Collaboration

In today's education there is a large emphasis on group work and developing interpersonal skills. Students are asked to work together to complete tasks and discuss topics. I remember as a student struggling with group projects because it was always so hard to find time to meet with the entire group. Technology has made many advances over the years and now has many online resources that can help with communication and group work.

My favourite online resource for group discussion and work is Googledocs. It is simple to use and a great way of organizing group ideas. Googledocs is basically an online word document that can be accessed and edited by all those invited to it. Anyone with a gmail can create a googledoc and invite their peers to join.

In my future music classroom I will use Googledocs as a place for students to share resources and ideas. Perhaps I would start a Googledocs titled, "Music We Love" and have students attach youtube videos of their favourite artists. Another idea might be to have students write their thoughts/reflections on a piece of music, and then have a discussion later in person about what everyone shared.

Far too often people think that the internet is only used to GATHER information. This is most definitely a mistake, as the internet can be used for much more, such as communication and collaboration!