Using Google Docs for collaborative work by students

I am experimenting this term with using the Google Docs application as a platform for encouraging collaborative work between students in my economics classes….

The latest version of Google docs offers great potential for students to work at the same time on a document – be it open-ended written papers on chosen topics, group reflections on how to tackle past exam questions, a new spreadsheet or perhaps a presentation. Google has taken some of the real-time collaboration capacity from Google Wave (now discontinued) into Google Docs. This means for example that you can see at any moment who is working on a document and the edits that are being made. There is also a chat facility for communication between people who are logged in at the same time working on a document.

Early results have been promising and student feedback positive. I set an able Year 13 class a question “Which industry is Google in?” The aim was them to explore the many markets in which Google is attempting to make an impact and for students through their own research and input to realise the emergence of a digital conglomerate! Another group has tackled the concept of creative destruction in markets. This week I tried Google Docs with a Year 12 group who explored the economics of car subsidies and I gave another Year 13 group an exercise on collusion in oligopoly

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Getting started

Setting up a collaborative assignment is straightforward – here is a simple checklist to work through

• Create your own Google mail account – this will give you access to Google Docs and also to other new Google products such as Google Instant search engine.
• Google Docs can be found here https://docs.google.com/
• The next step is to create a new document / presentations / spreadsheet or form – there is a simple button to do this
• A new document appears and you can start typing straight away to set up the student assignment
• For students new to the process it helps to write a few words of guidance about what is expected from them and also the ground rules for collaboration. They ought to know that the owner of a file (i.e. you!) can see the editing history of all users. But also that the key to this working is a positive spirit of cooperation within the group
• Documents are automatically saved as you edit them – this saves a lot of time!

Share it out!

Once you are happy with your introduction it is time to share it with students and give them editing rights to the document. This is done by clicking on SHARE and then SHARING OPTIONS a button that can be found on the right hand side of the screen.

• Type in the email addresses of the students in your group who will be collaborating
• Email addresses contained within a spreadsheet can be imported to save time. Once you have students contained within a set group it is easy to share a new document with them each time
• Clicking on SHARE sends an email to your students inviting them to contribute
• Now sit back and wait for collaboration to happen!
• Pop in now and again to see how it is shaping up
• And perhaps use the ADD COMMENT facility to help the work along
• You can always go into your document and tidy it up or collaborate too!

There are lots of options within a document:

1. Add pictures
2. Include useful web links
3. Include equations
4. Add drawings
5. Other standard options such as tables of contents, footnotes etc

When you are happy with the final version (or when the EW due in date passes!) you can print it off – it converts automatically into a pdf file that can be share automatically.

There is also a publish to web option for you to embed a Google doc into a blog or a VLE such as Moodle.

I have found that Google Docs works best with smaller groups – but is excellent for a single class of say 10-12 students, each of whom can take some ownership of the document and add it to their notes. As with all new applications students will evolve their use of Google docs as time progresses and it will be fascinating to see the extent to which they embrace a different style of written assignments.

If you have tried Google Docs before this blog is excellent for keeping you up to speed with the latest innovations connected to this superb application. http://googledocs.blogspot.com/

More of my experiences with Google Docs can be found here
Geoff Riley
@tutor2u_econ
FRSA