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Post date: Dec 02, 2015 6:28:14 PM
Working with Google “Hangouts” on Chromebooks by DL German Teacher - Maike
Apart from problems like lack of self-motivation and teacher control the biggest problem in distance learning has always been the absence of face-to-face contact between teacher and learner. Having tried out a variety of different ways to overcome this obstacle I could never find a way to imitate direct and immediate contact.
Until about two weeks ago when my German open distance learning pupils were provided with Chromebooks to have easier access to the Google Education Apps I am using in the course and to be able to try out other features. Together with some of my online pupils at Mallaig High School we immediately set to try out Apps and they got more and more excited as we went along.
One of the most obvious benefits of using a Chromebook for hangouts was how easy the access was by having the Apps symbols right there just to click on and even the pupils who were quite reluctant before to try out any new technology very quickly got into it. There were no problems with cameras and microphones as there are all included in the Chromebook but separate headphones with an inbuilt microphone proved to provide the best sound quality.
The best feature we discovered by far is that you can talk to each other in a hangout while sharing a document on which both participants can work together. Pupils spontaneously asked for hangouts when they encountered difficulties and saw that I was online. When I had the time to answer they could get immediate feedback and could continue with their work. They really liked that and told me that they appreciated the prompt help that was on offer. Because of the use of Chromebooks they can work wherever they like throughout the school and they used and appreciated that freedom.
I also noticed that this app more than any of the others gave them the feeling to be supported in their work at all times and have access to help immediately. When I was busy at the time, they left a message on hangouts and I got back to them as soon as I could. Pupils also started getting in touch with me in the afternoons when they saw that I was online. This will not always be welcomed by other teachers but as an online tutor I was delighted as it showed that they started to take their learning into their own hands and were keen to get it right. I find Google hangouts a fantastic tool for online teaching and together with the Chromebooks it changed the whole dynamics of the course. In the last two weeks the pupils already started to be less shy to ask for help and were more aware of my availability as their teacher. It seems to make a huge difference whether help is at hand just a click away. I had loads of positive feedback and the next step is to work out how to best use hangouts with a group of learners from different schools at the same time. I will definitely use Google classroom and hangouts in my normal lessons in school to encourage pupils to organise and be more independent in their learning.
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