Teachers

Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Diversity, Matthew Lynch, Teachers September 8, 2015

6 Ways to Create a Culture of Learning

When schools make a positive change in the academic performance of their students, they are often led by highly involved and active school leaders. This doesn’t mean that administrators are in the classrooms putting their skills to use. Surprisingly, research shows that the best way for school leaders to be effective at improving academic performance in students is to create a culture of learning throughout the school environment. Creating a culture of learning is possible for every school. Here are six ways that administrators can foster an educationally enriching environment.

Start with a Mission

The mission of the school as crafted by the administration is the most influential contribution – more than hands on classroom participation or higher level advocacy. That doesn’t just mean creating a mission statement, rather it means an active implementation of that mission statement that shapes the school environment to create a place that fosters learning from every level. A school’s mission is the key tool for administrators in the pursuit of academic excellence. Once a strong mission has been created, then it should be discussed and broken down with every stakeholder in the school community, allowing everyone to realize its importance and to see how it guides the culture of the school environment.

Communicate Effectively

People can’t do what you’re asking of them if they’re not clear on your expectations. In schools that have a culture of learning, administrators clearly express the ways that they want their policies and educational methodologies to be implemented. Of course are still questions, but these are largely clarifications that are based upon the prior information that’s been given to staff. Administration shouldn’t wait until information is requested, but rather should preemptively offer what they find to be most important. In addition, it’s important that when questions and clarifications do come up, that the administration is open to improvement rather than rigid.

Implement Strong Policy

The impact of administration on the outcomes of student learning is a significant one. Administrators shape the school’s vision – the big picture of the educational environment, through the policies that are implemented throughout the school. That means creating policy that fosters rather than inhibits learning in students, and which views everything through the lens of education. Discipline is of value only when it’s part of the educational process. Schedules are structured to promote academic performance. Non-academic activities are recognized for their enriching role in the academic process, and fostered appropriately. When principals are consistent in their articulation AND execution of the school’s objectives, then support their staff in the carrying out of those solidly founded policies, we see students grow academically in meaningful ways.

Be an Active Presence

Administrators who sit in their offices are not able to effectively lead their staff and students. In order to create a culture of learning, administration has to be a visible presence in the hallways and in the classroom, interacting with students and staff in a way that reinforces the mission statement and implemented policies. That means not just walking the halls or performing disciplinary actions, but rather looking to further reinforce educational ideas in meaningful ways.

Provide Resources

In these times of tight budgets, when we think of resources, we tend to immediately think of school supplies. But resources are so much more than that. Administrators themselves are resources, and when they’re highly visible it’s offering something important to students and teachers. Incentives that aren’t tied to the budget can be an important driver for teachers and students, think about school wide competitions or perks that can be provided. Perhaps the biggest resource that administrators can offer is time: instructional time, planning time, down time. There are never enough hours in the school day, but how those hours are structured can make a huge difference in the amount of time that teachers have at their disposal.

Guide Instruction

When school goals are coordinated with curriculum, then it is possible to raise student performance through more codified and effective instruction across the school environment. What’s perhaps most surprising here is that it is NOT hands on implementation of the school’s vision that affords the most value to students. It’s not about administration directly implementing instructional programs, or even directly creating them. Rather it is when administrators create a vision for learning that they then trust their skilled teachers to implement. The framing of educational and academic goals that is the most effective offering of administrators in the pursuit of higher levels of performance in students. Administrators can effectively create positive academic outcomes for students by promoting the mission of the school with academic standards, timetables and academic curricula.

Administrators indirectly influence student learning, though powerfully so. These practices foster academic growth in students across socioeconomic and cultural boundaries. Again, notice that none of these involve hands on classroom interventions on the part of administrators, but all foster a structured environment that’s focused on student learning – a school culture of learning.

