Thursday, February 25, 2021

Workshop: Using Collaborative Documents in Online Classes

 Workshop: Using Collaborative Documents in Online Classes



Introduction: In this workshop we will explore the use of collaborative documents to increase student participation and language use in small group activities in our online lessons. These tools are simple to create, share, and reuse and they generate powerful opportunties for student engagement. Follow the instructions below.






Task 1: Group Discussion
You will have five minutes to discuss the following questions with your partners. Click play on the video timer below to keep track of time and ensure that everyone has a chance to share their ideas.


  • What techniques can you use to encourage collaboration among students in face to face classes?
  • Which of those techniques can work in the online? Which need adaptation? Which are impossible?
  • Have you used any of the following tools in an online class as either as either a teacher or student? If so, what have you done with them?
    • Google Docs
    • Google Slides
    • Google Sheets
    • Google Jamboard
    • Digital Spinners and Roulette Wheels
    • Embedded YouTube Videos







Task 2: Activity Exploration
Now you and your partners will explore a number of different sample activities using collaborative documents. Open the Group Worksheet and complete it as you work your way through the activities. For each activity, do the following:

  • Read the instructions together.
  • Try the activity with your partners for 1-2 minutes. If it is a Jamboard or Slides presentation, be sure to check if it has multiple pages.
  • Then fill out the required information in the Group Worksheet and move on to the next one.
Click your group link below and discuss the two example activities with the trainer before getting started with the rest.


Example Activity 1: This or That

Let's play a little game to get to know each other better. Spin the wheel and make a choice between the two options. Briefly say which one you prefer and why. Then it's your partner's turn. (We did this as a warm up on Wednesday. What other student centered applications can you think of for the roulette wheel?)

Spin the Wheel


Example Activity 2: Order the Text

Click on the link below to access a shared document. Here you will see a list of sentence fragments. See how you and your partners can reorder the phrases to construct a coherent text. (We did this activity as an icebreaker for our first session last Monday. What other a kinds of collaborative applications can you think of for activity types where students match or order items?)


Trainer, please have half of the groups begin their explorations from the bottom of the list and work up while the other half starts at the bottom and works down. This will ensure that all of the activities are analyzed even if some groups don't have enough time to see them all.


Collaborative Activities


Activity 1: Daily routines
Students clicked on their group to open the Jamboard. First they had to drag the pictures to put the daily routine actions in chronological order. Then they needed to use the TEXT function to add the names of each activity. On the next pages they checked their answers and then asked each other questions using the vocabulary about their personal routines. 



Activity 2: Drawing the Future 
Students clicked on thier group link. On each page, they made 2 or 3 predictions about the future. Then they made drawings to represent theirr predictions. No text or photos were allowed. Only drawings.

Next, students clicked the links of the other groups to look at their drawings. They wrote a sentence saying what each drawing possibly means using the sticky note tool. They were told they could use these phrases to start their sentences.
  • They could be saying...
  • They might mean that...
  • Maybe they think... 


Activity 3: Vocab Builder - Classify the Compound Adjectives
Students clicked their group link and read the instructions. Then they clicked and dragged the adjectives to classify them using the Venn diagram. They finisehd by telling their partners which adjectives they could use to describe themselves.


Activity 4: How ECO-GUILTY are you? Take the quiz to find out!
Students worked in groups of three. First they decided who was Student A, B, and C. Then they clicked on their group link and went to their tab (A, B, C, D). They discuss each question in the survey with their partners but made their own decisions to complete their quiz. When they finished, they checked their score at the bottom of the page and compared it with their partners and said whether or not they agreed with the results?


Activity 5: Claire's Two Jobs
Students clicked on their group link and read about Claire's two jobs and completed the text with the missing information. Then they answered the questions about Claire and also some personalized questions about their partner.


Activity 6: What time is it around the world?
Students worked in pairs. First they decided who was Student A and who was Student B then they clicked the link and went to their individual sections of the document. First Student A asked questions about the time in different cities and Student B answered. Student A changed the hands on the clocks to show the right time said by Student B. NOTE: To move the hands of the clock, click the hand and drag one of the ends.


Activity 7: Talk about free time activities
Students clicked on their group link below and open the document. Then they followed the instructions to complete the three tasks with their partners. First there was a matching exercise, then they thought of additional vocabulary related to the topic, and finally they answered simple questions about the vocab using the model language forms at the bottom of the page.


Task 8: Vocab Builder - Clothing and Accessories
Students clicked on their group link and read through the list of clothing and accessories. They wrote the name of the body part associated with them in column B and clicked the checkboxes to classify who typically uses them and in what situations. If they didn't know the meaning of one of the words, they could Google it.


Task 9: Group Listening - At the Office
Student clicked on their group link to open their worksheet. Then they pressed play on the video in the blog to listen to the audio while they followed the instructions in the worksheet to complete the tasks.




Activity 10: Writing a Shopping List
In this activity beginner students had to plan a grocery shopping list for a typical family in Costa Rica for two weeks. They wrote the items, the quantity and the prices. They were told NOT to write in the blue spaces at first.

When they finished their list, they were told to click on the link for a different group. They read their shopping list and wrote some comments about it in the blue space answering the questions:
  • Did they buy too much or not enough? 
  • What do you think about the price they paid?



Activity 11: Planning a Trip - Group Presentation
This is a Google Slides template that beginner students used to create and deliver an oral presentation. It has specific information that they are required to include but they were also free to personalize it they way they wanted. Look at the template and sample made by students.
Student Sample: Click through the pages



Instructions for Creating Your Collaborative Document



Before Class:

1. Decide what you want students to do and then choose the appropriate tool to facilitate that:
  • Google Doc
  • Google Slide
  • Google Sheet
  • Google Jamboard
  • Other
2. Open a folder in your Drive and create your template document.

3. Be sure to include instructions in the document itself.

4. Make a copy of the template for each group of students. 

5. Change permissions so that anyone with the link can view and edit.

6. Choose a link delivery strategy so students can easily access their documents: 
  • Send in ZOOM Chat
  • Embed in Canvas: Mark will show you how to use Canvas in a workshop next week. 
 

During Class:

1. Share your screen to show the activity. Give instructions and model the activity. Do NOT share links or tell students to open their document before you first show, model, and explain. 

2.  Tell students what groups they are in so they click the right link.

3. Send them to the breakout rooms to do the activity.



After Class: 

1. Decide what worked and what did not work so well about the activity. If the activity can be improved by changing an aspect of the design of the document or by adding better instructions, make those adaptations to your template document right then before you forget.

2. The next time you want to use your activity with another group of students, you will need to clean up the documents so that the new students do not see your old students' answers. You can manually delete their answers one by one. Or simply copy the content from your template document and paste it into each of the group documents. 
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