From the Field - 4th Grade Digital Citizenship Pledge Using Padlet

In the Little Britain Elementary School Library in the Washingtonville School District, Library Media Specialist Tracy Ebenhoe worked with a group of 4th graders to take a digital citizenship pledge using Padlet. Padlet is an online bulletin board that allows users to post comments and add pictures, videos or documents to tell a story or weigh in on a topic.  "As part of a continuing discussion on digital citizenship and safety, students worked together to brainstorm and discuss a list of safe behaviors when online. Using Padlet, I loaded an image of a digital citizenship pledge (from commonsensemedia.org) and students "signed" their names and commented."  Students were able to login to her Padlet page, sign and also comment if desired. Two of the features Tracy liked best was that the sheet was able to be password protected and that she was able to monitor and approve all posts before they became visible to the other students.

For Tracy, digital citizenship is an ongoing theme in library. She asserts: "with the prolific use of technology and new resources available to us everyday, students need to be smart and cautious users."  We couldn't agree more.  Tracy has been using Commonsensemedia.org as a resource for lessons on these issues.  Tracy came up with the idea after being inspired by Tech Challenge of the month developed by Tech Coaches in Washingtonville.  

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Tech Tip - A Fondness For Folder Functionality

Now that you have been using Google Drive for a while you may have realized a need for organizing all those files so that you can actually find what you are looking for.  The beauty of folders in Google Drive goes beyond just organization.  It allows you to organize your sharing of those files.

Creating and Organizing Folders

Creating a folder is as simple as creating a document.  You can either click on the Red Create Button and select Folder or click on the Folder Icon above the list of documents.  Once you have done that, then give your folder a name and click on the Blue Create Button

If you don't see your folder in the menu on the left, be sure to click on the little arrow next to My Drive to see all of the folders you have created.  Viewing your folders in the left menu also allows you to easily nest folders for organizational purposes and allows you to drag and drop files into your folders.  

Once you have created your folder you can add things to it two different ways - either drag and drop, or select the item and use the Move To button at the top of the page.

Organizing your folders works in the same way - either drag and drop them into the folder you want to nest that folder into, or select that folder and click on the Move To button at the top of the Page.

Sharing Folders

You can share your folders in the same way that you documents.  The benefit of sharing a folder is that anything that is either created in or moved to that folder takes on the sharing settings of that folder.  In that way, you don't have to share each individual document with your colleagues or your students.  Whether it is editing, just comments or only view rights you give to someone for a folder, those rights apply to everything in that folder.  To share a folder you need to select the drop-down arrow to the right of the folder as it appears in the lefthand menu when you mouseover that folder and add that person to the folder the same way you would for a document.  

Google Nation

Google has become an integral part of our internet / information based culture and has even become part of our lexicon with  Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary listing Google as a verb since 2006.  It is no surprise that Google has become one of the tools commonly used in schools and now, with Google Apps for Education providing their suite of communication and productivity tools free to schools, it is no surprise that many school districts have decided to get on board.  While the savings on servers for email and storage are attractive to districts, the ease of collaboration and communication between teachers and students and the engagement of students is profound.

District Savings

Districts can migrate all of their email to Google apps saving them thousands of dollars in server space and staff time by not having to maintain their own servers and monitor email quotas.  One district in Michigan estimates that they saved over $400,000 by switching to Google Apps for Education and the State of Oregon Department of Education estimates that they will save $1.5 Million.  The benefits to districts don't stop there.  In my mind, the benefits to students and teachers is even greater.

Increased Engagement and Collaboration

Students live in a digital world and embracing this allows educators to help move and mold that energy instead of fighting it.  Google Drive exists in the cloud enabling students and teachers to access their work from anywhere, from any device.  This fluidity allows students to share their documents with each other and with their teachers, work on those files together in real time making the process of collaboration easy and fun.  The students light up when they see that what they are typing on their project is immediately seen by others in their group.  The chat feature is something that is familiar to them and is an easy way to ask each other questions without talking if they are right next to each other or without the use of a phone if they are working from home.

No Dogs Here

While "the dog ate my homework" is an overused cliche it speaks to difficulties that students do have with keeping track of their work and for teachers in tracking and grading assignments.  Google Drive allows students to store their documents in the cloud and access them anywhere.  This levels the playing field for those students who don't have technology at home, or have it, but can't afford more expensive word processing software. By simply sharing their documents with their teachers, students can turn in their work even when they aren't at school, and teachers can track when work was completed and who did how much work on group projects. Tools like shared "Drop Box" folders or Learning Management Systems like Edmodo or Schoology, make the process of turning in work to teachers more easy to track.  These Learning Management systems also simplify the process of tracking assignments when they were "Turned In" and providing feedback to students by keeping it well organized in an easy to use interface.

Increased Accountability

The File Revision History of Google Docs is a very useful tool to educators.  It makes it easy to spot copying, track how much time was spent working on and revising work, and see who in a group project was doing the most work.  The history shows who wrote what and at what time, so if a document was started at 10:00pm and was completed by 10:04 with 3 pages including footnotes, chances are, there is something fishy going on that students will have a hard time explaining away.

Whatever the reasons for moving to Google Apps, the benefits are many.  If you are looking for ways to use different features in your classroom, be sure to check out our many workshops being offered.  (see calendar to the right or check out My Learning Plan).