This became a little hard to manage because they were meeting at all hours of the day (and night), so instead I gave them specific chunks of time that I would be available – and told them to contact me if there was an issue. Then, they had to let me know what time they would be working, so I could “drop in” to supervise.
Last spring, when I assigned group work, I would set a deadline for it to be finished, and allow students to pick a time that worked for everyone in the group.
This makes it hard to commit to a certain time for live video meet ups. Or they may be looking after younger brothers and sisters during the day. Not all of them are able to access the technology at the time you want them to because they may be sharing computers with parents and siblings. Now I know some of you are required to hold classes at a certain time, but if you aren’t, allowing kids to choose when they will do the work will increase the chance that they will get it done. If I use live break out rooms for student collaboration, then students have to be available at the same time. Allowing them to collaborate online in a less invasive way can go a long way to increase engagement (Get more ideas for engagement and distance learning here).Īlso, video needs to synchronous. First, not all kids are comfortable on camera, either because of their self-confidence or their reluctance to let others into their homes. I prefer to do most of my remote group work using a Google Doc or Slides for two reasons. The lack of connection is one of the biggest downfalls of remote learning, so it is important that we use it – just not all the time. Video has its place for connecting with students. Why Do I Prefer Google Docs for Student Collaboration? I’ll tell you why first, and then I’ll show you how and give you a free activity you can use with your students. However, now that we can use Zoom and Meets, Google Docs will still be my go-to. I had no choice but to use Google Docs and Slides to get my students working together. And, when we did move to remote learning last spring, our district didn’t allow us to use any form of video conferencing until the very end of the semester. Living in Eastern Canada, where snow days are a regular event, I used it many times pre-2020 to keep my students learning. My go-to strategy for online collaboration has always been Google Docs – even before the pandemic hit. There are many tools that can help, like Zoom and Google Meets however, I prefer using Google Docs for student collaboration. Group work is not so easy when teaching remotely.
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