Change Report

7/31/2019 Change Report

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1 Change Report Ryan McClintock INTE 6750, Fall 2011

TransitioningfromTraditionalLabNotebookstoaCloud-Based

FormatUsingGoogleApps

RyanMcClintock

INTE6750,Fall2011October14,2011

Introduction

TheDouglasCountySchoolDistrict(DCSD)hasrecentlytransitionedemployeesand

studentsemailtoaGoogleAppscloud-basedenvironment.Manyteachersare

beginningtorealizetheopportunitiesthistransitionhasintroduced,mainly

collaborativedocumentsandsites.Therealisticpossibilityofmoreindividualized

feedbackbetweenteacherandstudent,coupledwiththeefficiencyintroducedby

severalstudentsusingashareddocument,maytransformthewaysometraditionaltoolsofeducationareused-oriftheywillcontinuetobeusedatall.

Scienceteachersoftenuselab-typenotebooksforstudentstorecordthesteps,

processes,observations,interpretations,andconclusionsofexperiments.Usingthese

notebooksallowsforatremendousamountofdirect,one-on-oneinteractionbetween

teacherandstudent.Theyalsoserveasbodiesofevidencethatillustrategrowthand

progressinagivenclass.Chemistryteachersareoftenthemostlikelytousethese

notebooksinthisfashion.

Ashelpfulastraditionallabnotebooksare(inthattheyprovidesomuchfeedbackabout

studentslearning),writingintothemandformattinglabreportsisbecomingmoreand

moretedioustomychemistrystudents,thatis,itisgettingharderandharderformy

studentstobuyintotheconcept,whichrendersthepracticelesseffective.

Couldacloud-basedtechnologylikeGoogleAppsremedythissituation?

Thetimingtoanswerthisquestionisperfect.Withteachersandstudentsgivenaccess

toGoogleApps,studentsmaynowfindmoresatisfaction,andthereforeownership,in

summarizingtheirlearningintheformofaGoogleDocandsharingthisdocumentwith

teacherswhocanthencommentandprovideindividualizedfeedbackinafashionthat

mayalsoencouragerevisionandresubmissioninawaythatteacherscanmanage,thus

alsoaffecting(inapositiveway)datedandsometimesharshgradingpractices.

CastleViewHighSchool(CVHS)isapublicschoolwithinDCSDthatislocatedintheDenversuburbofCastleRock.CVHSstudentsandteachershaveaccesstoarobust

wirelessnetwork,severallocationswheretheymayutilizelaptopanddesktop

computers(iftheydonothavetheirownpersonallaptop),andarecentlychanged

schoolpolicyeffectivelyallowingappropriatecellphoneusageinclassrooms.

Allofthisconsidered,nowisthetimetoimplementaprogramthattransitionsstudents


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2 McClintock Change Proposal, October 14, 2011

fromtraditionalsciencelabnotebookstoacloud-basedePortfoliocollectionoflab

summariesandconnections.

Thepurposeofthisprojectistodesign,implement,evaluate,andreflectontheusageof

GoogleAppsasanePortolioofstudentlabwork.Goalsforthisprojectincludeteachingstudentshowto:

AccesstheirGoogleAppsaccount Create/uploadaGoogleDoc CreateacollectionofGoogleDocs ShareGoogleDocsandcollections FormatimagesandmathematicalworkintoaGoogleDoc InsertcommentsintoaGoogleDoc

PlannedIntervention

Inadditiontomaintainingmostofthepositiveaspectsoftraditionallabnotebooks,the

Googleenvironmentwillallowstudentsmorelatitudeinthecreationoftheirwork.

Graphs,forexample,maybecreatedbyhandanddigitized,ortheymaybecreatedin

Excelorsomeotherprogram.Studentsmayalsolinktositesaspartoftheirnarrative-

formlabsummary.Anonlineenvironmentwillthereforeencouragestudentsto

summarizeandreflectinwaysthatpersonalizesthelabexperimentinwaysthatcannot

bedoneusingtraditionallabnotebooks.

SurryandEli(2001)proposethatoneshouldidentifysourcesofresistanceandimplementstrategiestocombatthisresistance.Somestudentsmayinitiallyresist

becausetheyarerequiredtolearnanewenvironmentofwordprocessing.Topartially

combatthis,IwillreinforcetheideathatonemaycreatedocumentsinWordandExcel

formatsandsimplyuploadtoGoogle.Also,Iwillcreatewrittenandvideotutorialsthat

describethebasicstepsoneneedstotaketocreateintheGoogleenvironment.These

resourceswillbehousedwithinasiteaccessibletothepublic.

CastleViewHighSchoolpridesitselfoncreating21stCenturyLearners.Tothisend,the

abilitytocollaborateinteamstoproblem-solveisoftheutmostimportance.

Implementingcloud-basedlabnotebookswillgivestudentsopportunitiestocreate,

share,andreflectontheirlearninginwaysconsistentwithourschoolsmission.

Timeline:

Task DueDate

Describeprojectandtransitiontostudents 8-22-11


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CreatescreencastsandwrittendirectionsforaccessingGoogle

accounts,creating/uploadingGoogleDocs,creatingcollections,

andsharingGoogleDocsandcollections

8-23-11

Creatingwebsitefortutorials 8-24-11

FirstgLabexperiment(datacollection) 8-24-11

FirstgLabduedate 9-6-11

CreategLabevaluationform 9-2-11

SubsequentgLabs9-8-11

9-20-11

Shareidea/resultswithcolleagues 10-6-11

Finalsurveygiventostudents 10-6-11

EvaluationPlan

GoogleFormswereusedassurveysaftereachgLabexperience.Thesesurveysasked

studentstosummarizewhattheylearnedandhowtheprojectcouldbeimprovedfor

futurestudents.Theresultsfromthefirstsurveyindicatedaneedformoreover-the-

shoulderassistanceusingGoogleDocs.Manystudentsappreciatedthetutorialvideos

butrequestedadditionalhelptocreateandsharetheirreports.

