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Stages of Integration: Communication

The most basic way Google+ can function in your classroom is as an avenue of communication. While many teachers have long championed the blog for similar purposes, this is not a blog's sweet spot. Blogs are excellent platforms for publishing ideas, but two-way communication is crude, and they also lack the dynamic energy that makes "streams" of information so addictive. It is also more arduous to update blog content frequently. In this way, classroom teachers can use Google+ to communicate directly with learners, learner families or other educators. This communication can also be expanded to include review of specific content-area ideas as well. Clarifying current learning targets, reviewing recent concepts, delineating homework assignments or providing a public forum for learners to ask questions are other easy applications of Google+.

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Communication Tips

Publish test and due dates
Publish and clarify learning targets
Review complicated topics
Offer extension activities for Gifted Learners

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Stages of Integration: Project Management

Project (K-12+)
Content area (K-5)
Period/block (6-12)
Advanced content area (9-12+)

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Stages of Integration: Full Collaboration

Learners can collaboratively brainstorm a problem
Writers can support one another through stages of the writing process
Groups can compete against one another through said "circles" in a public forum
Literature circles can be separated by role, first on pages, then in circles, so that all "Visualizers" can collaborate on a reading section before sharing with their groups. The same approach would also work for jig-sawing.

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Closing Tips

Age Requirements
Access Issues
Expect Challenges
Listen to Students

Make sure learners are aware of safe Internet practices. Consider assigning learners numeric IDs and neutral (but self-selected) avatars to protect their online identity. Set ground rules for learners, and enforce them. Let them know what is visible, what is not and what your expectations are for this kind of transparency. Everything is documented online. Make up stories about past learners that have failed to heed this advice. Whatever it takes to convince the little skeptics.

1) Age Requirement

Note that Google continues to revise legal agreements and related issues. As of this article's publishing, users of Google+ have to be at least 13 years old. There are ways to deal with this if you'd like to use Google+ with younger learners, including parents signing up for access, or simply using a single class account while at school.

2) Access Issues

For those students without access to technology at home, groups can be assigned so that each member has a role, and those lacking home access are given a role they can fulfill, and then given access at school in a rotating system. While there are always challenges to implement any resource, the pros can outweigh the cons with a little planning and patience.

3) Expect Challenges

Consider the "implementation dip." When you first begin using something, it takes time to adjust to its intricacies. If you face challenges, reach out to your PLN at school or online -- or better yet, to the students themselves.

4) Listen to the students.

Time and again my students have surprised me with their creativity and problem-solving ability, especially if they think it's a problem that an adult can't solve.

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