Does anybody else harbor secret, irrational fears that Google will take over the world? Do you have nightmares about waking up to find that our world leaders have surreptitiously been replaced by brightly-colored letters in Catull BQ font? At the next State of the Union, a giant, blue G will step up to the podium with his little g flunky strong-arming nosy reporters out of the way. We will all be required to spend the rest of our back-breaking days retrieving search engine queries and performing analytics on websites.
Well, if such a candy-colored dystopian vision of the future is to be true, I want to make sure I'm on the winning side. That being said, here is a great site that is full of tutorials on how to use Google tools in your classroom.
It teaches how to make self-grading quizzes. I think these could potentially be a great way to quickly quiz students. Of course, self-grading seems to imply that they will be nothing but multiple choice, so it wouldn't be the best choice in all situations. It would also require that every student have free access to a computer in order to complete the quiz.
Still, I believe Google has a number of helpful tools for the teacher. I recently watched one U.S. History teacher coach her class on how to collaborate on a paper, using Google Docs. Students were able to write, edit, and discuss the paper without having the hassle of coordinating rides and a meeting location.
Hail, Google! Those who are about to teach salute you.
No comments:
Post a Comment