Expanding into the Virtual Classroom:
Working with Collaborative Teaching
and Learning Spaces
Theresa Pesavento (L&S Learning Support Services)
and Chad Shorter (DoIT Academic Technology)
March 22, 2012
Introduction
Who we are
Collaborative Sites
Google Docs (in Learn@UW)
Collaborative Sites
Student-to-student
collaboration

Blog/Wiki/Status

Library and resource
collection

Media integration
ENGLISH
318
Blog, course info
(as an instructor blog), glossary
Hybrid course and meeting environment--in-classroom time as follow-up to CS
discussion
Writing practice, beginning and furthering course discussions, and building
community through online conversations
Legal Studies 450
Blog, library, course info
Individual blogs in response to weekly reading response questions and collaboratively
develop, post, and present one group project
Develop students' digital literacy and writing skills, broaden their appreciation of the
range of evidentiary resources, emphasize the value of collaborative scholarship, and
spark creativity.
Italian 204
Blog and status
Blog about something of interest to them, write at least two comments about
others' posts, post status updates and make comments
Interaction outside the classroom in the target language, continuing dialogues
started in class and express themselves in a less formal setting, sharing cultural
information
Build tools around student interaction
dynamics
What do you want
your students to
create?
How do you want
students to interact
around their
creations?
How do you want
student interactions
organized?
Course Info
E-Diario
Flashcards
Glossary
Groups
Places
Post (blog post)
Profiles
Resources
Style Guide
Questions (moderator)
Reading Response
Status
Voting
Video
Wiki
Nancy Buenger (Fellow at the Institute for Legal Studies and Visiting Assistant Professor in the College of
Letters & Science)
Katy Prantil (Teaching Assistant for Italian courses in the Department of French and Italian)
Mary Fiorenza (Assistant Faculty Associate in the Department of English and Associate Director for English
100)
Theresa: Can you briefly give me some details about your course?
Nancy Buenger: I am using collaborative sites for two upper-level lecture/discussion courses: Legal Studies
450 and Design Studies 355
Katy Prantil: I am teaching fourth-semester Italian (204), I have a group of 20 very enthusiastic students.
Mary Fiorenza: I'm using [Collaborative Sites] this semester in English 318, Writing Internship, a course
typically taken by junior/senior English or other liberal arts majors.
Theresa: What tools or features in Collaborative Sites are you using?
Nancy: Students have been posting entries to both the blog and library features in my classes. The course info
page provides students with resources and a guide to blog-writing.
Katy: I am using the Blog and Status features of the Collaborative Sites, and students were given a detailed
schedule so they are well informed about my expectations regarding the use of the site.
Mary: Blog, course info (as an instructor blog), glossary
Theresa: How are you and your students using these features (for what activities)?
Nancy: Students develop individual blogs in response to weekly reading response questions (some weeks I ask for
traditional writing assignments). They are also required to collaboratively develop, post, and present one group project on
an assigned topic.
Katy: Depending on the topic and where we are in the semester, students should be either writing a Blog post about
something of interest to them or their reflections on a film we viewed as a class. They are then asked to write at least two
comments about others' posts. On weeks when they have a formal written composition due, I ask that they instead post two
statuses and make two comments on our CS, a considerably "lighter" task but a task that still helps them maintain ties in
their virtual and real classroom community.
Mary: I decided to offer 318 in a "hybrid" style for the first time. 318 in the past has been more of a studio course, with
students working on projects and workshopping during part of class time. This year we are instead "meeting" on the CS for
part of our class time, and physically meeting only for an hour each week in a classroom to continue discussions started on
CS, to do some technology training aimed toward projects, and then to present the projects.
Theresa: What are your objectives for these activities?
Nancy: My objective is to develop my students' digital literacy and writing skills, broaden their appreciation of the range of
evidentiary resources, emphasize the value of collaborative scholarship, and spark creativity.
Katy: My objective is to have students interact with one another outside the classroom in the target language. This allows
students to continue dialogues started in class and express themselves in a less formal setting. I also do follow-up activities
in class in which I ask the students to speak with others about either the posts they wrote (their own research) or the posts
they read (research posted by other students) and this brings the CS activity back into the classroom. I also use the CS to
share cultural information I find with the students and provide some personal feedback.
Mary: Writing practice, beginning and furthering course discussions, providing a space for the course to "take place" when
we're not in a classroom together, and building community through on-line conversations
Theresa: What is one interesting thing that has come of your instructional use of Collaborative Sites, or
what do you like most about using Collaborative Sites in your teaching?
Nancy: I believe that intellectual growth is greatly enhanced by creating a comfortable social space in class. I
found collaborative sites a great way to break the ice. It also helps me become better acquainted with my
students, which can be very difficult when teaching a 60-student class. CS has greatly promoted creativity
among my students, and I am using it far more than originally planned. Students enjoy incorporating images,
videos, etc. and often exceed the requirements for assignments. It certainly makes grading more fun. It has
been easier for me to develop creative assignments, and new types of assignments, such as having students
respond to each other's work. One of the most unexpected benefits has been in-class student presentations of
collaborative blog projects, which are often better than the digital texts. These presentations create an
opportunity for peer-to-peer learning in which students can share their Internet explorations--including images,
videos, humor--in a very effective manner. I can't imagine teaching without collaborative sites!
Katy: I would say that in every class in which I've used a CS, the students are less apprehensive to speak in
class. The CS really aids in building a virtual community, and the students seem to be more connected to the
course.
Mary: The opportunity for students to practice writing online and writing to each other. This semester, I am
appreciating that CS makes it possible for me to teach a hybrid course.
Google docs
(In Learn@UW)

