Collaborating with other educators is becoming increasingly simple thanks to new Web 2.0 tools aimed to facilitate information sharing, interperability, and collaboration. The internet has exceptionally expanded accessibility to teacher resources and lesson sharing, and has made working in a group much more convenient.
In one of my faculty of ed courses, the class decided to create a handbook for first year teachers as a culminating project. Groups were formed based on interest, and what was to be included in the handbook was completely up to the students of the class. Some of the elements of the handbook included assembly organization, field trip considerations and destinations, DPA activities, classroom management, community building, and other issues deemed important by the teacher candidates. This project was a great example of how working towards a common goal can be beneficial to all involved, as the class members would be creating a truly useful and meaningful text together to aid them in the field upon graduation.
However, the real magic occurred with the integration of web-based technology. As mentioned in previous posts, LiveBinders is a website which allows users to create digital, multimedia representations of 3-ringed binders. Since I am the new unofficial spokesperson for LiveBinders (self-appointed), I was asked by the to facilitate a short workshop for my peers on the basic functions of the tool.
The results were pretty remarkable.
Instead of each of the twelve groups handing in a physical written report, a LiveBinders account was created for the class consisting of separate binder for each topic. Students took advantage of the variety of digital mediums supported by the website by uploading images, videos, audio files, PDFs, and Google Docs into their binders. Since the account could be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, student candidates could work on the project on their own time without requiring a meeting time booked around five or six hectic schedules.
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| An example of a binder created by fellow teacher candidates for our class project. |
After this practical application of technology for a large-scale collaboration project, I have seen first hand how simple teacher collaboration can be. None of the more than thirty students had experience with LiveBinders prior to this project. It took little effort to give a 'how to' crash course and direct them to online video tutorials. The feedback I received via anonymous online surveys stated that my peers found that the tool genuinely simplified group scheduling, and the sharing of teaching resources.
However, this integration of technology did not come free of challenges. I received many emails and questions regarding how to work certain features of the website, but in many circumstances it became a topic of conversation with those I had not socialized with all year. Also, we ran into some complications uploading Google Docs into the LiveBinders by copying and pasting their URLs, but this was resolved by linking the URL to words in a text box. In addition, there was some confusion regarding varying instructions for Mac users, as I ran the demonstration on a PC.
Finally, some of my peers appeared frustrated by the 'extra work' involved in comparison to printing out pages to hand in a physical copy. But for those, I say they missed the point. Creating a handbook for beginning teachers was not just another project to be finished and handed in then forgotten. The professor for this course aimed to make the year-long assignment meaningful and authentic for those in the class. Instead, creating LiveBinders was a way to learn and familiarize teacher candidates with a new digital tool, and collaboratively create a resource for all those in the class.
Personally, I cannot justify not taking advantage of such tools to better my professional knowledge and practice as a teacher. More importantly, I cannot justify not sharing such ideas, skills, and tech tools with other educators to simplify collaborative work for others. The information age has broadened our accessibility to information and people. As 21st century teachers, we must also change the way we communicate and share education resources.