Chapter 6:

Digital Storytelling

Introduction

Teaching is an art that includes storytelling at its core. Stories are an essential part of our nature as humans. Stories are how we pass on our history, our culture, and our heritage. The brain does not remember isolated facts, . . . → Read More: Chapter 6, Part 1]]>

Chapter 6:

Digital Storytelling

Introduction

Teaching is an art that includes storytelling at its core. Stories are an essential part of our nature as humans. Stories are how we pass on our history, our culture, and our heritage. The brain does not remember isolated facts, but makes connections with other ideas, often in the context of stories.

Stories have been around longer than recorded history. Cave paintings that are tens of thousands of years old have been found depicting ideas that were important to the ancient people who made them. This was before written speech, so the stories used drawings. It is right that it is so. Whereas storytelling is the vehicle by which history is passed down, art is often the language. Art is a universal language that is accessible to anyone at its most basic level. Combining the language of art with the medium of storytelling can be incredibly powerful.

That is the goal of digital storytelling. It combines art, in the form of pictures, drawings, and/or videos, with the medium of storytelling, in the form of text, narration, and/or music. It generally assumes publication because a story needs an audience to fulfill its purpose. There are many tools to accomplish this in very different ways, but they all subscribe to this basic, underlying idea.

The instructional implications of digital storytelling can be vast. Every content uses stories. It is obvious in Language Arts, where the curriculum is often built around reading different types of stories, but storytelling pervades all content areas. Social studies looks at stories of humanity. Science looks at stories of how people can interact with, understand, and manipulate nature. Math is often about processes and how to handle abstract concepts; stories help students to understand and internalize those processes. Art and music tell stories, even though they often do not use words.

Digital storytelling can help students to master content in a variety of ways. For students to write an original story, there has to be a certain level of autonomy. If the teacher guides the students more than is necessary, then it really becomes the teacher’s story more than the students’. One of the pedagogical ideas built into this type of assignment is social constructivism. Students are creating or discovering their own knowledge through the creation of the stories, which almost universally require some level or research, and sharing that knowledge and gaining feedback through publication. Through research, planning, writing, and creating, students’ knowledge of particular topics or ideas can oftentimes become quite deep and possibly even surpass the teacher’s own. Furthermore, communicative, presentation, and writing skills are also embedded throughout the process.

This book will look at free tools that allow students to make several different types of digital stories with lesson ideas that fit the distinct tools:

• Stories told through pictures and video clips with audio narration – Voicethread.
• Slides with pictures set to music – Animoto.
• Animation and text-to-speech – Xtranormal.
• Comic Strips – ToonDoo.

There is generally more than 1 tool that can accomplish each of these functions. These particular tools were chosen because they are both free and excellent at what they do. It should be noted, both Windows and Mac computers have built-in programs to aid in digital storytelling. Movie Maker and iMovie respectively work well and are fairly user-friendly; to have the widest appeal to users of any platform, online tools that can be used from anywhere are being focused on.

What Are They Thinking?

So far, we have looked at tools that emphasize communicating outside the time and space constraints of the traditional classroom. . . . → Read More: Chapter 5, Part 6]]> This is a continuation of the fifth chapter in Techniques for Effective Technlogy Integration. You may want to start with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

What Are They Thinking?

So far, we have looked at tools that emphasize communicating outside the time and space constraints of the traditional classroom. What we have not really looked at are ways to increase communication inside the classroom itself.

Pedagogically, the more insight we have into the thought processes of our students, the more we can tailor the class to meet their specific needs. Differentiating instruction according to the specific needs of out students is the ultimate goal of trying to communicate effectively.

Poll Everywhere (http://polleverywhere.com) is a free online tool that utilizes the tools most students already have, namely their cell phones, iPods, and computers, to engage students while simultaneously giving you insight into how they are thinking.

So, how does this all work? Poll Everywhere makes it very straightforward. You can make 3 types of polls, although only 2 are likely relevant: multiple-choice, text, and goal (used to receive pledges of donations). To see your options, just click “Create your first poll” on http://polleverywhere.com.

You setup the question and students answer primarily via text message. Cell phones are reaching near ubiquity among middle and high school students and are becoming more common among elementary students as well.

