Despite all the negatives, the pandemic has urged me to think creatively about what to do to boost student engagement both in remote and in-person teaching. Since the start of the autumn semester, I knew I had to deal with students whose motivation required support following a taxing academic year of remote teaching. Thus, I aimed at capitalizing whatever I learnt in remote teaching and use it in in-person class delivery. In fact, I have been impressed by the incessant addition of Google Workspace tools and functionalities while teaching remotely. Especially, I understood that Google Classroom does not represent a mere repository of notes, but it offers the opportunity of paperless sharing and digital collaboration when doing classwork activities, both individually and in groups. For example, students collaborate simultaneously on a shared document (could be Google Docs or Slides or Jamboard) using even their mobile phones, and then upload the presentation on Google Classroom from where they would present to the class. Described by Google as “mission control for your classroom” (Google, 2021), Google Classroom is a digital organizer for sharing material, streaming with students, and interacting at multiple levels thanks to its flexibility and seamless integration with Google Workspace tools. The result is heightened engagement with students eager to speak up and be involved in the physical classroom settings.
Ultimately, Google Workspace tools allow me to work towards a seamlessly engaging learning experience for students because of the minimization of delays thanks to the integration offered. This effort, however, has been accompanied by a steep learning curve as it happened, for instance, with my migration from good, old PowerPoint to Google Slides. Yet, the rewards of this effort are multiple. Firstly, Google Slides enables the fluid transition from a slide to a video, and back. Secondly, there are some amazing add-ons, such as Slido. This is great for involving students with quizzes and multiple-choice questions, same as Kahoot. The benefit with Slido is, however, that I do not have to leave my presentation! Everything is integrated. Lastly, and most importantly, Google Space is an amazing innovation, allowing students not only to collaborate real time on projects in class, but also to work efficiently and effectively on homework assignments to be presented in class. In other words, Google Workspace provides all the necessary functionalities, and much more, to support the Flipped Classroom approach to teaching. Incidentally, as research highlights, the Flipped Classroom methodology not only enables blended learning, but is also instrumental for the development of 21st century skills for today’s students (Latorre-Cosculluela, C. et al., 2021).
Useful Links
Google (2021) Google Classroom [online]. Available from: https://sites.google.com/yubacoe.education/distancelearning/google-classroom.
Latorre-Cosculluela, C. et al. (2021) Flipped Classroom model before and during COVID-19: Using technology to develop 21st century skills. Interactive Technology and Smart Education, 18(2), pp. 189-204.
No comments:
Post a Comment