Darcy Olynyk EC&I 834 / 833
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Summer 2021 - EC&I 833

Week 2, Post 2

7/13/2021

3 Comments

 
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This was it, Google Classroom was the thing I relied on from March to June of 2020. In September, we were asked to ensure each of our classes had a Classroom set up, the kids were all added/invited and the Classroom codes on PowerSchool/Gradebook.  This was the option - I suppose if it was the only option, could you define it as such?  I digress.  Google Classroom, as an educational LMS was really easy to use and navigate. Most students had a good handle on how to use the program, and even showed me a few things.  The best part about the program though, was the ability it gave me to organize and keep the Day 1/Day 2s straight and kept me on schedule, ensuring I was in balance between the two groups, marking things in a timely manner, and communicating with the students at any point, even when it was their off day. As a suite, Google does a nice job tying their products together. I could use Google Meets to conference with the students, access all of my documents by uploading from Google Drive, Etc.  I don't - or didn't - consider myself to dedicate myself to one brand, but I really feel like Google has done such a great job with all of their apps, that I don't see a reason to change. I understand that these things are free to use, but their income comes the information they harvest and use/sell for advertising.  The trade off of the convenience for privacy invasion was something that was in the back of my mind, but I was willing to move forward - it was put out there by our administration to use this program, so I did. I wonder if there will be a fallout at some point down the road?
3 Comments
Kelly link
7/14/2021 08:08:15 am

I too use Google with my students because it is mandated by my division. Although it is free for students and teachers to use, the division pays quite a bit to use the Google Workplace for Education that includes more apps, less advertising, etc. I know people can all create a free basic account, but the one for education is a paid productivity suite.

I too like how it was easy to use and to keep things organized. I also used Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to create videos, handouts, etc. that I would post to Google Classroom. So although I used Google Classroom as my LMS with the apps and other things, I also used quite a bit of the Microsoft 365 suite.

Thanks for sharing!

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Janeen Clark
7/16/2021 08:16:18 am

I had to laugh - "I suppose if it was the only option, could you define it as such?" Yes, we weren't really given an option, were we? But at the same time, the Google suite did what it needed to do. I felt pretty good about using it going into at home learning because we had been using it for some time already. However, forced time at home and necessity did allow me to learn about quite a few more tools that I now consider to be go-tos in my in person learning as well. In terms of the privacy, I know I should care more... but I don't. And that is simply because I don't have time to care more. In the day to day vortex of teaching it is hard to worry about one more thing, especially when I don't see the immediate impact of that thing. Someone who gets paid more than me needs to deal with privacy issues.

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Michael Wolf
7/19/2021 07:04:27 pm

Regina Catholic was told to use MS Teams as that's what our division supports. I really want to try out Google Classroom, though. I've heard lots of great things. I find that Google's productivity apps are more polished then their Microsoft Online counterparts, so I imagine the same is probably true for Google Classroom.

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