Group Writing

Editing

Data Collecting

Google Docs in
Learn@UW
http://bit.ly/MadisonSpring
Timmo Dugdale and John Martin are Learning Technology Consultants for DoIT Academic Technology.
Chad: The University now has a service agreement with Google that's more friendly for Higher Ed uses
of Google Docs (protecting ownership and usage rights). I know you're excited to see Google Apps, in
general, used more. How about Google Docs? What types of learning goals do you think Google Docs
can help you achieve?
Timmo: Certainly group collaboration, iterative writing, and student critiques all can benefit from Google
Docs. Seeing revisions and contributions on a document are helpful in the process of evaluating each
member's contribution. Group writing and student feedback are the most common ways I've seen Google
Docs being used.
Chad: John, you've used Google Docs for freshman course that you taught. What did you do?
John: [I] love Google Docs for collaborative writing. Rather than collect students' drafts in Word (and lose them
on my laptop), I collected them in Docs. I was able to give them feedback on their document, and even have a
"chat" with one who happened to be on it as I was checking it. That made it easier for me to give them
feedback, and it was more direct because there was no passing back and forth documents. There was no
losing documents either. After I wrote up the feedback, I made a copy (in Docs) of the draft for my records so I
could check it (if needed) when I got the final copy to recall the changes I requested. I was also able to use my
renamed copy as a note to myself that I got and checked all their drafts -- no losing them in the shuffle. A
number of the students in that class also used Docs to peer edit each others' drafts. They then shared their
edits with me, so I could comment on the peer editing. This was optional, but next time I will require it.
Chad: Is there any particular instructional use case for Google Docs that you're excited about?
Timmo: Facilitating group work is the most useful aspect. Being able to chat and write in a live environment
where everyone is seeing what is being added solves the problem of getting everyone in a physical space at
the same time.
Chad: Any thoughts on other ways that Google Docs could be used?
John: I envision further use of Docs in student collaborative note-taking by study groups: one tries to get down
the main points, but the others can fill in missed details. Then, when studying, they access the same document,
and have a greater opportunity (via synchronous and asynchronous chat and comments) to ask each other
questions about the content.
Questions? Ideas?
Contact US!
Theresa: theresa@lss.wisc.edu
Chad: chad.shorter@doit.wisc.edu