Developing digital literacies: Making use of Google Docs

Today I want to focus on a particular technology that I have made great use of in my teaching and learning. This technology is also used widely in business and commerce and so by introducing it to our students we are exposing them to something that is great to use in our teaching and learning but also useful as a life skill. Google Docs is one of the apps freely available to anyone who has a Google Mail account. It is a word processing tool that allows you to quickly share and work collaboratively on documents. So a teacher can create a document and then allow the students to access and contribute to it. It is ideal for collecting group notes together, brainstorming, writing collaborative stories etc.

How does Google Docs work?

If you have a Google mail account then you have access to what is called Google Apps. One of the apps that is available is Google Docs. It is important to remember that your students do not need to have a Google Mail account  to view or even to edit a document that you as the teacher create. In other words, the teacher can create a document and then the other students can access the document and collaborate on it without them having an account. You can watch this video to see how easy it is to create and share a document.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxcIOi0IaDQ

You might be thinking why this is so useful in language teaching, so let me provide you with a few ideas.

Listen and build notes

One way I have worked with Google Docs is to use it build notes. For example I create a document with the following layout.

Document with boxes for each group to write into

Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5

 

I then put the students into groups of say 3 students per group. Image for example we have 5 groups with 3 students in each group. Only one student in each group needs access to the document, so you only need one computer for each group of students.

Part one

Now you can use any material for this activity. It could be some audio they have listened to, a video, a story they have read or even a story that the teacher has told. The idea is that the students listen or watch and then in their groups they discuss what they have heard/watched and then write their notes in the box that corresponds to their group. In a recent example I did, the students had to watch a person giving a presentation and then in groups, write down as many mistakes as they could think of that the presenter made and add them into the document. This helps them to think of and use verbs in the past. You can find the video here.

Part two

In the next part of the activity, the students had to look at what another group had written and then add any additional ideas they could think of.  So if they think the group had missed something then they could add it to the document. This way the students not only wrote in the document but also read what other students had written. Each group was asked to read what one other group had written and add any additional ideas to that groups notes that they could think of.

Group 1 look at group 2

Group2 look at group 3

Group 3 look at group 4

Group 4 look at group 5

Group 5 looks at group 1

 

Part three

I then asked the students to go back and look at what the other group had added to their notes. The next task was to take all the activities and put them in order that they happened in the video. The students simply did this by adding a number next to the different

He knocked over the pens=2

He dropped the lion on the table=1

He dropped the whiteboard=4

He test the microphone=3

I then got one member of each group to read out in order all the mistakes that the presenter had made.

Next, I told  the students to close the document and find a pair from another group. Then in pairs they had to re-count the whole story of what had happened in the video.

One final tip, the students have produced a document with lots of notes. You could then ask them to do something with the notes. For example, they could write an advice sheet about what to do/not to do when doing a presentation. This could be their homework.

google-docs

This idea can be used for loads of things. I like the idea of students working in groups and adding content into a document but also checking the content of another group. It is important that we not only create digital assets but that we also work with them and use them.  The trick of dividing a document into different parts, so one group writes in one part and another group works in another part works really well. Only the teacher needs to produce the document. The teacher then shares the link with the students or writes the link address on the board and the students can access the document and work collaboratively. Remember you only need one student in each group to access the document. Remember, many students will one day be using Google Apps when they work, so we are helping them with their digital literacies as well as making our teaching and learning more collaborative.

 

Russell Stannard

Educational Director

NILE associate trainer ( Norwich Institute for Language Education)

Winner of:

Times Higher Outstanding Initiative in ICT

British Council ELTons award for technology

University of Westminster Excellence in Teaching and Learning


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