At this point, you have to choose the type of question that you want. Multiple-choice and text-based questions serve different purposes. It takes longer to write a good multiple-choice question, but it is also easier to quantify. With a multiple-choice question, Poll Everywhere will graph the responses in real-time. With a text-based question, it will list the responses. Just think about what you are trying to accomplish. If you want students to brainstorm ideas, then a text-based question would likely work better. If you want students to choose from a list of options, such as what subject they want to study next or a content question, then multiple-choice would probably work better.

When you ask a content question, Poll Everywhere is particularly useful for a few reasons. First, everyone participates. Instead of one person raising his or her hand or you having to manually check everyone’s papers, everyone is able to answer at the click of a button. Second, it gives you a snapshot into what you students are thinking. If 73% of the class gets the question wrong, then instead of continuing to push forward with my lesson, that is a signal that I need to stop and reteach that concept. It is even possible that it was a poor or biased question. Regardless, I would want to stop to try to understand why the students were not grasping the concept and see how I could remediate the problem.

Once you choose which type of question you want, Poll Everywhere allows you to fill in the question and the answers.

On the right hand side of the page, Poll Everywhere gives you some customization options. You can allow people to answer more than once if you think it appropriate. You also can control how people answer. Text message is the default mechanism for answering questions. You can also let people answer using Twitter or by going to poll4.com if they have a smartphone (a phone that can access the Internet). Lastly, you can choose “Web widget” and embed the poll on your class website, so students can take their time and respond at home.

Once you save your poll and continue, Poll Everywhere will show a blank graph that lets students respond. Each answer choice has a different number. They send a text message containing that number, which is the keyword, to the number listed just above the chart. In the example below, I sent a text message containing “41225” to 22333.

At this point, there have been no responses. As soon as I answered via text message, the graph changed.

It is important that the results change instantly. The real-time nature of the results lets this be seamlessly integrated into instruction. There are a few good options for pay, such as keeping track of which number belongs to which student, but this is still an excellent free tool to help meet the needs of your students. When what is fun and what is pedagogically sound meet, tremendous learning can happen.

A Public Agenda

Most everyone has some type of calendar that they use, whether it is paper or digital. When I started teaching, I had a . . . → Read More: Chapter 5, Part 5]]> This is a continuation of the fifth chapter in Techniques for Effective Technlogy Integration. You may want to start with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

A Public Agenda

Most everyone has some type of calendar that they use, whether it is paper or digital. When I started teaching, I had a giant calendar that took up most of my desk. I loved it. I wrote down students’ birthdays, assignments, plans, and meetings more than anything else. Since the calendar was so big, I was able to write a lot in each box.

There was only one tragic flaw in my beloved caldenar: it was my calendar. No else could see it really unless they stood behind me or sat at my desk. Even when I put it on the wall, students still had to be in the room to see it. Parents could almost never see it. Even I could not see it when I was at home because it was too big to be portable. What good is it to anyone to have such important information accessible to such a small amount of people in a small amount of time?

Thankfully, there is another option: Google Calendar. Google Calendar (http://google.com/calendar) is an easy to use online calendar. The beauty of it is the same foundation that makes Google Docs so useful. It is built to be shared.

• You can create multiple calendars. You can have calendars for each class, for personal use, for extracurricular activities, and more.
• You can set different privacy controls for every calendar. So, you can keep some calendars private while you can give people access to read other calendars or even edit them. You can control access on a calendar or person-specific level.
• You can embed calendars in your class website to increase the visibility of the calendar and the usefulness of the website.

To get started, simply go to http://google.com/calendar. If you already have a Google account, which you probably do, just login as normal. If not, go ahead and make an account. It will bring you to a calendar that looks like this.

Adding an event could not be simpler. Just double-click on any day and a dialog box will come up. If it is an all-day event or if the specific time does not matter, just click “Create event.” If it is a time sensitive event, click edit event details and add any information you want.

On the left side of the page, there is a list of all of your calendars. You will likely have only 1. I have 3 in the screenshot below. 1 for personal use, 1 for organizing training at a school, and 1 for reserving use of school laptop carts. If you want to add any more calendars, just click the “Add” button and answer a few quick questions. Below that is any calendars that people have shared with you.

