Transitioning

from Traditional Lab Notebooks to a Cloud-Based Format Using Google Apps

Ryan McClintock INTE 6750, Fall 2011 October 14, 2011

Introduction
The Douglas County School District (DCSD) has recently transitioned employees and students email to a Google Apps cloud-based environment. Many teachers are beginning to realize the opportunities this transition has introduced, mainly collaborative documents and sites. The realistic possibility of more individualized feedback between teacher and student, coupled with the efficiency introduced by several students using a shared document, may transform the way some traditional tools of education are used - or if they will continue to be used at all. Science teachers often use lab-type notebooks for students to record the steps, processes, observations, interpretations, and conclusions of experiments. Using these notebooks allows for a tremendous amount of direct, one-on-one interaction between teacher and student. They also serve as bodies of evidence that illustrate growth and progress in a given class. Chemistry teachers are often the most likely to use these notebooks in this fashion. As helpful as traditional lab notebooks are (in that they provide so much feedback about students learning), writing into them and formatting lab reports is becoming more and more tedious to my chemistry students, that is, it is getting harder and harder for my students to buy into the concept, which renders the practice less effective. Could a cloud-based technology like Google Apps remedy this situation? The timing to answer this question is perfect. With teachers and students given access to Google Apps, students may now find more satisfaction, and therefore ownership, in summarizing their learning in the form of a Google Doc and sharing this document with teachers who can then comment and provide individualized feedback in a fashion that may also encourage revision and resubmission in a way that teachers can manage, thus also affecting (in a positive way) dated and sometimes harsh grading practices. Castle View High School (CVHS) is a public school within DCSD that is located in the Denver suburb of Castle Rock. CVHS students and teachers have access to a robust wireless network, several locations where they may utilize laptop and desktop computers (if they do not have their own personal laptop), and a recently changed school policy effectively allowing appropriate cell phone usage in classrooms. All of this considered, now is the time to implement a program that transitions students
1 Change Report Ryan McClintock INTE 6750, Fall 2011

from traditional science lab notebooks to a cloud-based ePortfolio collection of lab summaries and connections. The purpose of this project is to design, implement, evaluate, and reflect on the usage of Google Apps as an ePortolio of student lab work. Goals for this project include teaching students how to: Access their Google Apps account Create/upload a Google Doc Create a collection of Google Docs Share Google Docs and collections Format images and mathematical work into a Google Doc Insert comments into a Google Doc

Planned Intervention
In addition to maintaining most of the positive aspects of traditional lab notebooks, the Google environment will allow students more latitude in the creation of their work. Graphs, for example, may be created by hand and digitized, or they may be created in Excel or some other program. Students may also link to sites as part of their narrative- form lab summary. An online environment will therefore encourage students to summarize and reflect in ways that personalizes the lab experiment in ways that cannot be done using traditional lab notebooks. Surry and Eli (2001) propose that one should identify sources of resistance and implement strategies to combat this resistance. Some students may initially resist because they are required to learn a new environment of word processing. To partially combat this, I will reinforce the idea that one may create documents in Word and Excel formats and simply upload to Google. Also, I will create written and video tutorials that describe the basic steps one needs to take to create in the Google environment. These resources will be housed within a site accessible to the public. Castle View High School prides itself on creating 21st Century Learners. To this end, the ability to collaborate in teams to problem-solve is of the utmost importance. Implementing cloud-based lab notebooks will give students opportunities to create, share, and reflect on their learning in ways consistent with our schools mission. Timeline: Task Describe project and transition to students Due Date 8-22-11
McClintock Change Proposal, October 14, 2011

Create screencasts and written directions for accessing Google accounts, creating/uploading Google Docs, creating collections, and sharing Google Docs and collections Creating website for tutorials First gLab experiment (data collection) First gLab due date Create gLab evaluation form Subsequent gLabs Share idea/results with colleagues Final survey given to students

8-23-11 8-24-11 8-24-11 9-6-11 9-2-11 9-8-11 9-20-11 10-6-11 10-6-11

Evaluation Plan
Google Forms were used as surveys after each gLab experience. These surveys asked students to summarize what they learned and how the project could be improved for future students. The results from the first survey indicated a need for more over-the- shoulder assistance using Google Docs. Many students appreciated the tutorial videos but requested additional help to create and share their reports. Following the series of gLab investigations, students were allowed to choose whether they would continue their lab reports using Google Docs or using a bound notebook.

