Action Research Draft

Implementing Google Features for Educational Purposes

Christy H. Weeks

Lamar University

The need for this paper was determined through research on new technology standards directed by the federal government and the state of Texas. Other needs for writing this paper include new research methods for students to find information, because the state of Texas is no longer funding textbooks; and to develop collaborative, project based, work habits that mirror what they can expect in real life situations. Another need that Google fulfills is the need to communicate with student, parents and the community about educational happenings.

            Goolge offers features such as Google Chat, Goolge Sites, and Docs, which support collaboration in real time; and also Blogger and Wikis, which supports collaboration in the form of peer review. Google Calendar offers communication with students and parents by way of information and procedures. For research, Google offers Google Scholar, which is a collection of scholarly journals that students can use as a guide for reputable resources. All of these features are provided to the public at no cost, which helps with the lack of funds that public schools in the state of Texas are experiencing; and satisfy the technology requirements for federal and state standards. 

To follow the best practices for education and student learning, students are given the opportunity to use the Google features. Students are provided the knowledge level of Google through a lecture and example workshop taught by the teacher in order to get them started. Once the students have been engaged in learning with Google, they are given specific assignments that facilitate exploring and applying the features from Google. Students work collaboratively in a project based classroom environment, while learning real life procedures through problem solving with technology. Communication and procedures flow freely through Google Calendar or the class Wiki, where the lesson plans and assignments are posted; and through Google Chat, where conversations of collaboration are stored. Assignments can consist of building web pages, writing research papers, posting to blogs, creating a wiki, and even presentations.

The vision for creating a classroom run through Google features was communicated to colleagues, the technology department, and to the superintendent of the school via a staff development day presentation. In the staff development, Google was shown to the audience as a tool for education for teachers and students. The point of view of Google’s features was given to the audience from a teacher’s perspective and from a student’s perspective. Thus, this allowed the audience to see the exchange of  communication as well as application.

At the beginning of the project, I was allowed to use my classroom as the test for implementing the Google features, and gather information. However, I have run into a snag with a new curriculum that the superintendent has designated, Cscope. While my principal has informed me that I can use the new curriculum as a resource, I believe that I am stuck with further implementation of Google. One of the promising aspects of the Cscope curriculum is that the curriculum has provided online resources for the students to use that are reputable and reliable. This is a big contribution to research and all sites can be posted in a class wiki or website. However, by providing student with the resources that they are to use for finding information, this limits the new kind of literacy that students must develop in discerning a good web resource from a bad web resource.

In order to solve the conflict that has arisen, I have started to merge the two curriculums. Cscope resources should not be ignored, but being the teacher I am able to add the requirement of having the students find a set number of resources outside from the ones provided. This will not only help them to develop research skills, but also build an education data base for future referencing.

Students can use the features in Google any place that an internet connection can be found. Students who do not have the internet in their homes always find it to use at a friend’s, a neighbor’s, or relative’s house. Another obstacle is finding the hardware for students to use while in the classroom.

With more time, as I have it, I can work out the obstacles and gain a better graps of what it will take to further implement Google into the classroom for education.