their feedback at the end on a wallwisher wall.

At the end of the session, a few pupils emailed longer comments to me:

“I think this builds a better relationship within the class and also builds our confidence when we can review each other ideas, through our wikispace and on google docs.”

“I would like to use more web based programs because i can access them everywhere”

“I think theory lessons are more interesting because of the things we use. Google docs was my favourite!:)”

So, it seems that google docs are a hit with the students, in fact one teacher came to tell me that one of the students had proudly introduced it to his group in another lesson when they were working on a project.

The students have also commented that they have been telling their parents about google docs too and one boy’s mum has started using it for her business.

I have just set up a Google form for them to complete after their exam to do a little self-assessment. It took me 5 minutes to set up and puts the completed data into a spreadsheet for me. Pretty nifty.

So, is this about the technology? I would argue that it is about the technology fulfilling a need – as a teacher I want students to be, at times, able to work together, collaboratively on project and tasks and google docs facilitates this incredibly well. They can also access their documents from any computer – so there is no longer a need for them all to be huddled round one computer in the IT suite at break.

Forms allow me to quickly collect their feedback and collate it in one place, allowing for a little self-reflection for them and some invaluable data for me. They are also really quick for students to complete.

I am not a Google zealot and will be interested in seeing Microsoft’s Office 2010 version when it released some time this year. However, I am most interested in tools and technologies that engage my students and allow them further opportunities to learn and both broaden their horizons and deepen their learning – at the moment, Google docs is doing just that.