As educators, we're always looking for new tools to use. Whether we are looking for new tools to use in our personal lives, our professional lives, or with our students, I feel we always have our eyes and ears open to something new. Last week, I saw a tweet refer to Google Forms. Maybe it's not even called Google Forms - maybe it's the Forms section of Google Docs. For now, I'm calling it Google Forms. I had heard a little about this and thought I'd take a peek at it. After discussing it a little on Twitter, I figured out I could make up a quick survey for my staff and let Google take care of the rest. Even though Google didn't accept me to the Google Teacher Academy coming up in Chicago, I wasn't going to hold a grudge. I like a lot of Google products and I use many of them on a daily basis. I wondered what I'd think of this new tool. What I didn't realize right away, was that it was part of Google Docs. I thought it was a separate program, like mail and calendar. Once I figured that out, I went to work creating a technology survey for my staff.

I'm planning on holding after school technology learning sessions for the staff in my building on a monthly basis, roughly. I thought I could use the survey as a way to find out what my staff knew, what hindered them from doing more with technology, and what they might want to learn. After getting some help with ideas for questions from several people in my PLN, I came up with a brief survey and created it using this new tool. Once I had the survey they way I wanted it, I sent it to myself to see how it would look and how the results would be tallied. Wow, was I impressed. With the exception of a few snags in formatting and rearranging questions, I really liked what I saw. I proceeded to send the link out to our staff and wait for the answers to roll in.

I had no idea how or if I would be notified when people completed the survey, which disappointed me a little bit. I had to check the document to see the responses. Perhaps there's a setting where a notification can be sent, but then again, if you're sending a survey out to a lot of people, do you really want an email every time a person completes it? That might drive someone a little crazy! Anyway, as I was checking responses, I noticed how easily the information was displayed and how it could be sorted. This was pretty impressive. I'd use this again anytime I needed a survey. I'm sure there are people out there who have more experience with this than me, but after my first attempt, I'm really pleased. If you have any insight to share about Google Forms, please leave a comment.

I do want to share some of the information I've gained from my little survey. I did make a mistake when creating the survey and didn't realize it until it was too late - I forgot to have people put their names on. Now, maybe people will be more honest on an anonymous survey, but I guess I wanted to put data with bodies so I could tailor the classes more appropriately. Oh well. As of this post, 15 people have taken the survey. This number is a little disappointing because it's less than 50% of our staff. The survey took about 2 minutes to complete, but I'll make another push in the next few days to see if more people will respond. Of the 15 people who responded, only 4 have heard of the term "Web 2.0" - this surprised me, even though it probably shouldn't. When I listed a few Web 2.0 tools, the one that most have heard of and some even used, was YouTube. Others that people were aware of were blogging and FaceBook. No one mentioned Twitter or Plurk. All but one showed interest in attending the sessions, which I'm sure depends on the topic, but the initial interest is very encouraging. There was a wide variety of things people were looking to learn - from creating spreadsheet in Excel and newsletter in Word to learning about SmartBoards (we have none) to digtial video production. We'll have our hands full, but I think it's going to be a blast. I think my first session, which will probably take place the week after next, will be delicious! (and I'm not talking about the snacks I'll be providing!)

I sent out an email to the teacher who sent her kids down stating "Let's touch base before kids are sent to the lab in search of information. I would really like to know when kids are coming to the lab unsupervised. The past several times kids have come down, they've wasted a ton of time because they don't know that they're looking for and they are using Google, which shouldn't be the first website of choice. When searching for pictures using Google, they are coming across many pictures that are inappropriate/useless for what they need. Let's try and find sites for them ahead of time or at least me know so I can have them using the proper search tools."

Later that day more of her kids came down and one came over to me while I was working on some stuff and said they were going to be in the lab working on Civil War stuff. I asked what they were going to be looking for and he said pictures and information.

Obviously, my email wasn't clear enough for this teacher. Maybe I just need to come right out and say "NO KIDS SHOULD BE IN THE LAB UNLESS A TEACHER IS PRESENT!

Don't even get me started on printing issues - with this class or any other.

I'm completely loosing my mind with some of my teachers and students. We have had discussions over and over about Google. At my department meetings where all the district librarians get together, we have discussed various search tools students should be using. We have several online subscriptions that our district subscribes to. We have links on our school website to these and others student-friendly search tools that are good for students. When our discussion turns to Google, we have decided that this is not a search engine our elementary students should be using, maybe as a last resort, but not right away. Our main thinking for this is due to the fact that searches will bring back way too many hits and that the sites are not filtered to eliminate ones that are not appropriate for students.

Here's the story:

Students were being sent to the computer lab, unsupervised, to search for information on a particular topic.
PROBLEM -Unsupervised? WTF? This is not the model class of our school and these kids have no idea how to conduct an effective internet search.

Today, there were kids who came to the lab this morning looking for Civil War information. They said they needed pictures and information because they were studying it. The first thing they did is head straight to Google (only 128,000,000 hits show up).
PROBLEM -It's nice that the teacher gave them direction for the assignment.

I'm really frustrated for a number of reasons. The first is the fact that the kids are sent unsupervised, without my knowledge that they are even going to be in the lab. If I at least knew they were coming, I wouldn't be so pissed off about it, but I found out because I walked into the lab, which is connected to my library, with another class and found three fifth graders there. Another reason I'm frustrated is because they head straight to Google! Now, I'm not a Google-hater, it is a very good resource and I use it a ton. However, this isn't where kids should start. I'm at a point where I think I have a couple of options, but I'm not sure where to start.

Options:
1. Not allow students in the lab without a teacher. (We have this rule, but it needs to be strictly enforced.)
2. Remove kids from the computer and lab when I see them using Google.
3. Continue to pound into their heads the other resources they should be using.
4. Continue to pound into the teacher's heads #1 and #3.
5. Have the district block Google for elementary students.

I really know what the answers, but if you have any other options for me, I'd love to hear them.

On the other hand, because we know Google is a good resource, is it really that bad if they use it as their first stop on the information superhighway? Odds are, many of us head their first as well, so why shouldn't they? Should they learn the skill of evaluating good and bad links and pictures at the elementary age or is this something that should take place when they're a little older?