If you want to share the calendar with anyone in particular, such as a student, parent, or other educator, click the down arrow and then “Share this Calendar.”

Just put in the person’s email address and choose which permissions you want the person to have.

If you want to embed a copy of this calendar in your class website, it is easy to do that as well. Just click on the “Calendar Details” button on the top of the page. There will be a lot of options on this page. Scroll down until you see where it says “Embed This Calendar” and copy the code it gives you. You do not need to understand the code; just copy it and paste it into your class website. Almost all website generators allow you to paste in HTML code.

If you made a class website in Weebly, here is where you would paste in the code.

We should always attempt to be as transparent as possible. By sharing our plans with students and even allowing them to add events that are important to them, such as their game or activity, we can help to build a supportive classroom community.

Using the Tools You Already Have

Nearly every school district provides teachers with an email address; how often teachers check and respond to email varies widely. Some teachers . . . → Read More: Chapter 5, Part 4]]> This is a continuation of the fifth chapter in Techniques for Effective Technlogy Integration. You may want to start with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Using the Tools You Already Have

Nearly every school district provides teachers with an email address; how often teachers check and respond to email varies widely. Some teachers are very good about making telephone calls and responding to messages while not necessarily answering emails as quickly. I am the opposite. I almost always respond to an email within the hour if I am not teaching, but I absolutely hate talking on the phone. However, I contend that we need to reach out to parents any way we can with both the tools they already use and tools that can facilitate more effective communication. Here are some things that you can do to optimize your phone and email contact with both students and parents.

A good rule of thumb is to never let your first communication with a parent be negative. In the first week or two of school, call home and introduce yourself to the parent or guardian. If you cannot get in touch via the phone, leave a message and send a follow-up email. I recommend a phone call initially because it is easier for you to get to know parents and for them to get to know you over the phone. Tone of voice does not come through over email. Furthermore, find something positive to say about each child. This should not be contrived or disingenuous. Really try to spend time getting to know the students as well as possible. This initial step hopefully will lay down a foundation upon which future communication and collaboration can occur.

Another way to get the most out of telephones is to use Google Voice. Google Voice (http://google.com/voice) is an outstanding service that recently became available to the public for free. When you sign up, you receive a phone number that you can direct to any of your phones at any time. Furthermore, it transcribes voicemail messages, can forward voicemails and texts to phones and email, and even let you embed the voicemails on a website.

There are several ways that this can be very useful for classroom communication. For example, if you have a Google Voice number, you can set it up as a hotline for students. This is not your personal cell phone number, so no rules of impropriety are being broken. Not every student has access to a computer at home, but almost all have access to at least a land-line phone or a cell phone. This can enable them to have access to help when they need it. I am not suggesting that you have your students call your at 1 in the morning. Google Voice has a nice “Do Not Disturb” feature that you can turn on in the settings. This will send all calls to voicemail. You are then able to respond as soon as you are able. Students are able to call when they are having trouble; parents can call when they have concerns. You can even have a button on the class website so people can call the hotline directly from the website. All of the messages are recorded and transcribed, so you can either read or listen to them. Then, you can respond as soon as you are able.

Email also has the potential to be a powerful tool because it is nearly ubiquitous. As smartphones are becoming more and more popular, people increasingly have access to their email at all times. Endeavor at the beginning of each year to get a list of email addresses for all parents and students. Every major email platform, from online email clients, such as Gmail and Hotmail, to popular desktop email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird, allows for creating groups that you can send bulk emails to.

It is helpful to setup groups by period or subject so that you can send reminders to all of the students and parents in the class. For example, you can send a bulk email about a field trip to all of the parents or a reminder to all students and parents about the major assignment or project. The difference between this and a class website is that you are sending it; they do not need to take the extra step to go to the website to check it.

We should always look for innovative ways to improve communication skills. It would be remiss, though, to neglect some of the powerful tools we already have at our disposal.

Weebly: Simple, School-Friendly Class Websites

There are a lot of free options that can help you to create a great class website. Some of them, such as blogs and . . . → Read More: Chapter 5, Part 3]]> This is a continuation of the fifth chapter in Techniques for Effective Technlogy Integration. You may want to start with Part 1 and Part 2.