Matthew Lynch published in list, Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform, Teachers August 31, 2015

4 Ways to Find (and Keep) the Best Teachers

When it comes to school reform, we often think of getting rid of bad teachers. However, an issue that is possibly more pressing is hiring, training the best teachers. School districts continuously engage in the complementary processes of recruiting and retaining teachers. The strain on school budgets impacts the ability of school districts to hire and sometimes to retain high quality teachers. There are steps that every school and district can take, however, to strengthen its staff no matter what the financial situation. We will soon discuss a few ways to do this, but first, let’s look at why teachers leave their profession.

Why do teachers give up?

The highest proportion of new teachers in any given year is female, with White women accounting for higher numbers than women in ethnic minority groups. There is evidence, however, that in the early 1990s the number of new minority educators increased. No matter what their gender or ethnicity, teachers show a similar trend in high turnover and drop-out rates, both in their early years of teaching and when nearing retirement, producing a pattern related to age or experience.

Higher attrition rates have been noted in Whites and females in the fields of science and mathematics, and in those who have higher measured academic ability. Location of teaching position also impacts mobility and attrition rates. Most studies show that suburban and rural school districts have lower attrition rates than urban districts. Public schools, on average, actually have higher teacher retention rates than private schools.

Teachers are looking for increased salaries, greater rewards, and improved working conditions. Educators tend to transfer to teaching or even non-teaching positions that meet desired criteria. These findings suggest teacher recruitment and retention is dependent on the desirability of the teaching profession in relation to other opportunities. The inherent appeal of teaching depends on “total compensation” which compares the total reward from teaching, both extrinsic and intrinsic, with possible rewards determined through other activities.

Schools with high percentages of minority students and urban schools are harder to staff, and teachers tend to leave these schools when more attractive opportunities become available. Certain factors, which can apparently be influenced by policy change, may affect individuals’ decisions to enter teaching, as well as teachers’ decisions to transfer within or leave the profession.

Now, with all that explained, let’s look at four ways to find and keep the best teachers in schools in an era when teacher turnover is high:

Pay more, and pay ethically. This is pretty simple. Not surprisingly, higher salaries are associated with lower teacher attrition, while dissatisfaction with salary is associated with higher attrition and a waning commitment to teaching.

The traditional system, whereby teachers are paid based solely on their years of experience and level of education, has caused many critics to claim that it does not promote good teaching, or is not as fair as other systems that pay based on performance, ability in certain skills, or willingness to teach in areas of high need. On the other hand, proponents of the traditional system argue that teachers’ experience and education are crucial indicators of their performance, and that because of its open and fair assessment it is the only logical choice. To reach an optimum balance, educators and policymakers have created numerous methods for revising how teachers are compensated, each seeking to adjust teacher incentives differently.

As the scientific evidence on these methods’ effectiveness is extremely limited, it is difficult to choose among them. Historically, implementing any pay reform, let alone directing a critical study of one, has been a demanding issue. A number of ambitious and interesting reforms have folded, often within a few years, under opposing political pressure or from fiscal restrictions. Attempts to study the few surviving reforms have yielded little usable data to date.

Create a support system for new teachers. Lower turnover rates among beginning teachers are found in schools with induction and mentoring programs, and particularly those related to collegial support. Teachers given greater autonomy and administrative support show lower rates of attrition and migration. Aside from higher salaries, better working conditions and intrinsic rewards are the most important factors for teachers.
Recruit teacher candidates from alternative teacher education programs as well as traditional teacher training programs. Literature on the influence of preservice policies on teacher recruitment and retention are limited, however there are two important points that should command attention of school districts. One of the recommendations of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future in its report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future was that teachers be licensed based on demonstration of knowledge and skills.

This edict led states and teacher education programs to require teachers to pass a battery of tests before they exited teacher education programs and/or before they were licensed by states. These actions resulted in a reduction of the number of minority students entering and completing teacher education programs. Therefore school districts seeking more diverse teaching staffs will see a limited number of minority candidates available for recruitment.

