UNIT 12: Facilitate Group Work

In this unit, you’ll learn:

• How to create meaningful and effective collaboration in the classroom
• How to support collaborative learning with Google Docs and Drive
• How to assign and collect assignments using Classroom
• The ins-and-outs of using Google Docs to review group contributions
• How Google Docs can support the writing and revision process
• Best practices for driving discussion inside and outside of the classroom
• How to choose the best tool to support synchronous and asynchronous discussion
• To facilitate group work with a range of Google Tools

So this unit ties many of the previous units together, and I've commented on how some apps already flow into other apps.  But now lets talk about how you plan it that way, instead of tweaking it that way.

Create a lesson plan or agenda in a Google Doc that you can share (view only) with students.  You could attach it in a Calendar event or Google Group for those that can't physically be in class. Provide instructions and examples in a Google Presentation, embed links and videos.  Have students work in groups in shared Google Docs to create presentations for the class.  Have them create quizzes for the other groups in Forms, and collect the data in Sheets.  Create charts and graphs, which can also be inserted into a class Presentation to summarize a unit.  Create a site to share your class's brilliance and collaboration with others.  Use GoogleDocs to track changes, use the revision history to see who has been doing the work and who hasn't.  Throw out the books and paper and pencils, grab your Chromebooks, chargers, and stylus...We're Getting Connected!

Yes, this is short - you really do know it by now, you just have to trust yourself.  And trust your students.  Learning is messy.  Get in there!