Close Encounters of the Google Drive Kind

Our district, like many, has made the transition to using Google Apps for Education.  I could go on all day discussing the benefits and limitations that GA's has for schools, but for this entry, I would like to focus primarily on how this impacts the elementary students in my building and how I decided the appropriate procedures for me to introduce GA's in the technology classroom.

How to teach GA's to an elementary student?  Well, there are many different scenarios that can be used.  Most importantly from a teacher standpoint, is that you are able to have some prior knowledge of what your student's skill levels are.  Not just in terms of technology skills, but especially in reading.  There is certainly a lot of reading that needs to be done in order to communicate the specifics within GAs.  One way that I have tried to eliminate the reading deficiencies, is to share with the students a sort-of textbook GAs presentation.  As we go through the unit on GA's, I can adjust and update the presentation and students can access it within their Drive from home.

The presentation will always be a work in progress as we continue to add new skills for using GA's.  However, this presentation allows students to access skills we have covered in class and gives them the ability to review the presentation from home or during classroom computer time.  The point is, they can review this on their own time and hopefully share this resource with their parents when they are working in GA's.

Why a Google Drive presentation?

I could have just as easily used a site to collect and share this information, but I thought it would be too cumbersome of a project.  Here, I can add a page for each skill easily without having to manage a whole site.  Also, I wanted to be able to put the presentation right in their hands, and not have them look for it.  By sharing the presentation, the students will be able to find it easily and use it while they are signed into their account.  I could have used a document, but Google does not allow videos to be embedded into their documents, only presentations as of now.

You have resources, now what next?

The first step, is to get students to log into their account.  We do have a district login web page, but I have taught the kids that from home the easiest way is to just go to Google.com and click the "sign in" button in the top corner.  Teaching the students this way gives them the knowledge that if they can access Google, then they can access their apps.

Student usernames and passwords were generated by our technology department, and I simply create cards with labels on them that students use in the technology lab.  Also, an extra card is made for the 3rd and 4th grade students that they can take home and share/use with their parents.

Next post:  Our First Google Apps Assignment