A second pre-service teacher policy districts should look at is the difference between candidates completing traditional teacher education programs and those completing alternative route programs. Teacher candidates completing alternative route teacher education programs tend to be older and more diverse. Further, they tend to have higher retention rates than candidates completing traditional programs. Recruiting teacher candidates from these programs could address both the needs for more diverse teaching staffs and the desire to retain good teachers.

Districts: pay attention to what teachers want.

Districts wanting to retain their best teachers should strongly consider what matters to teachers who remain in their teaching positions. Mentoring and induction programs tend to matter to in-service teaches, as does class size, autonomy, and administrative support. It is also interesting to note that state accountability practices also impact teachers’ decisions to remain in their positions.

Financial circumstances notwithstanding, districts have control over some of these issues. They should consider publicizing situations favorable to in-service teachers, as a tool for both recruitment and retention. As districts develop their reform agenda, they should put at the forefront a vision for the type of teaching force needed to support their plans for reform, and use empirical studies as a guide to recruit and retain teachers.

Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity, Policy & Reform, Teachers August 22, 2015

6 Ways Teachers can Foster Cultural Awareness in the Classroom

A multicultural society is best served by a culturally responsive curriculum. Schools that acknowledge the diversity of their student population understand the importance of promoting cultural awareness. Teachers who are interested in fostering a cultural awareness in their classroom should actively demonstrate to their students that they genuinely care about their cultural, emotional, and intellectual needs. To this end, there are several strategies that you can use to build trusting relationships with diverse students. To incorporate cultural awareness into your classroom curriculum, you should:

1. Express interest in the ethnic background of your students. Encourage your students to research and share information about their ethnic background as a means of fostering a trusting relationship with fellow classmates. Analyze and celebrate differences in traditions, beliefs, and social behaviors. It is of note that this task helps European-American students realize that their beliefs and traditions constitute a culture as well, which is a necessary breakthrough in the development of a truly culturally responsive classroom. Also, take the time to learn the proper pronunciation of student names and express interest in the etymology of interesting and diverse names.

2. Redirect your role in the classroom from instructor to facilitator. Another important requirement for creating a nurturing environment for students is reducing the power differential between the instructor and students. Students in an authoritarian classroom may sometimes display negative behaviors as a result of a perceived sense of social injustice; in the culturally diverse classroom, the teacher thus acts more like a facilitator than an instructor. Providing students with questionnaires about what they find to be interesting or important provides them with a measure of power over what they get to learn and provides them with greater intrinsic motivation and connectedness to the material. Allowing students to bring in their own reading material and present it to the class provides them with an opportunity to both interact with and share stories, thoughts, and ideas that are important to their cultural and social perspective.

3. Maintain a strict level of sensitivity to language concerns. In traditional classrooms, students who are not native English speakers often feel marginalized, lost, and pressured into discarding their original language in favor of English. In a culturally responsive classroom, diversity of language is celebrated and the level of instructional materials provided to non-native speakers are tailored to their level of English fluency. Accompanying materials should be provided in the student’s primary language and the student should be encouraged to master English.

4. Maintain high expectations for student performance. Given that culturally responsive instruction is a student-centered philosophy, it should come as no surprise that expectations for achievement are determined and assigned individually for each student. Students don’t receive lavish praise for simple tasks but do receive praise in proportion to their accomplishments. If a student is not completing her work, then one should engage the student positively and help guide the student toward explaining how to complete the initial steps that need to be done to complete a given assignment or task.

5. Incorporate methods for self-testing. Another potent method for helping students become active participants in learning is to reframe the concept of testing. While testing is usually associated with grades (and therefore stress) in traditional classrooms, in a culturally responsive classroom frequent non-graded tests can be used to provide progress checks and ensure that students don’t fall behind on required material. Teaching students to self-test while learning new information will help them better remember and use what they’ve learned in class and will help them realize on their own when they need to study a topic in greater depth.

6. Maintain an “inclusive” curriculum that remains respectful of differences. A culturally responsive curriculum is both inclusive in that it ensures that all students are included within all aspects of the school and it acknowledges the unique differences students may possess. A culturally responsive curriculum also encourages teachers’ understanding and recognition of each student’s non-school cultural life and background, and provides a means for them to incorporate this information into the curriculum, thus promoting inclusion.

