EdTech+According+to+Luke

Luke Bilger Ashford University EDUC-7101-2 December 19, 2011

Argument for Google Docs I had originally identified three innovations that would be beneficial to the school in which I work. These were smart phones, iPads and Google Docs. In order to choose one, I looked at three factors: cost of the innovation, attitudes towards the innovation and required skills to use the innovation. I analyzed these factors to determine which innovation would most realistically be adopted by the school in which I work. Smart phones wouldn’t cost money because most if not all, students and staff carry them. However, the attitudes towards mobile phones within our school community would not tolerate their use in the classroom. iPads would be great and I think the teachers would embrace them, if available to all students. However, we are going through great financial issues in the district and our school is facing its second budge cut in a year. This has changed the attitude of the staff against purchasing new technology because teachers are losing their jobs. I decided to go with Google Docs, a free web-based collection of applications much like many office software programs teachers and students are already using. The price is right and the skills needed can be easily transferred from using similar products. The difference is that Google Docs come with added bonuses.

Google Docs allows for multiple people to collaborate on documents that are stored in “the cloud,” another way of saying that they are stored online and accessible from anywhere with internet access. This means that students could carry work not only from class to class, but also to home and back. They could also collaborate on a document without having to be in the same place at the same time. Students love collaboration. I have seen that myself when examining their interactions with instructional drill and practice games. One had more interactive games with a broader selection, and one had simple clicking games but with collaboration. Students almost always choose the collaborative game over the other game because they can work together. Some of our middle school teachers have had issues with groups working on the same project doing their work on the same network account. The work is on the network and therefore can be accessed by the account holder from anywhere in the building, but that account holder must always be present and only one student can do the physical editing and updating of group work. This process can be lengthy and stressful. Google Docs would eliminate much of the hassle. The teacher could also monitor who is contributing and how the project is progressing. The best thing is that Google Docs would allows access to programs that we do not currently have, like database software and the ability to create forms.

Google Docs is a relatively new innovation and there is little research on it’s use in a learning environment. What research there is suggests that attitudes about using Google Docs are not overwhelmingly supportive of adapting it for use (Brodahl, Hadjerrouit and Hansen, 2011). However, “the results seem to confirm the hypothesis that students with high digital competence and a positive attitude towards digital tools are more positive than average” (Brodahl, Hadjerrouit and Hansen, 2011). It is no secret that our society is becoming increasingly digital and that with each generation; students are more adept at using digital tools. It makes sense to say, then, that in the K-8 environment in which I work that the level of familiarity with digital tools would be higher than those of the adults that are being studied in may of these cases. The lack of research and the understanding of digital literacy and today’s youth support the need for more data and research on the use of these tools. However, I believe avoiding the use of these tools because of a lack of research would be a mistake. As there is no data to support that these tools hinder learning, I believe much can be gained.

References Brodahl, C., Hadjerrouit, S., & Hansen, N. (2011). Collaborative Writing with Web 2.0 Technologies: Education Students' Perceptions. Journal Of Information Technology Education, 10IIP73-IIP103.