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Conference Technology

Google+ as a Tool for Collaborative Learning

Presenter(s)
Karissa Locke (Google, US)
Tess Milligan (Google, US)
Mark Green (Simpson College, US)
David Wicks (Seattle Pacific University, US)
Session Information
July 26, 2012 - 10:10am
Track: 
Innovation in Media and Tools
Areas of Special Interest: 
Google+; Hangouts; Youtube; virtual classroom; collaboration; sharing; guest lecturers
Major Emphasis of Presentation: 
Applied Use (technology or pedagogy); Effective Practice; Emerging Technology (tools or processes)
Institutional Level: 
Multiple
Audience Level: 
All
Session Type: 
Featured Session
Location: 
Marco Polo 806-807
Session Duration: 
50 Minutes
3
Virtual Session
Abstract

Hear from professors pioneering the use of Google+ for collaborative learning, discuss best practices, and leave equipped to enhance your Google experience with Google+.

Files
Supplemental File 1: 
application/pdf iconGetting_Started_with_Google_Plus.pdf
Videos

Google+ as a Tool for Collaborative Learning

 

Flip Session with Professor Mark Green

 

 

Flip Session with Professor David Wicks

 

 

Extended Abstract

Google+ acts as new social layer across all Google products. This product is cutting edge and constantly evolving to improve with the latest innovations in technology. Google+ facilitates interaction, discovery, and collaboration through sharing relevant content, creating unique posts, live video broadcasting, and integration with existing Google tools for education. We’ll journey through the platform, learn best practices, and hear from professors who have been leveraging Google+ to create a rich, collaborative virtual learning experience.

This presentation will include a tutorial on how to utilize all Google+ tools and features. This includes creating pages, sharing content, utilizing circles, hosting hangouts, and more. Creating a Google+ business or group page is a seamless process. We’ll walk you through the best practices for creating a functional and engaging page. Circles are the way that one categorizes who they are sharing information with, and whose posts he/she sees. As an educator, you can utilize circles strategically to share information with specific classes, colleagues, and even the to the public.

In addition to circles, Hangouts are key component for maximizing the Google+ virtual classroom experience. Chat with up to 10 people face-to-face, share documents, screenshare, watch Youtube videos together, and have fun with apps! With Hangouts on Air, you can broadcast any Hangout publicly for an unlimited amount of viewers to watch live on Youtube and interact via comments. Once a Hangout on Air is complete, the video recording is automatically uploaded to your Google+ page and Youtube channel. This creates an automatic archive of discussion groups, guest lecturers, and classes taught via Hangout. In addition to becoming familiar with best practices for these features, we will discuss the integration Google+ and all other Google products. This includes apps, search, gmail, documents, and many more.

Professor Mark Green will also be being joining us live via Hangout to share his experience using Google+. Professor Green is promoting a learning community among students in the Product Management class he teaches, offered through Iowa's MBA-PM (Professional and Managerial) program. Google+ will allow for informal interaction between Professor Green and the students between scheduled classes. Mark posts updates about course content as well as links to relevant articles and other resources. Students share assignment, tips, articles, and insights with one another and will be using hangouts to work on projects remotely. By the end of the course, students will have completed a project management report on Google+! Additionally, Professor Green hosts office hour hangouts where students are able to chat with him one-on-one without needing to make the trip to campus. Hear his firsthand experience on the benefits of incorporating Google+ in the classroom and ask questions live.

Professor David Wicks will share his his experience using Google+ Hangouts with graduate education students. Professor Wicks replaced convention asynchronous discussions in an online course with real-time Hangouts in an effort to be more sensitive to student learning preferences. Each week, students had three choices in how they participated in class discussions: 1) Text chat, 2) Video chat, or 3) Add comments to a recording of the video chat. Students shared their perceptions of how this technology impacted teaching and social presence in a survey. Findings from the survey will be shared during the presentation.

Lead Presenter

Karissa Locke, Google, Field Marketing
Karissa J Locke is a Local Marketing Representative based in Seattle, WA. She has been a pioneer in introducing Google products to universities, organizations, businesses, and interest groups in the Seattle community. Karissa joined the Google team at the beginning of Google’s launch for organization pages, and has worked to enhance the user experience through providing education and facilitating product feedback. Participating in the growth and evolution of Google+ has inspired her to take Google+ to communities that can greatly benefit from engagement with the product. Karissa earned a BA in Psychology from Seattle Pacific University in 2010.

Tess Milligan, Google, Field Marketing Lead
Tess Milligan is the Team Lead for the Field Marketing group at Google in Seattle. She has been with the company since July 2011 and prior to that spent 7 years as a Business Development Manager/Rep performing Community Outreach and Development in the Credit Union industry. In this position she provided financial education and support for various partner groups and community organizations.

While at Google, Tess and her team have focused their efforts on educating small businesses, non-profits, community groups and other organizations about Google+, Google Places and other Google products. Through the Get American Businesses Online program, Tess has helped hundreds of SMBs increase their online visibility through offering free websites and help on Google tools like Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Google Apps and Insights for Search. She has also completed Speaker Training for this Google program. Tess has a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Southern Nazarene University.

Mark Green, Simpson College
Mark C. Green is Professor of Marketing at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business, where he has taught in both the undergraduate and MBA programs. During the fall 2011 semester, Professor Green taught International Marketing and Principles of Marketing at CIMBA (Consortium Institute for Management and Business Analysis) in Paderno del Grappa, Italy. Professor Green is co-author of Global Marketing, a college textbook published by by Pearson/Prentice Hall. The 7th edition was published in January 2012. Professor Green's current research focuses on emerging technology trends.

David Wicks, Seattle Pacific University
David Wicks is Director of Instructional Technology Services and Assistant Professor at Seattle Pacific University. He consults with faculty on their use of educational technology and teaches instructional technology courses in the School of Education. He is an Associate Editor for MERLOT’s Teacher Education Editorial Board and is the Program Chair for the 2012 International Symposium for Emerging Technologies in Online Learning.

© 2012, The Sloan Consortium ®