This half-term I am experimenting. For some time now my school has had Google Apps for Education which we use for email and document sharing between staff and also between staff and pupils. I have to say that, despite a few little inconveniences, I like the system. I like that I can be sent work from pupils and correct it there and then without having to download it, correct it, do a new email and upload it again. I also like the ease with which I can contact staff and pupils alike both on my computer and from my beloved smart phone - not everyone's cup of tea I know but I do turn if off in the holidays and if I'm away at weekends (because that happens all the time!). I love that me and my team can use it for storing our mark books and we can access it at work and at home very easily. I don't like that I can't make my writing go vertical in a spreadsheet - not essential, I know but nonetheless I would like to be able to do that. I also don't like that formatting documents is sometimes a bit hit and miss. Again, not huge but a niggle even so.
However, all that aside I recently became curious about Google Sites. A recent addition to the Google Apps for Education suite, I believe.
So, like I said, this half term I will experiment. I like experimenting. Education is all about learning and I believe that doesn't just apply to to the pupils, I enjoy learning how to do new things, it's all part of the fun. I, like many others I am sure, am working on an Olympics project. I have been particularly inspired by Eleanor Abrahams and her project which can be found here and is amazing. Therefore my Y9 class will work on that over the next 5 weeks and be encouraged to take responsibility for some of their own learning. I've created a Google Site, nothing flash, just based on a template provided by Google (always important to use whatever help you can get when starting out on something) but I do like it. I've been able to integrate a specially created Google Calendar so that my pupils know when everything is due. I've also been able to integrate a medal table, using a Google spreadsheet bar chart (I was particularly proud of that achievement, teaching ICT for a year did teach me something after all!) which I update weekly, according to how each group are working and then for each part of the project there is a page with the task instructions and links that pupils can use for research as homework.
None of this is rocket science I know and I also know that wikis and blogs can do similar things, however for specific projects with specific classes I think this could really help bring on independence. I shall report back later in the term on how well (or badly) it's going!