Schools have the responsibility to teach all students how to synthesize cultural differences into their knowledge base, in order to facilitate students’ personal and professional success in a diverse world. A culturally responsive curriculum helps students from a minority ethnic/racial background develop a sense of identity as individuals, as well as proudly identify with their particular culture group. Teachers can play a big role in helping these students succeed through the establishment of culturally responsive classrooms.

Matthew Lynch published in Matthew Lynch, Policy & Reform, Teachers August 19, 2015

4 States that Want to Change How Much Teachers Are Paid

The amount teachers are paid has been the subject of some controversy. Yet with U.S. teachers spending more time in the classroom than other teachers worldwide, most teachers know that the money is hard-earned.

Indeed, despite the long hours, teachers in American aren’t compensated well, explains OECD director of education and skills Andreas Schleicher. The pay, compared to other countries, is competitive in the US; however, it lags behind that of other American workers with college educations.

The OECD report shows American teachers see smaller salary increases than their foreign counterparts; in the most recent year surveyed, the average teacher with 15 years of experience saw a salary increase of 32.6 percent. The US average was just 26.6 percent.

Because of this, it is not surprising that there are efforts around the country meant to change how much teachers earn. Let’s look at four states that have tried to reform teachers’ paychecks.

Florida: Florida lawmaker Senator Darren Soto introduced a bill that would raise the minimum salary for teachers to $50,000 a year.

The Florida Teacher Fair Pay Act, or Senate Bill 280, calls for the Legislature to fund the Florida Education Finance Program in a manner that guarantees the $50,000 minimum starting salary for teachers with union representation.

In addition, the bill would prevent school districts from setting their own lower salary, and would leave base pay negotiation with teachers unions to be decided upon by each individual district. Teachers’ salaries would also require adjustment each year after based on inflation from the year prior.

Soto hopes to help teachers after hearing from many who are threatening to walk away from their careers in the Sunshine State unless something changes. He believes that the minimum starting salary for teachers will help.

A study obtained last month ranked Florida’s Orange County teachers as some of the lowest-paid in the country. The starting salary in Orange County is around $38,000.

“Even if we don’t get to the $50,000 mark, this is part of a larger debate of getting teacher salaries up from where they are now,” said Soto.

North Carolina: According to the National Education Association’s ranking from 2012-2013, the average North Carolina teacher salary is around $46,000, 46^thin the U.S. The nation’s average salary is over $55,000.

Events were held earlier this week in Asheville, Waynesville and Black Mountain to emphasize the push for higher pay for the states teachers.

North Carolina lawmakers are discussing a pay raise for teachers, but the proposals vary and if approved, will result in some changes for teachers beyond just an increase in their paycheck. The A.N.C. Senate proposal states that teacher’s assistants would be cut, yet tenure would remain. The House version would keep teachers assistants, but give the teachers a smaller raise.

Gerrick Brenner of Progress North Carolina, one of the groups involved in the Aim Higher Now petition says advocates aren’t seeking the pay raise in a single year, but instead over the next four or five years.

Parent Misty Miller attended the event on Monday. She says, “I came out today to support our teachers. I would like to see our teachers be treated as professionals.”

Colorado: Not all proposed solutions seem to work for the benefit of the teachers. For example, leaders from the teacher’s union asked the Colorado Department of Education to review an evaluation system, also called CITE, that ties teacher pay raises to evaluations conducted by school principals. The teacher evaluation plan designed by the Douglas County School District in Colorado was found to comply with state law, according to the state’s Department of Education.

Under the educator effectiveness law, SB 191, school districts were granted the option of creating their own teacher evaluation system as long as it adheres to state guidelines. This was the first state review of a teacher evaluation system developed by a school district.

