Experience 4: Google Doc – Best AODs and What Made Them So

Many platforms allow students to collaborate on a document (e.g., Google Docs or Slides, or Microsoft Office 360) or to annotate them (Hypothesis and Perusall). Here we will use a Google Doc, one of the simplest text-based document to set up. We can use a Google Doc as a collaborative tool (which is what we will do in this activity) or we could use the Google Doc as an annotation tool (where a participant shares a document and others annotate it by adding comments). One of the reasons I chose a Google Doc for this discussion is because I suspect some of you will want to keep a record of these posts after the course, and it is easy to download a copy of the Google Doc we will create (it isn't as easy to download the AOD in a LMS's discusion forum).

The Task

Consider your best experience of an online discussion. This can be either as a learner or as an educator. Your task will be to provide a brief description of this AOD (its context, audience, and the prompt) and explain why you think that it was an effective or engaging discussion.

You will also peruse the response of peers, learning about some examples of excellent discussions. Then, select one and consider how you might adapt it for your context. Would you modify the prompt to suit your discipline? Would you do something differently (perhaps host the discussion on a different platform or tweak it so that participants respond in pictures rather than word?)

The Post

To participate in this discussion, follow these steps. A short video follows to show you how to do these steps.

1. SITE. Go to the website: INSERT YOUR GOOGLE DOC LINK. You can view and example: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19CsEeF8bECyXngIQb6gA_G5TLa18qUwGbDXN3fkGwIw/edit 
2. READ the instructions at the top.
3. POST. When you are ready to add your original post.
   1. Go to the bottom of the page (at the end of the existing posts)
   2. Add your name (first name is sufficient)
   3. Add a bullet point using the Bullet Point format in the menu above
   4. For the first bullet point, provide a description of an AOD that you experienced that was particularly effective and/or engaging.
   5. For the second bullet point, explain why you think it was an effective and/or engaging AOD. What made it so?
4. READ three of your colleagues' contributions.
5. ADD a bullet point to at least one of your colleagues' posts, where you consider how you might modify the discussion to fit in your teaching context. You might propose a prompt that applies to your discipline. Or perhaps you would change the medium and or platform for the submissions. Or perhaps you might try the AOD in smaller groups rather than the whole class. Describe any way in which you might modify the AOD to fit your context.
6. REVISIT. Depending on when you post on this document, there will likely be new posts after yours. Consider revising this document later in the week to view others' posts and to see how people propose to modify the activity you described to suit their context. Maybe one of them will inspire your own course!

Here is a video showing you how to make this post.