24 Apr 12 Teaching with Google Docs: Student Self-Pacing

In Teaching with Google Docs: A Management System, I began to discuss how student self-pacing could lead to more widespread success within my introductory research paper course. By allowing students to work on different assignments at different times and by requiring them to demonstrate minimum proficiency at each and every step of the research paper process, my Docs management system is designed to create a learning system accessible to all. By using online collaboration to remediate deficiencies as they emerge, the Docs ideally put in motion a series of learning successes that guarantee an enduring understanding and improve student disposition toward future research requirements. Students who understand each step, in other words, should enjoy success on the final product and should be more willing to do additional work.

Student self-pacing occurs from the very beginning and during each part of the course. Over approximately six weeks (five weeks for some, more for others), students experience both face-to-face and video instruction and complete approximately fifteen assignments (Docs), the last of which is a short, formal research paper. Students who move quickly through the process tend to view video lessons in advance of (or in place of) face-to-face teaching; those who work more slowly tend to view video lessons for review of what was covered in class. The Docs, like most teachers’ assignments, reinforce key aspects of instruction and measure comprehension and skill attainment.

All Docs, except for the final research paper, are graded using a check system, where a check-minus represents the basic level of achievement necessary to proceed. Docs below this minimum are graded as “Incomplete” and require revision. All Docs receive commentary designed to help students improve future and current work (see image above). For example, while a check-minus is good enough to receive the next Doc in the sequence, it could be improved to a check or check-plus. It’s important to note that while students have this option, if after multiple revisions a Doc doesn’t exceed minimum achievement, it is locked and the next Doc in the process is assigned. This is done in order to keep students moving along in the process.

Locking and assigning Docs is easy and is the key to managing student progress in my self-paced library classroom. After creating a copy of each Doc assignment for each student, the Docs are then shared individually. Permissions are initially set, of course, to allow for student editing. But, when the Doc is complete, permissions are set to view-only and the next Doc in the sequence is shared (see image). This process continues until all assigned Docs have been completed.

In a future and final post on this topic, a series of screen shots will show, more completely, these and other aspects of my Google Docs management system.