Group items tagged

"Google Docs, an online word processing application, is a promising tool for collaborative learning. However, many college instructors and students lack knowledge to effectively use Google Docs to enhance teaching and learning. Goals of this study include (1) assessing the effectiveness of using Google Docs in an out-of-class collaborative writing activity through measuring the assignment's influence on students' learning experiences, (2) teaching students to work collaboratively, and (3) teaching students to successfully communicate their understanding and application of concepts through writing. Undergraduate students (N = 35) were randomly assigned to small groups to complete two out-of-class assignments. We compared students' collaborative performance and learning across two assignments, one with Google Docs and one without. We found (1) most students were unfamiliar with Google Docs prior to the study, (2) Google Docs changed the means of communication used in collaborative writing, (3) 93% of students considered Google Docs a useful tool for group work, (4) using Google Docs had no effect on students' paper grades, and (5) half of the students reported they would like to use Google Docs in the future. Our results suggest that Google Docs was a useful tool for collaborative writing and influenced student learning. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)"

"This paper presents a Simulation-based interactive Virtual ClassRoom web system (SVCR: www.vclasie.com) powered by the state-of-the-art cloud computing technology from Google SVCR integrates popular free open-source math, science and engineering simulations and provides functions such as secure user access control and management of courses, assignments and grading. This system allows customized course and lesson development and supports teacher and student account management. The simulation programs are built into a single database to be indexed for easy browsing and keyword search and can be downloaded and run with Java support from our web site. This system has an intuitive and user-friendly interface to allow a quick and easy transition to this system for most users. Teachers can create five types of popular assessment questions namely true or false, multiple choice, matching, word bank, and free answer questions. The system can be viewed in both English and Spanish. In addition, the system can automatically grade assignments--with the exception of free answer questions--to reduce the teacher's workload. Clouding computing technology driven by the Google App Engine is used to achieve scalability when the system is under high access demand. (Contains 18 figures.)"

An article I found that I feel would be useful to us later on.