Cloud Learning Lesson Reflection


Schedule and conduct a synchronous video meeting using a Google Hangout with your instructor or one or more classmates.

Blog Post: Post a reflection of your experience. List potential instructional situations where synchronous meetings would lead to innovative or improved learning experiences for your students. Post comments to two new colleagues' blog posts.

Hi Colleagues!

Jamali and I had a video Google Hangout (my first!) on Saturday morning. We scheduled a time to chat live and then I read/watched this instructional video and post about using Hangout. The Trevor Beck post (under "Google Hangouts" which was under "Resources" in our lesson menu) was helpful, but this video (under "Google Hangouts in the Classroom" under our lesson menu) muddied the waters for me because it was using Google Plus for Hangouts instead of Gmail. 

(A personal aside: I must tell you, I hate Google Plus/Google+ and I don't believe it is necessary to use when we are using Google tools in the classroom. It's my understanding that Google Plus or Google+ was invented as a social media tool to compete with Facebook and it is NOT my jam. I only see about 18 friends on my Google+ homepage while I interact with hundreds on Facebook. And Peter McDermott on the Google+ Hangouts video linked above sounds like a bit of a smarmy tool. One of the comments on the Youtube video said: "It's just funny how corporately robotic and soulless these two are." LOL!!)

ANYWAY, I logged into my Niles North Gmail account at 10:00 yesterday morning, then I clicked onto the quote marks (") icon on the bottom left hand side of the page and found the group that Sarah had previously made of all the Tech 1 students. It took a couple of tries to call up but finally Jamali and I both were seeing and hearing each other! Yay! We talked for about half an hour about the class and our assignments (Jamali is ahead of me in the readings) and our personal lives. Jamali uses Skype, another free video chat service, to talk frequently with her sister. I remember how astounded I was to learn that overseas phone calls could be $3/minute while Skyping was free! 

Besides forging positive personal bonds with our students and colleagues, video meetings have many opportunities for enhancing the learning experience. A teacher can message with a sick or homebound students about lessons and assignments they have missed. Teachers from West and North could hold meetings without the need for travel. I could connect my students with the students of teacher friends in other districts. When several students are on the Hangout at once, the "Mute Microphone" tool can be useful so everyone can only hear one speaker at a time and not be distracted by background noises.

While Jamali and I were talking, I could simultaneously pull up documents like our Tech 1 course syllabus. Not only was I thrilled to hide my bedhead, but it was cool to imagine working together on a collaborative Google Doc where we both have Edit status. I could imagine assigning student pairs to discuss a story or chapter we read in class in the evening, then write a Google Doc together that summarizes their talk. With the "Edit History" option on Google Docs, I can see who has contributed what to the assignment. Oo, I think I just created my assignment for the Cloud Learning blog post! Stay tuned!

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 26, 2016 at 4:56 PM

    Good afternoon Cynthia
    I haven't used Google + yet, so I will and then I am gonna tell my opinion to you later. I like the use of hangout for messaging to a sick student and give him/her the missing assignments.It is very useful that Niles North and West teachers can use hangout tool and meet each other without the need of a travel.
    Good Luck

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stan WiedemanJune 26, 2016 at 6:17 PM

    Hey Cbynthia,

    Sarah and I had the same experience talking about assignments and looking at web pages simultaneously during our hangout. I can see the same collaboration value between teachers at the two school sites as they discuss assignments (although I am not sure that the math departments are that well in synch). Where I really saw the value is for students to work on assignments together at their homes, using a common document in Google docs.

    I must add a caveat, though. I still believe in the value of presence, face-to-face interactions, being together in the flesh. I am much more likely to walk to our department office to talk to a teacher than I am to call. (Plus there is the benefit of the exercise.) And I remember my daughter and her friends getting together to study, which I always thought was highly bonding. Anyway, my in-the-flesh paradigm may be considered simply old fashioned, but I believe it has great philosophical import, as demonstrated by several authors I have read in the past. (It also impacts the depth of communication, but that is another issue.)

    Anyway, all these things must be used with wisdom and care.

    ReplyDelete
  3. sarwagJune 26, 2016 at 8:34 PM

    Hi Cynthia! Great idea about using video chats for homebound students! I also appreciated the idea of using the mute mic button in a profitable way.

    ReplyDelete

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