THE GROUP PROJECT
For my SEDU 183 class, we had to form into groups for a research project (there were four people in our group). For this project, we had to research and compose a research paper relating to education in the 21st Century. After we completed the research paper, our group had to present our research to the class.
Our research paper was centered around the question: How did 21st Century First Ladies Influence Education in America?
THE TECHNOLOGY
We decided to split the research into two categories. Two of us would research Laura Bush and the other two would research Michelle Obama. It was so nice to be able to all work using one document (with Google Docs). If you're unfamiliar with Google Docs, I would recommend giving it a try. Check out this tutorial. Since we were all able to share the document (all having equal access) it made it so convenient, we could work from our own computer without having to meet up with each other. We were able to see what everyone in our group wrote so we knew not to duplicate the research they came across.
We also used Prezi for the presentation of our research project. I thought it flowed much better than PowerPoint. The amount of things you can do with Prezi is amazing. I'm much more familiar with PowerPoint but Prezi is more entertaining and eye-catching than PowerPoint. I would prefer to watch Prezi presentations than PowerPoint.
I feel Google Docs is something that I will use as a future teacher. I think it would save time and also allow me to work on collaboration tasks when it is convenient for me. The demands of teaching has increased greatly in the 21st Century and by using Google Docs, it would allow teachers to focus on the more demanding issues while still communicating and collaborating with each other in a productive way.
We also used Prezi for the presentation of our research project. I thought it flowed much better than PowerPoint. The amount of things you can do with Prezi is amazing. I'm much more familiar with PowerPoint but Prezi is more entertaining and eye-catching than PowerPoint. I would prefer to watch Prezi presentations than PowerPoint.
TAKE AWAYS FOR THE FUTURE
I feel Google Docs is something that I will use as a future teacher. I think it would save time and also allow me to work on collaboration tasks when it is convenient for me. The demands of teaching has increased greatly in the 21st Century and by using Google Docs, it would allow teachers to focus on the more demanding issues while still communicating and collaborating with each other in a productive way.
