Global Learner Project

My global learner partner and I decided to work on Google docs for our collaborative project. We intended to have students work on word problems in groups, then share their work on Google docs, and finally comment on each others work. The first block, we had students who were writing inappropriate messages on each other’s documents and decided to close the project down. The second block, I had students log in and wrote down their user numbers so that we were all aware that I knew who was writing what. This helped tremendously on minimizing inappropriate comments. Not every student finished posting their solutions on the document and what they did post was not what we have practiced on paper. There was a disconnect between how we solve word problems and explain what we did on paper versus what they wrote on the computers. I think that this can be improved over time. It makes sense that the first time technology is introduced that students will not produce as high of quality products as we can expect after some experience with the technology. We struggled having enough problems solved and posted in time for our students to comment on them. Over all, the first attempt was deemed a failure, but I think that there is much room for hope. The students were all excited and I think that they actually worked together and all contributed to the problem solving more for this project than they regularly do when we are just sharing out in our classroom. I think with a little practice and more time, we can make this a successful activity in our classrooms.