I'm at the South Korea EdTechTeam Summit this weekend, learning about creative and best practice uses of Google Apps for Education (GAFE). It's inspiring and humbling to be surrounded by educators on the cutting edge of technology use. Jennie Magiera presented on cool uses of Google Draw.
These were just a few of the amazing ideas I picked up this weekend. For more information on these Summits, go to the EdTechTeam website.
- Younger kids might not have the tech skills to create websites, but they can learn to do a lot in Google Draw. They can learn to import pictures, draw pictures, organize ideas, write text, demonstrate thinking, comment, reflect, and collaborate. These are all skills we want to showcase in electronic portfolios. A teacher can quickly create a drawing space for each student, then embed that drawing space in a class Google Site. As students edit their drawings, the class Google Site becomes a dynamic collection of basic portfolios that can be shared via the Internet.
- As educators, we know how important the learning process is, but many still focus on the end products. Tools like Google Draw and other Google Apps have a revision history that lets us look back in time and see the students' work at various stages of completion, even some of their mistakes. Such a tool lets us get into their thinking and working process and understand their learning, and maybe misconceptions, better.
- Google Apps also allow commenting on various aspects of a document. Teachers can use this to provide feedback to students. But, perhaps a more powerful use to the comment box would be to have students use it to reflect on their own learning or to have students give feedback to each other.
These were just a few of the amazing ideas I picked up this weekend. For more information on these Summits, go to the EdTechTeam website.