Weebly: Simple, School-Friendly Class Websites

There are a lot of free options that can help you to create a great class website. Some of them, such as blogs and wikis, will be discussed in later chapters. One of the tools that is simultaneously very easy to use and offers great additional features for schools is Weebly (http://education.weebly.com). Simply go to Weebly’s educational site and sign up as a teacher. If you sign-up at Weebly’s main site (http://weebly.com), you can still make a great free site, but you won’t have access to great features for students later on, such as having students turn in homework online or make their own websites as part of the class.

Once you confirm your email address, the first thing you want to do is to start working on your site. Before worrying about how the site will look, though, the best place to start is by brainstorming what types of information you want in your site. For example, I want the home page to be updates about what happened in class each day. I also want a page for a syllabus, for contact information, and for assignments. This is just an example; your site can have more or less. Just consider what information you need students and parents to have and what information students and parents need to be successful.

When you start to create your site, it will ask for a little information. I put a simple title, like “Mr. Bedell’s Class” or “Room 127.” I chose “Education” as the type of site and “Teacher” as the category.

Weebly will give you the option of registering your own domain name. What that means is that the site would be locate at http://yourname.com. This option costs money and I would not recommend that, especially if this is your first time creating a website. There are a lot of advantages to owning a domain name, but it is more than most people need. Choose the first option, as it is the simplest and it is free.

Weebly sets up a site with a default layout and an empty homepage. To use this, all you have to do is just drag the features you want from the bar on top to the page itself.

For my home page, I might choose paragraph with picture. Having a picture of the students or the classroom could help to show that this is their space. So, just drag drown “Paragraph with Picture” and click on each element that you want to edit.

The design tab along the top of the page gives several options for choosing different layouts and styles.

The pages tab lets you easily add new pages, such as a page on expectations. Just click on “New Page,” give it a name, and choose to show it in the navigation menu. If you have something you only want parents or specific people to have access to, you can even password protect certain pages.

When you feel you have the information you want to start with on the site and you are happy with the design, you can click publish. With one click, your site is published and your students can access it.

Whenever you want to update your site, which will likely be often, if not daily, you simply go to http://education.weebly.com and login. Just click on “Edit” and it will take you back to the same familiar editor you used to create the site.

There are more advanced features that you can use as well, but this is a great start towards providing students and parents with all the resources and information that they may need.

Maintaining a Web Presence

There is one key thing every teacher can do to help promote good communication to students and others. In fact, many students have come to expect it. Maintaining . . . → Read More: Chapter 5, Part 2]]> This is a continuation of the fifth chapter in Techniques for Effective Technlogy Integration. You may want to start with Part 1.

Maintaining a Web Presence

There is one key thing every teacher can do to help promote good communication to students and others. In fact, many students have come to expect it. Maintaining a web presence can be a vitally important communicative tool. Maintaining a web presence can be as simple as having a simple class website. It can be more involved, having a class Twitter account, a class Facebook fan page, an online class, class blogs, and more. The simplest way to maintain a web presence is just to have a static class website that you can post updates to. If it is not already expected as part of your duty in your district, there is a good chance that it will be next few years.

An administration simply expecting you to complete something does not necessarily mean that it is worthwhile or effective practice. So, let’s look at some of the simple ways that a class website can help you to communicate messages to students, parents, and other educators.

• Post your syllabus, letters to parents, and other information you want available throughout the year on a dedicated page. While it is easy to get angry with students for losing papers, the reality is that it is not productive. There is value in teaching organizational skills. It is helpful to both students and yourself to have a copy of any important papers online; students cannot lose them and both students and parents have access to them at all times.
• Post a recap at the end of each day of what happened. This will allow the students to stay informed and keep up even if they are absent. It also helps parents stay involved and up to date on what is going on.
• Post any and all assignments online. Students are absent; students have to miss class for a myriad of reasons; students forget to write down assignments or lose handouts. If we can easily give students access to the assignments, the question becomes about whether we want to help them learn the content or punish them academically for poor organizational skills.
• Post copies of the class notes and resources for further learning. Students who are interested can learn more about a topic. Students who are struggling can use the notes and resources for remediation. It can be even more helpful at times to have students write the class notes; oftentimes, they can write explanations in another way that is more accessible to other students than the teacher’s.
• Post copies of class expectations, assessment practices, and any other relevant information online.
• Give students an authentic audience by publishing their work online.
• Have contact information displayed prominently so that students and parents can get in touch with you if they need to.
• Post periodic announcements about important events, such as field trips, projects, etc… Students do not always remember to bring notes home, so this is an easy way to reach out to parents and guardians. Their support is essential to help students reach their potential.

