Collaboration
Technology provides many opportunities for connection and collaboration with others. One often underutilized resource for these connections is Google Drive. Google Drive provides educators and students with a variety of tools to collaborate together, edit work and share documents and surveys. One positive aspect of Google drive is that all students and teachers added on an assignment can work asynchronously on documents and forms. One aspect to be aware of is that when you have multiple collaborators on a project, it is important to communicate in the comments section of the project the changes you make, or want to make, in order for every collaborator involved to be part of the editing process. With that note taken into consideration, students and teachers can use Google Drive to successfully design lesson plans, forms, spreadsheets, professional documents and meaningful surveys. For more tips on using Google Drive in your classroom, click here.
Organization
While Google Drive stores all the projects created within its system, often many resources, such as websites, videos and images, are researched throughout a project's creation. Therefore, a storage and organization site such as Evernote can be useful. According to its website, “Evernote lets you take notes, sync files across your devices, save web pages, capture inspiration, and share your ideas with friends and colleagues.” It effectively combines Google Drive, Pinterest, NotePad, Post-Its, Calendar, Task Managers and file sharing all in one! If you don't already have an organizational system in place, or even if you do, Evernote is a resource worth exploring!
Communication
File storing and sharing sites that facilitate synchronous and asynchronous collaboration are excellent tools to bring the global community back to the local. However, there are times when the face-to-face is a necessary component of the collaborative process. In that case, Voice over Internet Protocol (VOiP) programs such as Skype, Google Hangouts and Face Time are valuable resources to utilize. Olivia Waxman's article, How Teachers Use Skype in the Classroom, explores how some teachers intentionally incorporate Skype into their lessons. Their ideas can also be extended to other VOiP programs. Some users complain that Skype will crash or slow down depending on the user's internet availability and bandwidth, so many people recommend Face Time or Google Hangouts. Google Hangouts would definitely be an easy program for students to work together in teams, especially if they are already familiar with and using Google Drive.
Authentication
Of course, before utilizing any resource, it is important to verify the validity and authenticity of a site. With students able to collaborate online and pull a variety of sources offline, teaching them how to site sources and research the accuracy of an article, tutorial or quote will help them create more meaningful documents and projects. The capabilities of Evernote and other such bookmarking sites along with increased opportunities to collaborate will help students become more organized and hopefully foster a community of more thoughtful and critical references.
Technology provides many opportunities for connection and collaboration with others. One often underutilized resource for these connections is Google Drive. Google Drive provides educators and students with a variety of tools to collaborate together, edit work and share documents and surveys. One positive aspect of Google drive is that all students and teachers added on an assignment can work asynchronously on documents and forms. One aspect to be aware of is that when you have multiple collaborators on a project, it is important to communicate in the comments section of the project the changes you make, or want to make, in order for every collaborator involved to be part of the editing process. With that note taken into consideration, students and teachers can use Google Drive to successfully design lesson plans, forms, spreadsheets, professional documents and meaningful surveys. For more tips on using Google Drive in your classroom, click here.
Organization
While Google Drive stores all the projects created within its system, often many resources, such as websites, videos and images, are researched throughout a project's creation. Therefore, a storage and organization site such as Evernote can be useful. According to its website, “Evernote lets you take notes, sync files across your devices, save web pages, capture inspiration, and share your ideas with friends and colleagues.” It effectively combines Google Drive, Pinterest, NotePad, Post-Its, Calendar, Task Managers and file sharing all in one! If you don't already have an organizational system in place, or even if you do, Evernote is a resource worth exploring!
Communication
File storing and sharing sites that facilitate synchronous and asynchronous collaboration are excellent tools to bring the global community back to the local. However, there are times when the face-to-face is a necessary component of the collaborative process. In that case, Voice over Internet Protocol (VOiP) programs such as Skype, Google Hangouts and Face Time are valuable resources to utilize. Olivia Waxman's article, How Teachers Use Skype in the Classroom, explores how some teachers intentionally incorporate Skype into their lessons. Their ideas can also be extended to other VOiP programs. Some users complain that Skype will crash or slow down depending on the user's internet availability and bandwidth, so many people recommend Face Time or Google Hangouts. Google Hangouts would definitely be an easy program for students to work together in teams, especially if they are already familiar with and using Google Drive.
Authentication
Of course, before utilizing any resource, it is important to verify the validity and authenticity of a site. With students able to collaborate online and pull a variety of sources offline, teaching them how to site sources and research the accuracy of an article, tutorial or quote will help them create more meaningful documents and projects. The capabilities of Evernote and other such bookmarking sites along with increased opportunities to collaborate will help students become more organized and hopefully foster a community of more thoughtful and critical references.