Collaborative Google Project – part 1
For this blog post, I will be reporting live from an educational project I have set up.
Outline:
Objectives:
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To see how effectively Google Docs can be used for Online Projects by both Young Adults and Primary learners.
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To use collaborative learning to practise English and Spanish.
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To keep members of my household busy on a rainy British autumnal day.
Subjects:
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Dani – 25 yo. Native Spanish speaker. High Elementary level in English. Staying with us to learn English.
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O – 8 yo. Native English speaker. Beginner level in Spanish. Just started extra curricular Spanish. My son.
Setup:
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Each subject has a project to complete using Google docs.
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Each has instructions to follow. They click on a link to Google docs where they find a template to complete.
Dani’s template for Project UK has slides for England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. Each slide is divided into Culture, Sport, History, Geography. The objective is for Dani to complete each slide with facts on each of the topics. He can search online or discuss with O.
O’s template for About me has slides for My school, My Family, My favourite animal, My favourite foods. He has to complete each slide about himself in English. Once he has completed this, he has to do Sobre mi, the same in Spanish, for this he can ask Dani for support.
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I will monitor their work live and make corrections and suggestions where appropriate.
Process:
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Getting everything going takes some time. They both need support for actually clicking the right link and working out how to copy and rename their project slides.
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Once they get going, they both cope well with the mechanics of the process.
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O is finding the first stage of his project very easy. He has not yet realised that the second stage means that he has to do the same again in Spanish!! He has got it now and is leaning on Dani for help.
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Dani is finding some useful information for his slides online, including the National Wool Museum of Wales.
Outcomes:
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Google docs, with support from a teacher can be used by both Young Adults and Primary learners. We did not go through the set up of accounts which is a problem across Google. The ability for the teacher to monitor their work live is excellent, this project would have worked just as well remotely.
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O probably learnt more Spanish and was keener to collaborate (i.e. get Dani to dictate) to complete his his slides.
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It did keep us busy!
Dani’s completed work.
O’s completed work.
