Damien RafteryLecturer & eLearning Development Officer

Teaching & Learning CentreInstitute of Technology Carlow

Using Google Docs to support Project-based learning

Daire Ó BroinLecturer

Science and HealthInstitute of Technology Carlow

http://elearn.itcarlow.ie

EdTech 2009

Project-based learning

• Wide-ranging approach that uses authentic problems to engage students– question creation of artefacts final product

• Benefits include active learning approach• Possible problems

– difficult for students to collaborate outside of class– teacher monitor progress and assess individual

contribution

• Google Docs to help overcome these limitations?

The bigger picture:Google Apps

& forms, all online

Old School

Document for collaboration

New School

ONEOnline

Document for collaboration

Link to DocLink to Doc

Link to DocLink to Doc

The interface

Editing a document

Revision History

Sharing a document

• Add collaborators and viewers• Publish as web page for all to view• Download as PDF, Word or other formats

• Collaborate and work online– edit anytime, from anywhere– share changes in real time, revision history

• Issues: limited features, technical …• So, what happened?

– how easy was it to setup?– how did the students find using it? – how did we (the teachers) find using it?

Using Google Docs to support Project-based learning

Setup

• Short intro to Google docs

• Task 1: Create an account using student number as username

• Task 2: Create and share a document

Setup

• Mail server blocked confirmation emails from Google Docs

• Some students inadvertently set up two accounts with same username and password

Setup

Using it - Good• The ability for numerous people to edit a

document remotely is very useful• Can see changes by team members almost

immediately• Icon at the bottom of the screen indicating

who is currently editing is also handy• Easy to share• Easy to use?

Using it - Bad

• Discarded text• Spontaneous deletions• Autosave• Adding charts difficult • Font type and size changed by itself• Can be very slow• Unavailable for saving (rare)

Would you use Google Docs again?

Yes

• “It is very easy to work with others as a group even when you don't get time to meet up”

• “Yes, for simple documents”• “Yes, if I was working within a group situation”

No

• “MS Word is easier to use and less time consuming.”• “I found it quite difficult to use and navigate. I would

stick to using Word and sending my work via e-mail. ”• “Typing a document on Word is much easier, with a

much better range of tools to format documents.”• “There were a of problems with members of the

group not being able to log in and collaborate and this caused problems within the group. There were more negatives than positives to Google Docs.”

Teacher Evaluation

• Giving feedback – opportunity to monitor, comment, and flag issues

during project – Revision History

• Evaluating projects– forms (self- and peer-assessment rubrics, reflections)– no more emails and sheets of paper to file

Revision history

Revision history

•

• Plagiarism– limitation: can’t compare final and initial versions

FormsOnline evaluation & feedback forms

Conclusion

• Successful• What worked well

– Student collaboration outside of class– forms and revision history

• Limitations– Discarded text and spontaneous deletions– Autosave– Revision history: compare final and initial versions– Compared with MS Word: not as easy, fewer features

Conclusion

• Some suggestions– Setup: check confirmation messages arrive– Training for adding charts, etc.– Clearer guidelines, e.g. naming conventions

• Future work– Alternatives: Microsoft Live? Wikis?

Thank you & questions?