The Usage of Technology in the Classroom (Google Drive)

I want to apologize about my prolonged break from uploading post. School is starting and I was scrabbling to get the fifth revision of my novel I want to publish finished before I'm loaded with school work. Also, starting school took a lot of my time as well, so I do apologize for making this my last priority. However, I managed to complete all of my revisions and started school smoothly. During that, I came up with great ideas for posting.

Today I wanted to briefly talk about technology in the classroom because it is a very serious, revolutionary epidemic spreading across the country. I live in Mobile County and we unfortunately don't have i pads/tablets in our classroom yet. It is soon to come, so I want to introduce a tool that most teachers in my hometown never used in a classroom before. This is also good for teachers who have tablets in their class, but have no idea how to incorporate them efficiently.

Here are common mistakes teachers can make when incorporating technology into classrooms.

This the homepage of Google Drive (Tablet app)

Instead of making technology be a learning outcome try to make communication, a 21st century skill, be part of the learning outcome. For instance, think of English. Some students immediately think of English as a class where you learn grammar and mechanics until your brain explodes. Some teachers don't explain that knowing grammar and mechanics and studying English is vital for communicating with others in a way that makes sense. Sure we can all know where a comma goes, but communicating is much more complex than knowing rules. A student has to be able to execute what they know or don't know in order to learn ways improve communicate with complex people. What is a better place other than a classroom--the glorious learning environment. Since classrooms adopt technology, teachers have to adopt them as well.

Google Drive

Today I'll introduce Google Drive. I'll try to talk about more apps as this blog and my learning continues.

Google Drive, when used efficiently, can be a great way to help students learn communication. You can create slideshows, documents, and spreadsheets BUT you can share them with others via internet. In my EDM310 course we used Google Drive for class discussions. My instructor used spreadsheets for us to keep track of our assignments. All you need is a Gmail address and there you go!

When creating a blank document you can access it with others via internet and edit the same document simultaneously. In my class, we used that feature to answer  questions my teacher posted for class discussions. As a teacher you can administer who assess and even check who participating since the Google Drive traces every activity.

You can create slide shows for class and allow other teachers or students to edit it in ways students can understand it better. Learn from the students to be a better teacher.

I've never taught a  classroom with Google Drive, but I do have ideas. If you're a teacher with in class Google Drive experience feel free to share your ideas with me!