The review that approved the system did find that the district may not have effectively communicated to teachers information about other district-initiated reviews that occur when an initial review seems to be an outlier. The state suggested including that information in the evaluation guide and on the website to ensure the teachers are well informed.

It’s essential to find a measuring system to ensure that these individualized ways of evaluating teachers doesn’t harm the school quality and penalize teachers.

Ohio: In another effort that may not be entirely beneficial to teachers, the Reynoldsburg school board in Ohio wants to change the way the district pays its teachers through eliminations of scheduled raises and the health insurance plan.

Instead teachers would receive increases in pay based on the ratings they receive in the state’s new evaluation system. If their schools perform well on state report cards and they perform work above and beyond classroom duties, they would also be eligible for bonuses. The district would provide the teachers with an undisclosed amount of money to buy their own insurance instead of being offered health-insurance coverage.

The school wants to revere good teaching by paying higher salaries and distributing bonuses to teachers. If teachers don’t attain a rating of excellence, the goal is to encourage rapid improvement.

The state’s new teacher-evaluation system would put the highest rating teachers up for a 4 percent raise, skilled teachers would get a 2 percent raise and developing teachers would earn a 1 percent raise. Teachers in the lowest category would not receive an increase in pay.

In addition, teachers who work in schools with a composite grade of an A on the state report card would receive a bonus of $500, and those in schools with a B would receive $250.

The school board’s plan would also allow teachers to apply for a $30,000 “fellowship award” if the performance of their students exceeds expectations and the teacher has taken on additional district responsibilities rendered high in value.

The current teachers’ pact expires July 31.

I like that Reynoldsburg wants to reward its teachers with solid pay increases and eligibility for bonuses. However, I do fear that some high quality, hardworking teachers may receive low evaluations despite their dedication.

Respect for teachers is an important metric for the strength of a school system on a national scale. Paying our teachers well is one way to demonstrate respect for teachers and their profession.

Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Higher Education, Teachers June 12, 2015

Seven deadly sins of online course design

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

By Daniel Stanford

I took my first online course in 2004 while pursuing my MFA. It seemed like a novel idea at the time, and I had no clue I’d be spending the next ten years up to my eyeballs in online courses. Since then, I’ve helped faculty design dozens of online and hybrid courses, taught several of my own, and evaluated online courses and professional development programs from a variety institutions.

Over the years, I’ve seen certain design issues surface again and again. I had hoped to stockpile 95 of these “course design sins,” then nail them to a door in a Martin Luther-esque call for reform. That vision was later revised as I realized (A) 95 is a lot of sins to identify and (B) Martin Luther didn’t have to compete with the latest Buzzfeed list of 15 dogs wearing tiny hats.

In light of those realizations, I’d like to share with you my top seven course design sins, along with practical tips for atonement.

1. Overwhelming Discussions

“Compose your post, then respond to three classmates’ posts.” Sound familiar? These instructions have become de rigueur in online discussions even though it would be impossible to replicate this level of participation in a face-to-face class. The result is a massive number of posts that instructors and students dread sorting through.

How to Atone
1)    Relax discussion participation requirements. For instance, you might require students to contribute to two out of three discussions. This allows students to contribute to the discussions that interest them most, as they often do in face-to-face courses.
2)    Set reasonable guidelines for post length and number of replies. For prompts that tend to elicit long-winded replies, stress the importance of concise writing and set a maximum word limit.
3)    Provide a grading rubric in advance that focuses on quality, not quantity.

2. Lack of Scannable Text

Reading on a screen is tiring enough as it is. Don’t make it worse by writing long paragraphs devoid of visual interruptions and organizational cues.

How to Atone
1) Use headings and lists to break up long blocks of text. This not only makes it easier to read the first time through, but also makes it easier for students to find what they need when they review material for a second or third time.
2) Don’t rely on color to make important items stand out. This can quickly become overwhelming and isn’t helpful for colorblind users. Instead, use bolding (judiciously) to offset important details such as deadlines or warnings.

