Why I’m drinking the “Google Drive” Kool Aid

Our school went 1:1 iPad this year in grades 6-12. How many times in the past week have I heard the following statement from teachers?

 “One of the advantages of the iPads is that we no longer have to gather our belongings and go to the library anymore.”

The answer is two this past week, and they’re not the first.

And yes, part of me cries each time even as I cheerfully nod my response. In the library I still rotate seasonal displays, showcase student work, offer a wide variety of fun fiction reads, and have many nonfiction materials that support the curriculum. However, the ironic part is that the people saying this are using library resources more than ever before and see the concept of the library evolving beyond the physical space. They are teachers who have always supported the library and who are continuing to request my services in their classrooms. Students are accessing JSTOR through the app, filling out web evaluation forms for History class, and checking out books on Overdrive. Other classes are coming to the library for new projects, and I’m as busy as ever!

Docs

Where does Google Drive come in? I work very closely with the 9th grade Western Civilizations teacher, and she teaches all the freshmen. Our big research project occurs in January, and we have been teaching isolated research tasks in conjunction with units of study all fall so the full process won’t be as daunting this winter. Earlier this year, in about 15 minutes, we taught her students how to set up Google Drive research folders with selected (and at this point, empty) files. We were uniform in our naming conventions, and we asked all students to give us editing privileges in their folders.

If you haven’t used Google Drive before, here are some main differences from other word processing programs:

  • It’s cloud-based, and thus accessible anywhere with Internet connectivity.
  • Files and folders can be private or shared with others. Sharing can involve viewing or editing privileges.
  • It’s easy to collaborate via comment or chat features, and thus it facilitates revision.
  • Viewers can check the revision history to compare various versions of a document, as well as who made each change and when they did so.

It was surprising to me tFile Folderhat none of the students even mentioned privacy concerns, and all happily shared. The day that we did this, they were practicing web evaluation and note-taking. Multiple users can work in a document simultaneously, so I was able to watch exactly what students typed in real-time and assess their speed and skills in paraphrasing. I was also able to jump in immediately and stop them when they listed a url that didn’t meet our criteria for websites. Students quickly got used to seeing the pink bar highlighting that I was “in” their notes, and the quieter students didn’t hide and work under our radar the way they have in the past.

When working with a classroom teacher, it’s important to make sure you’re backing each other up and offering the same advice. Since we can both see the comments we have written on students’ documents and the direction given to them, it’s made us more supportive of each other and a more effective team.

If this isn’t enough, I spent two weeks this fall subbing for a teacher on paternity leave. I taught Cannery Row, a book I’ve always wanted to teach. I didn’t want to overstep my place and grade his students’ work, and he didn’t want to fall behind while he was out. The students all shared their class folders with me, and I could see how their work for me compared to their work for their regular teacher. Also, when I had a question about an individual student, the teacher was able to pull up their work from home and comment online.

Cannery-Row

 Finally, I’m asked to proofread a lot of papers. As more students share their work with me on Google Drive, I’m better able to keep tabs on their progress as they’re writing their papers. I now step in before the final day when they are panicking. I love that they are comfortable sharing works in progress and asking questions throughout the research process. I also love that there is no more concern about losing notecards or leaving a first draft at home. And I absolutely love that a byproduct is that I spend less time adding paper to the printer!

What do you think? Other techniques for making Google Drive work for you and your students?

3 thoughts on “Why I’m drinking the “Google Drive” Kool Aid

  1. You are amazing. This is fascinating. What do you think of the new google research feature and what do you think that portends for us as librarians? Do you still use noodlebib or do you use something else for notecards?

  2. This is great, Christina! I am jealous at the level of integration you’ve achieved at your school. We’re heading into the 1:1 world ourselves and have made a push to do more with Google Drive and Apps, and it looks like it might make this kind of integration very natural. I’ll have to try some of these processes myself as a ‘next step’. Thanks!

  3. I was speaking with some USF librarians this summer about using Google for class research because Google Scholar is linked to the main library page. It does seem as though Google is trying to work within the structure of academic institutions, and I was noticing how USF students who are logged in to the library can search the Scholar results and automatically access the articles through the school’s subscription.
    In terms of notecards, there has been agreement among teachers here that we want to teach principles of note-taking rather than one system. So they are introduced to paper notecards, a paper notebook, and online notecards. Once they are in high school, they are permitted to choose their system as long as they can explain it and are willing to share their progress.

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