Image from Google Operating System archives
Using Google Docs in the Classroom
Lisette Blanco-Cerda has used Google Docs in the classroom as a way for students to collaborate either in the writing or peer-reviewing process. Once a Google Doc file is shared, the group members with sharing privileges can view, comment on, or edit the shared document. When the student shares her document, she can choose between three types of access: viewing wherein the people she’s shared her document with can simply view the file; commenting wherein the people she’s shared her document with can highlight key words or phrases and then make comments along the margins; and editing wherein the people she’s shared her document with can actively edit and revise the document in a deeply collaborative session.
Educators can also invite students to share their drafts with them and then give feedback directly on the shared file. Not only can papers be produced, submitted, and graded in Google Docs, but students can keep journals or other low-stakes forms of writing. Google Drive allows users to create folders so the students can create their own folders or the faculty member can create folders in which to store student writing. Another nifty feature, Google Forms can create peer reviews, quick quizzes or polls, and other forms. The teacher can then send the forms out to the class. Click this link for an example of a peer review form Lisette Blanco-Cerda created for a composition I class. Google Forms can also be used for in-take questions to assess student needs about a particular topic. Asking students to answer questions in such an in-take assignment can help teachers better tailor the day’s lesson plan. To learn more about their students, the faculty member can post surveys to students, asking questions about the students’ interests, understanding about the topic under study, and what the students hope to gain from the class. |
This is a video Lisette Blanco-Cerda created for her Rhetoric and Composition: Pedagogy of Electronic Texts class. In this video, she explores how Kaizena allows instructors to grade, comment, and leave audio feedback on student papers written in and shared through Google Drive. She used Camtasia to capture both her desktop and her voice over.
Kaizena is a free online app that synchs with Google Drive. An educator can import a Google Doc, open it in Kaizena, and leave audio or written comments on the document. See the video above for a demonstration of Kaizena.
With add-on apps like Doctopus and Flubaroo, educators can easily disperse assignments, quizzes, even writing prompts and then grade them. After creating a list of registered students in a class and their emails, an educator can integrate that list with Doctopus and create an easy method of assignment dispersal. Flubaroo helps the teacher to grade quizzes that were created in Google Forms. |