A big part of my job is to be familiar with virtual environments offered to the teachers I work with. In our board, we currently have two: D2L and Office365.
Many places use Chromebooks and the world of Google Apps is certainly popular with educators! But "Google Apps" is something different from a complete "Google Apps For Education" account. For example, you could use Google Docs and never use a GAFE account.
There is an ever-growing list of apps for just about every educational purpose: apps for collecting student work.. apps for presenting concepts... apps for students.. apps for teachers. If you can think of an educational use, there's an "app for that". D2L, Office365, GAFE, and many others are platforms that bunch apps together as a package.
Many places use Chromebooks and the world of Google Apps is certainly popular with educators! But "Google Apps" is something different from a complete "Google Apps For Education" account. For example, you could use Google Docs and never use a GAFE account.
There is an ever-growing list of apps for just about every educational purpose: apps for collecting student work.. apps for presenting concepts... apps for students.. apps for teachers. If you can think of an educational use, there's an "app for that". D2L, Office365, GAFE, and many others are platforms that bunch apps together as a package.
This variety is excellent. Personally, I believe that the more choices given to teachers, the less support needed. At my home, we have four kids, and for dinner we serve one main course. Some eat it, others don't want to, and all have some comment.. usually negative. But when we take them to the Mandarin, they eat with excitement and no need for your help dad thanks.
School Boards and Districts can't possibly pay and offer too many choices, though, so they usually settle on one or two.
At work, I am running into a curious thing: teachers adamantly trying to convince me that <insert name of platform> is way better than <the other one>.
The funny part is that most of these comments come from very limited use.
Some have used Google Docs and correctly state that it's easy and effective. However, Google Docs (or any of their stand-alone apps) is not GAFE; GAFE is a full-fledged environment that you (or your school board) pays for. It comes complete with Admin features and tools needed to run classes--and not all of these are intuitive to the casual user. You still end up with 2 email addresses. To try GAFE, you have to pretend to be a school or board and good luck figuring out how to "confirm your domain".
I did just this and set up a 30-day free trial of GAFE.
SCREENSHOTS of MY GAFE PAGES
If a teacher spends enough time learning a particular platform, it then becomes the "better one"--certainly easier than learning another.
What, then, are the real differences between all these platforms?
First, the similarities: any "platform" is a system of packaged functions. Some of these functions can be found separately all over the internet: creation apps like word processors, organization tools that make it easy to assign and collect student work, and blogging sites such as Weebly. The "platform" puts them all into a bundle.
Just don't think this makes it easy! Sure, there is only one login required, but from my experience, navigating these platforms isn't as intuitive as it should be. Office365 is perhaps the most difficult. Overall, as long as you can remember your login, it's usually easier (and faster) to access a stand-alone app.
If your school board is using a platform, there can be advantages such as automatic student enrolment, contact lists, etc.. D2L is a popular platform for boards to offer online courses through.
School Boards and Districts can't possibly pay and offer too many choices, though, so they usually settle on one or two.
At work, I am running into a curious thing: teachers adamantly trying to convince me that <insert name of platform> is way better than <the other one>.
The funny part is that most of these comments come from very limited use.
Some have used Google Docs and correctly state that it's easy and effective. However, Google Docs (or any of their stand-alone apps) is not GAFE; GAFE is a full-fledged environment that you (or your school board) pays for. It comes complete with Admin features and tools needed to run classes--and not all of these are intuitive to the casual user. You still end up with 2 email addresses. To try GAFE, you have to pretend to be a school or board and good luck figuring out how to "confirm your domain".
I did just this and set up a 30-day free trial of GAFE.
SCREENSHOTS of MY GAFE PAGES
If a teacher spends enough time learning a particular platform, it then becomes the "better one"--certainly easier than learning another.
What, then, are the real differences between all these platforms?
First, the similarities: any "platform" is a system of packaged functions. Some of these functions can be found separately all over the internet: creation apps like word processors, organization tools that make it easy to assign and collect student work, and blogging sites such as Weebly. The "platform" puts them all into a bundle.
Just don't think this makes it easy! Sure, there is only one login required, but from my experience, navigating these platforms isn't as intuitive as it should be. Office365 is perhaps the most difficult. Overall, as long as you can remember your login, it's usually easier (and faster) to access a stand-alone app.
If your school board is using a platform, there can be advantages such as automatic student enrolment, contact lists, etc.. D2L is a popular platform for boards to offer online courses through.
It would seem a great thing for teachers to use all kinds of different tools, just as it's better for students to read all kinds of different poetry, not just Haiku.
But, many stand-alone apps rely on the selling of information and may have other problematic issues in their terms and conditions. Teachers hardly have the time to read through those! Using a platform or app supported by your school board keeps everyone safe. But what if your employer offers more than one choice?
The differences between platforms start with how it looks and the GUI or how to navigate it. D2L feels more like you're inside a room or building while others have the feeling you're linking out all over the place to different locations. Your preference may vary... and it's sure not to be the same as your hallway neighbour.
Google's language is by far the best for teachers: they are called Classrooms, not SharePoints, lessons instead of Modules. And I'd suggest that it's easier to get started with GAFE than most. MS Office is still a dominant force in the workplace, making it useful for students to become familiar as they seek work.
D2L is used by many post-secondary schools and that's a good reason to use it in high school. In my opinion, it is excellent at basic organization functions such as classlists and assignment dropboxes. Many school boards use D2L for eLearning and blended learning platforms, making its use practically mandatory.
In our area, a combination of D2L as a basic class management tool and Office365 or web-apps as extra tools works well for many teachers.
Just like the worksheets and textbooks you've handed out over the years, students are stuck with your choices. Oh, well. Unless they're going to be the company's UI designer, it's not like they will have much say in their workplace web tools either. If they feel it's important to do so, they'll survive and adapt. After all, they figured out Twitter and Instagram pretty quick.
Digital literacy is a part of all our courses, just like reading skills are needed in math and science. The best platform is the one you're using.
Easy and Effective @tech_ambassador
In our area, a combination of D2L as a basic class management tool and Office365 or web-apps as extra tools works well for many teachers.
Just like the worksheets and textbooks you've handed out over the years, students are stuck with your choices. Oh, well. Unless they're going to be the company's UI designer, it's not like they will have much say in their workplace web tools either. If they feel it's important to do so, they'll survive and adapt. After all, they figured out Twitter and Instagram pretty quick.
Digital literacy is a part of all our courses, just like reading skills are needed in math and science. The best platform is the one you're using.
Easy and Effective @tech_ambassador