Stacy, Bummer! It is unfortunate that you ran into the problems that you did. I hope you give it another go for next year. Too many teachers have a similar experience, and refuse to go down that road again. I'm sure you will, but it certainly is frustrating. I find it interesting that the sites you needed were blocked. Next time I would recommend trying the technology out before teaching others. What works at home can be a nightmare at school. :) Trust me...I know from experience. Hang in there...and good luck the rest of the way.
Stacy! It sounds like you had some frustrating moments in your implementation! I think it is hard as educators to use all of these cool resources when we find that the school then has blocked so many of the useful links. Why time can't be spent educating students (and some teachers) about digital citizenship and responsibility so that these features are accessible is frustrating.
Do you plan on trying to get GoogleDocs "unblocked" over the summer so that you can use it in the next year? Or do you think you want a new plan?
Stacy, I think your project idea was a great one. Our entire email system was changed to Google this year and I can definitely say that Google Docs has been such a helpful tool for communication around the school. I'm sorry you ran in to such a major road bump. It is so frustrating when our grand technical plans don't pan out! It sounds like you will try it again next year though and I think it will certainly solve the communication problems your school was having with the old system.
I think you had a really great idea here and all of the ways that you tried to implement it were very well thought out. I liked that you were originally planning to walk the entire group through the process. This is the best way to get everyone on board and reduce any anxieties or frustrations revolving around technology.
But talk about a headache! My school had somewhat similar problems. My administrator sent out a google doc to everyone but gave quick instructions in an email on how to access it. However, we had to access it with our school account rather than our actual gmail accounts. Very few were actually able to access the document and the entire staff was very frustrated. So I can empathize with your situation. I hope you stick with it though in order to get it implemented next year. I really believe it would be a huge asset, as I'm sure you know.
Stacy,
ReplyDeleteBummer! It is unfortunate that you ran into the problems that you did. I hope you give it another go for next year. Too many teachers have a similar experience, and refuse to go down that road again. I'm sure you will, but it certainly is frustrating. I find it interesting that the sites you needed were blocked.
Next time I would recommend trying the technology out before teaching others. What works at home can be a nightmare at school. :) Trust me...I know from experience.
Hang in there...and good luck the rest of the way.
Stacy! It sounds like you had some frustrating moments in your implementation! I think it is hard as educators to use all of these cool resources when we find that the school then has blocked so many of the useful links. Why time can't be spent educating students (and some teachers) about digital citizenship and responsibility so that these features are accessible is frustrating.
ReplyDeleteDo you plan on trying to get GoogleDocs "unblocked" over the summer so that you can use it in the next year? Or do you think you want a new plan?
Stacy,
ReplyDeleteI think your project idea was a great one. Our entire email system was changed to Google this year and I can definitely say that Google Docs has been such a helpful tool for communication around the school. I'm sorry you ran in to such a major road bump. It is so frustrating when our grand technical plans don't pan out! It sounds like you will try it again next year though and I think it will certainly solve the communication problems your school was having with the old system.
Stacy,
ReplyDeleteI think you had a really great idea here and all of the ways that you tried to implement it were very well thought out. I liked that you were originally planning to walk the entire group through the process. This is the best way to get everyone on board and reduce any anxieties or frustrations revolving around technology.
But talk about a headache! My school had somewhat similar problems. My administrator sent out a google doc to everyone but gave quick instructions in an email on how to access it. However, we had to access it with our school account rather than our actual gmail accounts. Very few were actually able to access the document and the entire staff was very frustrated. So I can empathize with your situation. I hope you stick with it though in order to get it implemented next year. I really believe it would be a huge asset, as I'm sure you know.