These past several weeks we have had the opportunity to experience online collaboration and consensus building. We split into groups of four to gather our thoughts, opinions, and research about netiquette in the online classroom. Our group chose to create a collaborative Google doc to take notes. We used different colored text to indicate each contributor's messages. We also used the comments feature to highlight or suggest alternatives to ideas our teammates had posted. (Example here.) Before submitting a final document to the class (which reminded me of a jigsaw or think-pair-share method), our team agreed to meet synchronously using Google Hangouts to discuss our overall plan.
The meeting was a success. Everyone was able to get online at more or less the same time. One teammate needed some guidance in joining the call, as it was her first time using that platform, but it all worked out in the end. It was really refreshing to be able to put a face and a voice to a name, as so often in these courses we can feel isolated and anonymous. It is also nice to embed some personality and vibrancy into an otherwise dry topic and methodical process. One immediate difficulty we ran into, however, was the slight time delay. It was hard not to interrupt one another because there were no body cues or indicators that the person was finished speaking, and the split second delay kept making me second guess myself as to whose turn it was to speak. I can get very uncomfortable with silence in a conversation, so it was in my nature to just dive in when I perceived a gap. I can see how in a classroom a system such as raising hands or giving some sort of cue when you want to speak would be a necessary element in class management.
I was excited to learn something new from a classmate about working collaborative on the Google doc through Google Hangout. I didn't know that feature existed. It was helpful in not having to switch screens or manage multiple windows. There is a LOT more I aim to learn about Google Hangouts when I get the next opportunity.
I am definitely glad we had the chance to meet up to solidify our final product, but I must admit I found that revision process particularly challenging. Everyone has contributed what they already believe are good ideas, so it's naturally going to be awkward to eliminate or reword someone's contribution -- especially when you barely know each other. Reaching consensus about a rather neutral topic such as netiquette was surprisingly difficult! Everyone had their own ideas about organization and message priority and how to group ideas together. We started editing the first two sections that way, talking through each bullet point and rationalizing it's existence and placement. It became an overly tedious process, so in the end, it took a leader to naturally emerge to "take over" to some degree. That teammate had some free time the following day to synthesize and consolidate the rest of our ideas. That method appeared to be the most efficient and effective in the end. Going forward, I can see how an initial conversation to get the gears turning might be necessary, but trying to meet in the final stages of a project in "refining mode" ends up feeling like too many cooks in the kitchen. Divvying up roles more systematically or assigning certain subtopics to individuals might have been a more effective method. Synchronous communication was just not my favorite method for creating a final product in the final stages.
Nevertheless, what we produced was an organized and coherent document. (See final draft.) With this content we independently created asynchronous presentations about this topic. I tried learning and creating my video with Adobe Presenter, but had some difficulty in the very final step. In the end I resorted to using Screencast-o-matic to record audio to my Powerpoint presentation. I then uploaded it to YouTube. Here is the final result:
We also created a Scavenger Hunt to reinforce (and add to) the content of this presentation. I targeted my activity for a middle school audience, and used Google Forms as the input portal for student responses. Here is the website: http://fuhry-netiquette.weebly.com. The questions link is found by selecting the button at the top of this webpage.
I am proud of the overall package I have created for my future students, and look forward to more opportunities to learn about online discussion tools and screencasting and/or telepresence programs.
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