Last year, our high school did a our own study on the effectiveness of collaborative learning and student achievement. We had heard a great deal about it, however, I felt we needed to figure out how to effectively implement this model with no resources in a school with over 65% free and reduced lunch. Through my discovery, I found Google Groups. Google Groups has significantly changed how we as a school staff view learning. In a school, we as educators think of collaboration as cheating... however.. in the work world
collaboration is absolutely necessary to be successful.
With this being said, I selected a teacher who was open to new ideas. He had created an healthy blog and was excited about his students being able to view his assignments outside of school. He had a basic understanding of posting, linking and embedding through a blog and no sophisticated software training was needed for this project.
As second semester approached, I asked him to help me with the concept of forming a learning group using Google Groups. My teacher still excited about his blog was willingly to accept (timing is everything:)) the challenge without much hesitation.
After accepting, we both sat down and determined which class we where going to select during the January to June semester. We decided on civics/government, since it was a half semester class with two new sections starting at the same time, with the same teacher.
In these two classrooms, students were assigned and attended class everyday in a traditional fashion. In one classroom, which we labeled (Classroom A) did assignments using a traditional format. In the other classroom, students were asked to work within Google Groups (Classroom B) thus forming a learning group (collaboration) with our teacher and each other. Each classroom was given like assignments and multiple choice assessments covering the same material however, one group had limited collaboration while the other group had full day access to assignments and collaboration.
**Please note the failure rate in Classroom B was significantly higher than in Classroom A for the first semester. In Classroom B, students were given access to a computer lab, library and they could post using a mobile phone).
Our results were amazing:
- In Classroom A (traditional) the results from the second semester mirrored first semester. The failure rates stayed around 10%. Their grades did not improve but rather flat lined.
- In Classroom B (Google Groups), the results revealed a reduction in our failure rate by 13%. 13% to 0%. Not one student failed the class. Better yet, not one student had a missing assignment.
We are very excited. Right now, we have over 10 teachers who have formed a Google Group with their students. Upon interviewing our piloted students, our students revealed that they love having access to classroom information 24/7. They like that they can access to their teacher and other students when they are struggling. They like that they can easily find some uninterrupted time outside of the classroom and the platform can be used with their mobile phone. Therefore, they can use their mobile phone to do their homework on the bus, at home, walking home etc. . Many of their posts were at 1-2 a.m. in the morning. Our teacher really enjoyed it because he could give his students feedback during his normal life routines at home. He also found that students had 100% participation because they did not have worry what others had to say.
All involved really liked the opportunity to view assignments over and over again. If you would like to contact me about Google Groups or Camtasia implementation just visit http://www.flippedhighschool.com.