The above list will likely have two divergent effects depending on one’s comfort with technology. What may be impressed upon some people is how they can enable student learning through communication. What will stick with others is that it seems like it would require a prohibitive amount of time when teachers are already grossly overworked.

As with all things, with practice come speed and efficiency. Once you start using a class website, though, you will realize that it does not take much practice to gain mastery of the basic parts of maintaining a class websites; namely, posting regular updates. The part that takes the most time for many is choosing a design and color scheme that they like. If you find yourself struggling with the technical aspects, it may be wise to ask a student who you know to be skilled and trustworthy to be in charge of the website. The student could handle posting things for you and showing you how to do it yourself. It is great for students’ self-esteem when they can teach their teacher something. It could also help buy-in to using the class website when they have a hand in designing or maintaining it.

The other important aspect of implementing a class website is developing routines, both in yourself and in your students. If you consistently reinforce to students that they should check the website for assignments and then regularly forget to post those assignments, students will become disillusioned and stop checking it altogether. Similarly, students may continue asking you what the previous day’s assignment was even after you tell them that it is on the class website. Help the student, of course, but reinforce that the he can find the assignment himself at any time on the website. This takes consistent reinforcement to both the whole class and to individuals. The more you reinforce and consistently update the website yourself, the less students will need to come to you and the more independent they will become in their learning.

Chapter 5:

Improve Your Communication

Introduction

Teaching is a communicative art. Effective communication needs to be a vital part of all that we do as educators. There are so many stakeholders that we need to communicate with on a regular basis. We, of course, need to . . . → Read More: Chapter 5, Part 1]]>

Chapter 5:

Improve Your Communication

Introduction

Teaching is a communicative art. Effective communication needs to be a vital part of all that we do as educators. There are so many stakeholders that we need to communicate with on a regular basis. We, of course, need to communicate with our students. We also need to communicate with parents; to hear their concerns, to learn from their insight, to encourage them, and to share our own concerns. We need to communicate with other educators to learn and grow. We need to communicate with our administrators; we can learn from their guidance and they need to know what is going on in our classrooms to effectively lead the school. So, it is safe to assume that good communication skills are essential to being a successful teacher. Regardless of how well developed our own skills at communication are, there are tools that can facilitate better communication with all parties.

The way that I understand it, there are at least two types of communication that effect how well we are able to function as educators: communication to students and others, and communication with students and others. We, as educators, have to deliver our messages in such a way as to be easily accessible. How do you handle the following situations?

• A student is absent from class. Can he learn from home or does he fall behind?
• A student is called from class to go to the office/nurse/trainer/coach/other teacher/etc… Can he easily find out what went on in class, or does he have to wait until you can catch him up?
• A parent wants to be more involved and know what is going on in class, but because of a difficult work schedule cannot easily schedule phone or in-person conferences. Is this parent excluded, or is there a way to bring the parent in on what is going on?
• Another teacher hears from a common student about the amazing things you are doing in your classroom and wants to learn more. Is she able to do this on her time, or does she have to wait until you are available to help her?

Communication here is about empowerment. In a normal, traditional classroom, most of the power resides with the teacher. By sharing that power through effectively communicating, we can help to ensure that everyone has the information they need to learn and to participate.

Communication with students and others, in this context, is more about being open to hear from other people. This is much more complicated because you have to understand the needs of your stakeholders, primarily students and parents, both when they tell you and when they do not.

There are tools to simplify the process of communicating effectively with others. No tool will work to its full potential if a few criteria are not first met. First, there needs to be a trusting environment in the classroom and the students need to know that you care about them. No students will come to voice a concern to you if they do not trust you and believe that you are working in their best interests; coming to you for help implicitly puts you in a position of power and the student in a position of vulnerability. Students have often had traumatic experiences where teachers have, often unintentionally, abused that power to make them feel small. That is not your fault, but that is an obstacle you have to overcome by building trust with your students. This is a very time intensive process, but it is necessary to help promote an environment where students can feel safe and comfortable.