FollowingtheseriesofgLabinvestigations,studentswereallowedtochoosewhether

theywouldcontinuetheirlabreportsusingGoogleDocsorusingaboundnotebook.

Findings

SomestudentsinitiallyresistedthemovetousingGoogleApps(login,Googledocs,

etc.).Thisresistancewasshort-lived,however,asthescaffoldingofthetransitiondid

notallowforcontinued,seriouslackofprogress.Studentseasilyloggedintotheirnewly

createdDCSDGoogleAppsaccount.Theydemonstratedthisbysendingmeanemail

describinghowtologintotheiraccounts.Severalstudentswereunabletoaccesstheir

accountsfromhomeduetolackofInternetconnectivity.Fortunatelytheywereableto

useclassandlibrarylaptopsduringschoolhourstoaccessGoogleApps.

Oncenetworkandcomputerissueswereworkedout,everystudentrathercompetently

demonstratedtheabilitytocreateandshareaGoogleDoc.Ianticipatedsomedifficulty

transitioningfromaMicrosoftWordenvironmenttoaslimmed-downversion,thatis

GoogleDocs.Iwaswrong;theydidnotseentonotice,nordidtheyindicateany

discomfortwiththisportionoftheChangeProject.

Creating,sharing,andpopulatingacollectionwithintheirGoogleDocswasabitmore

problematic.Surveyresponsesseemedtoindicateadirectcorrelationbetween

studentswhosuccessfullydemonstratedthisskillandtheirabilitiestoorganizematerial


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withinfolders(ontheirpersonalcomputers).Studentswhoindicatedtheydonot

organizefilesintofoldersontheirowndevicesstruggledwiththeideaofaGoogle

collectionofdocuments.

Oncecollectionswerecreatedandshared,Iplacedseveraldocumentsinthecollections

thatrequiredresponses.Thisallowedstudentstounderstandtheideaofsharingand

howaddingtosharedcollectionswasaneasywaytomonitorprogressandassignment

submission.

HavingdemonstratedtheabilitytologintotheirGoogleAppsaccounts,createand

shareGoogledocs,andcreate,share,andpopulatecollections,mystudentsrather

efficientlyutilizedthetechnologytosummarizetheirlabfindingsandexperiments.Any

struggletomeetdeadlineswasconsistentwiththemoretraditionalboundlabnotebook

approach.Iencouragedlabpartnerstosharetheirdocswitheachother,aswellas

providecommentaryfeedbackregardingcoherence,writingstyle,andcontent.

IwasabletoorganizetheircollectionswithinmyGoogleAppsaccountsoIcould

monitortheirprogress.Iwasalsoabletoshareseveralofthedocswithmysciencecolleaguestoshowexamplesofmystudentsusingthetechnology.Severalofmy

colleaguesprovidedfeedbacktomystudentsbyinsertingcomments.Studentsurveys

indicatedtheyenjoyedhearingfromotherteachers.

Iformallysharedthisprojectanditsfindingswithmycolleagues(intheformofa

presentation).Twootherteachersoneasocialscienceteacher,theotheranEnglish

teacher-wereusingGoogleDocsinasimilarfashion.Weaskedourcommonstudents

tocreateGooglesitestoorganizeandlinktotheirdocssowecouldcollectivelyview

andprovidefeedbackontheirwork.ThesesitesfunctionasaprototypeePorfolioor

collectionoftheirprogressandhelpedcreateamorepersonalizedlearningexperience

forbothstudentsandteachersalike.FollowingthegLabassignments,IgavestudentsthechoicetousetheirGoogleApps

accountstosubmitallfuturelabreportsortransitionbacktoboundlabnotebooks.To

date,notasinglestudenthaschosentoutilizetraditionalboundlabnotebooks,opting

insteadtocontinueusingtheirGoogleAppsaccounts.

Ethical/StakeholdImpacts

Itwillbeimportantformetocontinueandexpandonthisproject.Ianticipatemanyof

mycolleagueswillincorporatethefeaturesofferedbythecreationofstudentGoogle

Appsaccountsastheythemselvesbecomemorecompetentwiththetechnologyand

thoseofuscurrentlyutilizingthetechnologycontinuetoshareoursuccesseswithstudents.

Allofthiswillincreasebuilding-widecollaborationbetweenteachersandstudents,

whichisagoodsteptowardsourmissiontocreate21stCenturylearnersandthinkers.


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References

Google.(2011).Guidetogoinggoogle.https://sites.google.com/a/googleapps.com/k12-

guide-to-going-google/pd(accessedon:25September2011).

Oud,J.(2009).Guildelinesforeffectiveonlineinstructionusingmultimediascreencasts.ReferenceServicesReview,37(2),164-177

Surry,D.W.,&Ely,D.P.(2001).Adoption,diffusion,implementation,and

institutionalizationofeducationalinnovations.InR.Reiser&J.V.Dempsey(Eds.),Trendsandissuesininstructionaldesignandtechnology.UpperSaddleRiver,NJ:Prentice-Hall.Draftonline:http://www.southalabama.edu/coe/bset/surry/papers/adoption/chap.htm

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Change Report