Findings
Some students initially resisted the move to using Google Apps (login, Google docs, etc.). This resistance was short-lived, however, as the scaffolding of the transition did not allow for continued, serious lack of progress. Students easily logged into their newly created DCSD Google Apps account. They demonstrated this by sending me an email describing how to login to their accounts. Several students were unable to access their accounts from home due to lack of Internet connectivity. Fortunately they were able to use class and library laptops during school hours to access Google Apps. Once network and computer issues were worked out, every student rather competently demonstrated the ability to create and share a Google Doc. I anticipated some difficulty transitioning from a Microsoft Word environment to a slimmed-down version, that is Google Docs. I was wrong; they did not seen to notice, nor did they indicate any discomfort with this portion of the Change Project. Creating, sharing, and populating a collection within their Google Docs was a bit more problematic. Survey responses seemed to indicate a direct correlation between students who successfully demonstrated this skill and their abilities to organize material
3 McClintock Change Proposal, October 14, 2011

within folders (on their personal computers). Students who indicated they do not organize files into folders on their own devices struggled with the idea of a Google collection of documents. Once collections were created and shared, I placed several documents in the collections that required responses. This allowed students to understand the idea of sharing and how adding to shared collections was an easy way to monitor progress and assignment submission. Having demonstrated the ability to login to their Google Apps accounts, create and share Google docs, and create, share, and populate collections, my students rather efficiently utilized the technology to summarize their lab findings and experiments. Any struggle to meet deadlines was consistent with the more traditional bound lab notebook approach. I encouraged lab partners to share their docs with each other, as well as provide commentary feedback regarding coherence, writing style, and content. I was able to organize their collections within my Google Apps account so I could monitor their progress. I was also able to share several of the docs with my science colleagues to show examples of my students using the technology. Several of my colleagues provided feedback to my students by inserting comments. Student surveys indicated they enjoyed hearing from other teachers. I formally shared this project and its findings with my colleagues (in the form of a presentation). Two other teachers one a social science teacher, the other an English teacher - were using Google Docs in a similar fashion. We asked our common students to create Google sites to organize and link to their docs so we could collectively view and provide feedback on their work. These sites function as a prototype ePorfolio or collection of their progress and helped create a more personalized learning experience for both students and teachers alike. Following the gLab assignments, I gave students the choice to use their Google Apps accounts to submit all future lab reports or transition back to bound lab notebooks. To date, not a single student has chosen to utilize traditional bound lab notebooks, opting instead to continue using their Google Apps accounts.

Ethical/Stakehold Impacts
It will be important for me to continue and expand on this project. I anticipate many of my colleagues will incorporate the features offered by the creation of student Google Apps accounts as they themselves become more competent with the technology and those of us currently utilizing the technology continue to share our successes with students. All of this will increase building-wide collaboration between teachers and students, which is a good step towards our mission to create 21st Century learners and thinkers.

McClintock Change Proposal, October 14, 2011

References
Google. (2011). Guide to going google. https://sites.google.com/a/googleapps.com/k12- guide-to-going-google/pd (accessed on: 25 September 2011). Oud, J. (2009). Guildelines for effective online instruction using multimedia screencasts. Reference Services Review, 37 (2), 164-177 Surry, D.W., & Ely, D.P. (2001). Adoption, diffusion, implementation, and institutionalization of educational innovations. In R. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Draft online: http://www.southalabama.edu/coe/bset/surry/papers/adoption/chap.htm

McClintock Change Proposal, October 14, 2011