Second, you need to invest time into getting to know your students and forming relationships with them. This is tangential to the first point, but it is necessary to add that students, for a myriad of reasons, will not always voice their concerns or issues. It takes a skilled teacher with an intimate knowledge of her students to be aware of issues that arise without being told. Again, there are no shortcuts here; all we can do is to spend time creating a safe environment based upon trusting relationships, and then utilize the tools that will allow us to maximize communication with our students.

Letting the Kids Talk During Class

For some teachers, letting go of control is difficult. There is a fine line between guiding a discussion and controlling . . . → Read More: Chapter 4, Part 5]]> This is a continuation of the fourth chapter in Techniques for Effective Technlogy Integration. You may want to start with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Letting the Kids Talk During Class

For some teachers, letting go of control is difficult. There is a fine line between guiding a discussion and controlling it. Guiding a discussion with good questions can help students reach understanding. Getting students to say exactly what the teacher wants to hear is not guiding discussion, but rather manipulation that rarely results in learning. Discussion should be lively and organic, not forced. When the person facilitating the discussion already knows all the answers have fallen into this trap at times before; facilitating a good, questioning conversation takes time and practice.

One tool that I have used both in teaching and in presenting at conferences is backchanneling. Backchanneling involves allowing participants to continue the conversation virtually. Oftentimes, this virtual conversation is projected so that it is easy for everyone, including the speaker, to see.

The goal of the backchannel is fairly simple. In many classroom discussions, only two people are participating at any given moment: the teacher and the student who was called on. Certainly, it is not like this everywhere, but it is commonplace. Backchanneling has the potential to help all of the students to move from passively to actively participating.

While it would be chaotic to have everyone speaking at once in a conversation, it can be effective practice in a backchannel when it is utilized effectively. It needs to be recognized that most students do not have much, if any, prior experience in this area, so they will need guidance about how to participate in an online discussion while also paying attention to what is going on in class.

Recently, I presented on assessment techniques at a conference in Philadelphia. The format of the session was simple. I got there early and put the desks in a circle so that the design of the room would be more conducive to conversation. While I definitely had ideas that I wanted to discuss, I wanted to meet the participants and see both where they were in terms of assessment techniques and what they felt they needed. There is a danger in not being able to meet the needs of our students when we over plan. While I would post guiding questions occasionally throughout the discussion, I was not able to participate in the backchannel as much as the other people in the room since I was trying to facilitate the discussion.

The participants used the backchannel for several things. It is worth noting that a few of the participants had previous experience with backchannels, but many did not. I simply shared the link and explained what a backchannel was; I spent no more than 2 minutes doing so. They shared resources and links, both their own and those mentioned in the conversation. They answered each other’s questions and shared ideas that directly met each other’s needs. They asked questions on the backchannel, which was projected on the wall, to help steer the discussion. We stayed 20 minutes into lunch after the session was supposed to end and still did not get to all of the points that I had planned. However, the discussion was much more fruitful and better met the needs of my session participants than if I controlled the discussion and forced my agenda onto them.

Another popular and effective way to use backchanneling is to take a normally passive activity and engage students in active learning and discussion. A common example is during a film. Films can sometimes be powerful and effective tools; when students passively watch and are not given time to reflect and analyze, though, the potential learning of a film can be floundered. Utilizing a backchannel can be a simple and easy way to have students discuss salient points and help each other to understand the importance of what is happening. Similarly, the teacher can ask questions to help get the students thinking about important concepts.

TodaysMeet (http://www.todaysmeet.com) is a profoundly simple and easy tool for backchanneling. Setting up a class backchannel takes literally less than minute. TodaysMeet can compete with Etherpad for simplest tool presented in this book; that does not mean, though, that it does not have potential to improve learning. To setup a backchannel, you simply go to the TodaysMeet website, give your backchannel a name and an expiration date, and click “Create your Room.” If you want, you can even add a Twitter hashtag and all posts from Twitter with that hashtag will be brought into your backchannel.

