One of the main goals of my second PBL is to improve collaboration between students. I not only want them to provide meaningful feedback within their groups, but also make sure that students are sharing the workload when creating their final products. After visiting J.L. Mann, I was amazed at how students were able to collaborate through the use of Google Docs and Google Drive. I loved how the technology allowed groups to simultaneously work on the same document. I decided to use Google Drive as a major component of collaboration during this most recent PBL.
I first made students evenly divide up the workload of the project, writing their name beside the sections they agreed to complete. This made the students accountable to their group members, but also made them accountable to me, as I could make sure each member was on task at any moment. Students were then given access to a poster template that I created. With the use of Google Drive, students could log into their group's poster and all work on the same document at the same time.
After the initial frustration of getting every student logged in to their district Google accounts, I experienced great success. I was pleasantly surprised to see students help each other, both in working the technology and refining the sections they were creating. Much of the collaboration was initiated by the students without input for me. I hope to continue to use technology as an anchor for student collaboration as I implement more PBL experiences in the future.
I am so glad this has been so successful for you! I loved seeing the use of Google Docs at J.L. Mann and have wanted to try it in my classroom, but haven't had the confidence, or time yet to try it. You have inspired me to give it a go though! The accountability factor is something that I have had a difficult time with my students with. I know that they are working for some of the time, but other times, I just don't know what productive work they are accomplishing. I'm glad that your students were able to collaborate better. So, has there been a huge change in their collaboration this time around?
ReplyDeleteCollaboration and students completing their portion of the project is difficult. Something that I have done in the past is for the students to fill out a google form evaluating each student in the group. But then again, if the student didn't complete their part of the assignment then all the students suffer from the loss of completed work. As we continue through this PBL program maybe we could all brain storm to come up with some more ideas ot solve our problems.
ReplyDeleteI am going to try to divide up responsibilities again - you have inspired me! As for Google, I love Google! I actually use it 24/7 with my STEM students. However, my Integrated Science students struggle with remembering yet another password and the differences between Google and ItsLearning. So, most of the time, I use ItsLearning with them. But, it has its limits - group work being one of them. I'm, at this very moment, trying to see if students can attach a PPT to an email in ItsLearning in order to all have individual responsibilities, but combine everything as a group. We will see! I'm so happy you made Google work in your class!
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteIt was clear from the observation evidence, both the video and my notes regarding student engagement in their google doc, that this technology tool was helpful in providing students an opportunity to work simultaneously on their digital posters in their collaborative work groups. One group I interviewed figured out fast the benefit of being able to provide each other with peer editing using Google Docs and all were able to see both the quality and quantity of each other's contributions which led to the positive accountability you wrote about in your reflection. Sincerely, Dawn
I love that you saw such an improvement in students being on task and working on the project simultaneously! I feel like it is a comfort for students to know that everyone has a certain responsibility in the group, and when that is the case, ironically, they end up helping each other more. I found a way to make students more individually accountable for my spring PBL as well, and I found that students were much more on task than they were in my fall PBL. I love that students are so willing to help each other and give each other feedback as they work on the poster at the same time. Great job!
ReplyDelete