3. No Progress Indicators

Within seconds of entering a course or a specific unit of content, students should know what they’ve completed, what is incomplete, and when the incomplete items are due. The worst nightmare of any online student is to think she has met all the course requirements for a given day or week, only to stumble upon additional ones after a critical deadline has passed.

How to Atone
1)    If your learning management system includes a checklist feature, provide one in every module to ensure students can keep track of what they’ve completed.
2)    If your LMS doesn’t include checklists, provide a concise to-do list at the beginning of each module so students can easily see what they have to complete and when graded items are due.
3)    List the deadlines for all graded items in your main course schedule or calendar.

4. Bad Narration

There are two reasons most instructors create narrated PowerPoints.
1) They believe it will be faster to deliver a lecture verbally than write it out.
2) They believe it will be more engaging for students than reading.

Both of these motivations have their pitfalls. First, faculty are often surprised how long it takes to produce an effective narrated presentation. Second, delivering information via audio with no text alternative makes it difficult for students to control the pace of their learning. It’s also worth noting that audio-only approaches to instruction can be challenging for ESL learners and a dealbreaker for students with disabilities.

How to Atone
Whatever your motivation for creating narrated presentations, your work will be better (and your students happier) if you keep these tips in mind:
1)    Break content into chunks of roughly five minutes or less.
2)    Ask the learner to respond to questions periodically. If you can’t provide interactive   quiz questions in the video itself, simply show a question on screen and give students a few seconds to pause and contemplate the answer before you provide it.
3)    Start with the topics you’re most passionate about and provide a written alternative for material you’re less excited to narrate.
4)    Allow students to download the PowerPoint file if they’d prefer to read it without narration. This is especially helpful if you’ve taken the time to add notes to each slide.

Also, before you get too attached to your presentations, share a sample with a friend and ask if your narration feels:
1)    natural and authentic (not over-rehearsed, over-annunciated, or overly scripted)
2)    appropriately paced (not too fast or too slow)
3)    pleasant (not too soft, too loud, or too nasal)
4)    dynamic and engaging (not monotone and dull)

5. Buried Leads

Don’t make students read through or listen to several minutes of non-essential fluff before you get to the good stuff. Burying the lead wastes students’ time and hurts your credibility as a curator. As a result, students will struggle to find the part where you finally say something important. Worse yet, they might begin to ignore your emails, readings, or videos altogether.

How to Atone
1) Write in an inverted-pyramid format. Start with an eye-catching headline or summary and make sure the most important information is as close to the beginning as possible.
2) Avoid fluffy intros. This is particularly important when creating audio/video content. Here’s an example.

Too Fluffy

More Direct

Hi students. Welcome to module 3, video lecture 2. I hope you enjoyed our last module on X. In this video, I’m going to talk about writing an effective creative brief for an advertising campaign. Creating an ad campaign can be challenging. There are so many moving parts and different people who need to contribute to the design of a successful campaign. There can be many strong personalities involved…

In a recent Ad Fed survey, 73% of creative directors say their work missed the mark due to a bad creative brief. Ineffective briefs often fall short due to X, Y, and Z. Let’s spend a few minutes analyzing each of these factors.

6. Digital Hoarding

Face-to-face courses come with limitations that encourage instructors to prioritize what they share with students. Examples include the number of hours in each class meeting and the number of photocopies the instructor has time to print. In online courses, these limitations are removed or relaxed, which makes it tempting to share every interesting reading, video, and website you’ve ever encountered. All too often, the result is a course site that feels like one of the homes on Hoarding: Buried Alive, but with more scholarly journals and fewer cats.