You will have a unique URL according to what you named your room. For example, I just made a room at http://todaysmeet.com/teti with an expiration date of 1 seek. When each student goes to this URL, they just have to enter their name and click “Join.”

The interface for TodaysMeet is very simple. There is a “Listen” column where students can see what everyone is saying. There is a “Talk” column where they can add their thoughts. Messages are brief, limited to 140 characters. Students may need practice to become adept at concise messages, but Twitter has shown that authentic collaboration can take place in only 140 characters.

Here is an example of what it may look like to have students discussing a news report about the Chilean miners who were trapped for over two months. Discussion should stay relevant to the main topic, but flexible enough for the students to help meet each other’s needs.

Lastly, there are also “Transcript” and “Projector” buttons at the bottom of the page that make it easy to read all of the interactions when the discussion is over or to project the conversation onto a screen.

Students want to work together. Sometimes, they do not have the skills yet to effectively do so, so we must enable them. We enable them by teaching them first how to support and work with others; then we enable them by giving them the tools to do so. The world in which they will live and work increasingly requires that everyone be able to work collaboratively in a team environment. We owe it to our students to make sure that they can thrive in that environment.

Simple or Robust?

The features that make Etherpad simple to use and ideal in many situations sometimes are the same features that make it limited for more in . . . → Read More: Chapter 4, Part 4]]> This is a continuation of the fourth chapter in Techniques for Effective Technlogy Integration. You may want to start with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Simple or Robust?

The features that make Etherpad simple to use and ideal in many situations sometimes are the same features that make it limited for more in depth collaboration. Sometimes, a more robust suite is better suited to a class setting. There is always a trade off, though, that must be taken into account when designing instruction. The more features offered in a product, the higher the learning curve of that product.

Google Docs (http://docs.google.com) is a free online office suite that is extremely well-suited to instructional settings. It offers a word processor, a spreadsheet editor, a presentation maker, similar to PowerPoint, an application to make interactive forms, and a drawing application. The entire suite is built around making documents and projects easy to share, collaborate, and publish.

Google’s Document editor itself is quite easy to use. Compared to Etherpad, Google’s Document Editor has similar real-time sharing (so multiple people could be writing simultaneously and see each other’s work) and a similar chat window to help facilitate working together. Google has some more advanced features though:

• Fine-tuned privacy control – You control exactly who has access to the document as well as what permissions they have. They can have read-only access, so that they cannot change anything, or they can have access to edit as a collaborator.
• Better revision history – You are able to look at and compare many different drafts. Google Docs color codes the differences to make comparing the drafts easy.
• Excellent publishing options – You can publish any document publicly (so search engines can find it) or privately (anyone that you give the link to will have access). You can even embed your document into a class website. ‘
• There are helpful document templates to help students get started with specific types of documents. An example could be a calendar template or a budget planning template.
• A dashboard with folders to keep documents organized and easily accessible.

None of the advanced features are, in themselves, difficult to learn. However, the fact that there are so many features is something that must be taken into account when you plan the lesson. How vital are the advanced features to the lesson that you have planned? For example, if I am doing a simple science lab that will take 1 day to complete and another day to discuss, I may have the groups use Etherpad so that they can collectively record and compare their observations. This will also help them to crystallize their thoughts for the class discussion. Etherpad seems like a good option in this scenario. Now, if I were going a more complicated lab that would take several days as part of a larger unit, I might have the groups fill out their lab reports in Google Docs. It is easy to create groups in Google Docs and to share the lab reports with the teacher so that I can observe their thought processes as they occur. In addition, they will have their lab reports organized in Google Docs so that they have access to them later when they need them. Since this is a more in-depth activity that is important to the whole unit, as opposed to an activity designed to help students understand a single-point, I would be comfortable spending the time helping the students to get comfortable with Google Docs.

Again, Google Docs is not overly complicated. It just seems so when juxtaposed next to Etherpad, which is designed to be used without needed much, if any, instruction. Once students are comfortable with Google Docs, they may need help with small, specific things, as they would with any project, but they will not need to be retrained on it completely again. Students age, how comfortable they are with technology, and the needs and time constraints of the lesson must all be taken into account when planning a lesson.