Rationale
Our tutorial is based on the use of Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and is intended to meet the criteria for Assignment 4 in Module B of ETEC 533: Technology in the Mathematics and Science Classroom (University of British Columbia - Masters of Educational Technology). More importantly it is designed to be used as a tool for teachers using or thinking of using GAFE in their teaching.
At the district level, the fact that GAFE is free is a bonus. At the teacher level, teachers can use Google tools for collaborative work, and benefit from the simplicity of having an integrated setup that does the combined efforts of many other tools all from one place (Robertson, 2015). Schools that are subscribed to Google Apps for Education have added benefits which will be discussed.
The BC Ministry of Education (2016) has recently released new curriculum for grades K through 9 with 10 though 12 scheduled to follow next year. Featuring heavily are 21st Century skills, referred to as Core Competencies, including:
The roles that Google Classroom could play the development of these skills is limitless, but a few of the more obvious include:
Because many Google applications allow for teachers to assess work on an ongoing basis, formative assessment can become a much larger focus of student work. Teachers can check the revision history to see how student work progresses over time. Documents can be shared with teachers at various stages of completion so that feedback can be ongoing.
"Formative assessments—ongoing assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and students—are essential. They permit the teacher to grasp the students’ preconceptions, understand where the students are in the “developmental corridor” from informal to formal thinking, and design instruction accordingly. In the assessment-centered classroom environment, formative assessments help both teachers and students monitor progress." (Bransford et al, 1999). This includes an awareness of cultural and societal differences which can "affect students’ comfort level in working collaboratively versus individually, and they are reflected in the background knowledge students bring to a new learning situation" (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 1999).
At the district level, the fact that GAFE is free is a bonus. At the teacher level, teachers can use Google tools for collaborative work, and benefit from the simplicity of having an integrated setup that does the combined efforts of many other tools all from one place (Robertson, 2015). Schools that are subscribed to Google Apps for Education have added benefits which will be discussed.
The BC Ministry of Education (2016) has recently released new curriculum for grades K through 9 with 10 though 12 scheduled to follow next year. Featuring heavily are 21st Century skills, referred to as Core Competencies, including:
- Communication: the set of abilities that students use to impart and exchange information, experiences and ideas, to explore the world around them, and to understand and effectively engage in the use of digital media;
- Thinking: the knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development. It is through their competency as thinkers that students take subject-specific concepts and content and transform them into a new understanding. Thinking competence includes specific thinking skills as well as habits of mind, and metacognitive awareness;
- Personal and Social: the set of abilities that relate to students' identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society. Personal and social competency encompasses the abilities students need to thrive as individuals, to understand and care about themselves and others, and to find and achieve their purposes in the world.
The roles that Google Classroom could play the development of these skills is limitless, but a few of the more obvious include:
- establishing a collaborative classroom environment where the teacher can give regular formative feedback to students;
- promoting the sharing of knowledge and ideas between students to shape and change thinking;
- supporting student accountability through calendar and document availability via the cloud;
- evaluating and improving work through revision and re-submission in accordance with ongoing formative assessment;
- providing personal learning for students.
Because many Google applications allow for teachers to assess work on an ongoing basis, formative assessment can become a much larger focus of student work. Teachers can check the revision history to see how student work progresses over time. Documents can be shared with teachers at various stages of completion so that feedback can be ongoing.
"Formative assessments—ongoing assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and students—are essential. They permit the teacher to grasp the students’ preconceptions, understand where the students are in the “developmental corridor” from informal to formal thinking, and design instruction accordingly. In the assessment-centered classroom environment, formative assessments help both teachers and students monitor progress." (Bransford et al, 1999). This includes an awareness of cultural and societal differences which can "affect students’ comfort level in working collaboratively versus individually, and they are reflected in the background knowledge students bring to a new learning situation" (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 1999).
This idea of recognizing the students' prior learning, including misconceptions, is an essential part of the process of developing "novice thinkers" into more "expert thinkers" who have acquired the following attributes:
Use of continual formative feedback with GAFE helps teachers to steer each student's learning without causing enough cognitive conflict to result in the students disengaging from the subject material which is key to developing expert patterns of thinking (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2002).
Further, GAFE can be used in concert with developing new frameworks in Education to promote 21st Century skills. For example, STEAM is a recent adaptation of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) that recognizes the important role played by the Arts in challenging students to be "critical thinkers, effective problem-solvers, productive workers, responsible citizens and lifelong learners" (Spector, 2015). GAFE can be used to enhance and provide a space for the sort of online multidisciplinary collaborative work promoted by STEAM (Smith, King, & González, 2015) so the GAFE tools and STEAM framework can be used together to produce a formidable cross curricular learning space for students and teachers alike.
- extensive knowledge that affects how they are able to organize, represent and interpret information in their realm;
- this knowledge allows experts to successfully remember, reason and solve problems.
Use of continual formative feedback with GAFE helps teachers to steer each student's learning without causing enough cognitive conflict to result in the students disengaging from the subject material which is key to developing expert patterns of thinking (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2002).
Further, GAFE can be used in concert with developing new frameworks in Education to promote 21st Century skills. For example, STEAM is a recent adaptation of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) that recognizes the important role played by the Arts in challenging students to be "critical thinkers, effective problem-solvers, productive workers, responsible citizens and lifelong learners" (Spector, 2015). GAFE can be used to enhance and provide a space for the sort of online multidisciplinary collaborative work promoted by STEAM (Smith, King, & González, 2015) so the GAFE tools and STEAM framework can be used together to produce a formidable cross curricular learning space for students and teachers alike.