{"id":863,"date":"2014-03-31T14:49:06","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T06:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssedro.com\/blog\/?p=863"},"modified":"2014-04-22T12:22:39","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T04:22:39","slug":"google-docs-chat-changing-a-distraction-into-a-powerful-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssedro.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/31\/google-docs-chat-changing-a-distraction-into-a-powerful-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Docs Chat: Changing a Distraction into a Powerful Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ed Tech team at my school has been sipping the Google Apps kool-aid for a long time. I still remember how enchanted I was the first time that four of us in different parts of our geographically large school were collaborating in real time on a budget document. The chat window was open and comments were being added. \u00a0It was powerful, effective collaboration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our elementary students dearly want to chat while working, but that usually comes at the cost of their productivity. \u00a0During work time, some are irresistibly drawn to\u00a0filling the chat box with\u00a0illuminating sentences such as these:<\/p>\n

\n

I like cheese!
\nHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
\nI am awesome!!!!!!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Today I was happy to have a chance to teach a grade 4 class how to effectively use the communication tools in Google Docs.\u00a0In their homeroom they have been working in groups to research endangered environments. \u00a0They took notes in a variety of formats, some on posters, some on sticky notes, and some on iPads. Our next step was to have the group members combine their notes into a reference document. \u00a0As their final step, each student will use their group’s reference document to create their own Haiku Deck presentation which will be presented and then posted on their blog.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before class we set up a blank document for each group in a collaborative folder in Google Docs. \u00a0That saved time and put the documents where we could easily find them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To start class I explained that they were going to have a chance to use Google Docs in the way that adults use them on the job. They were going to make one document that contained the notes for their entire group. To help them work efficiently, they were going to use the chat box and the comments feature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I opened one of the team documents and had a student open the same document on her computer so we could review how you can tell where someone else is working in a document. \u00a0Next, I typed some sentences which included errors. The student modeled correcting those, since that is one way people collaborate. \u00a0After that I used the comment feature to ask a clarifying questions about something. \u00a0Finally, I used the chat to ask her a question.<\/p>\n

I gave the students these guidelines for their work.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Knowing that the chat feature \u00a0could prove to be too distracting, I also let students know that if needed, we would move them to Mircosoft Word and then we could paste their notes into Google Docs at the end of the period.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Students took the assignment very seriously. \u00a0They got right to work. \u00a0At first the chats were full of organizational questions about who would do what and where it would go in the document.<\/p>\n

\"derek\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After they had been working for a while, the chat discussion turned to the contents of their document. They asked clarifying questions and shared new information with the people writing those sections.
\n\"monosnap-window<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"monosnap-window<\/a><\/p>\n


\n<\/a><\/p>\n

It became clear as the students worked that they were taking the time to read over each others writing. You could tell by the colored cursor marks that sometimes one student was following behind making corrections.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"monosnap-window<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was a highly productive 35 minute work time. \u00a0All of the documents were well-underway by the time we logged off the computers. One highly distractible student commented that he only managed to add two notes. \u00a0I was not too worried about that because he really was following the chat and reading what people were writing. \u00a0He was more focused than I’ve ever seen him before and I suspect he learned quite a bit from what the other children were writing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the end of class we debriefed the process. Here are their observations.<\/p>\n

What went well:<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n