How to Atone
1)    Curate and annotate. Good curators know what to keep hidden in the vaults, what to place in the gallery, and how to lead visitors through it all in a way that informs and inspires.
2)    Contextualize links. Don’t assume their relevance is self-explanatory. Provide a sentence or two summarizing why the link is important.
3)    Customize links. Direct students to specific pages of a site and explain why those pages are useful instead of sending them to the homepage of a massive site and assuming they’ll find their way.
4)    Contextualize readings. This is particularly important when assigning long readings or videos. Provide guiding questions and/or warn students which sections or concepts they’re likely to find challenging. If all 50 pages of a reading (or hour of a video) are equally essential, briefly explain why.
5)    Separate and label what’s optional. Don’t let supplemental resources or anecdotes obscure what’s truly top priority. Be realistic in what students can reasonably read or view in a single day or week.
6)    Throw something away. Recognize that, even with optional resources, less is more.

7. Faceless Professor Syndrome

Online courses provide limited natural opportunities to reinforce that you’re a real human being and help students put a face with your name. Don’t squander these opportunities by obscuring your identity and increasing your anonymity on the discussion board and in your self-introduction.

How to Atone:
1)    Use a photo of your face for your online profile and discussion board avatar. Don’t use a photo of your dog, your favorite cartoon character, or a generic icon.
2)    Make sure your face is closely cropped so it’s recognizable at small sizes. This will help students see who is “speaking” at a glance if your face shows as a small icon next to your discussion board posts.
3)    Avoid tools like Voki or Tellagami that obscure your identity by synchronizing a talking cartoon with your voice. Novelties like this might be entertaining when used to create an Easter egg or a supplemental resource, but they increase online anonymity when used for introductions and essential announcements early in the term.

This post originally appeared on iddblog.org, and was republished with permission.

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here.

_____________________________

Daniel Stanford holds an MFA in Computer Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a concentration in Interactive Design and Game Development. Since 1998, his interest in interactive media and education has led him to take on a variety of professional roles—from website designer and graphic artist to teacher and online-course developer. His work as an instructional designer has received multiple awards from the Instructional Technology Council and he has been both a course reviewer and finalist in Blackboard’s Exemplary Course competitions. Daniel is currently Assistant Director of Faculty Instructional Technology Services at DePaul University where he oversees multiple faculty-development initiatives, including the DePaul Online Teaching Series, which won the 2012 Sloan-C Award for Excellence in Faculty Development for Online Learning.

Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Teachers February 21, 2015

Teachers: How to Use Google Drive

By Catlin Tucker

For teachers who are just getting started with Google, Google Drive can be intimidating! In preparation for a Google training, I’ve put together a short explanation of Google Drive and its basic features. Although an increasing number of people have a Gmail account, I run into teachers all the time who are not sure what Google Drive is or how it works.

Google Drive is like a big virtual bucket! It’s where everything you create with Google apps–documents, forms, sheets, slides, drawing–are stored. And unlike a traditional word processing document, you never need to click “Save”…EVER. Your work is automatically saved every 5 seconds (or so).

Google Drive comes with 15 GB of free storage, so you can save files, photos, and videos. You can access any file in your Google Drive from any device as long as you have internet access. This means you are no longer tethered to a piece of hardware. You can open, edit and share files from any device that can get online.

For those with unreliable internet access, you can also install Google Drive onto your devices and work offline. Then when you are back online, your devices will sync and store your work!

Here are some screenshots to help you navigate your Google Drive.

Organize your files in whatever order makes sense to you. You can limit your view to the files you’ve created, the files that have been shared with you or the files that have been most recently edited. This makes it easy to locate the files you’re looking for.

Click on a file or folder and check out the “More actions” icon (3 vertical dots) to manage your documents more easily.

Enjoy total transparency with the “View Details” icon (black circle with the letter “i” in the middle). Simply click on a file or folder and see all of the activity associated with it. You can see when documents were created, when they were edited, and who edited them!

Last, but not least, you can insert files, photos and videos directly from Google Drive into your emails.

If you use Google Drive and have tips to share, please post a comment!

This post originally appeared on Catlin Tucker: Blended Learning & Technology in the Classroom and was republished with permission.

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here.

6 Ways to Create a Culture of Learning

6 Ways Teachers can Foster Cultural Awareness in the Classroom

4 States that Want to Change How Much Teachers Are Paid