Five Simple Discussion Tools in your Google Toolbox

One of the great things about information technology is how it can help expand understanding through the use of different tools for discussion. No longer does the conversation have to be limited by time (the bell) or place (your class's four walls). These tools give people more time to think deeply about something in order to generate a thoughtful idea or response, allow the more quiet students a chance to have their ideas heard, and can enlarge the pool of participants (e.g. all four of your classes can have one discussion vs. each class having a separate one).

Image source: Wikimedia CC BY

Below are five ideas/tools to help with discussions.

1) Google Moderator  A nice little tool from Google. View a video on how you can use it in class here. An example of Moderator being used in real life here. (Click on View Questions to see items.)

2) Comment on YouTube Videos Without Having to Use YouTube Comments You can insert a YouTube video into a Google Presentation. Share the Presentation with students, giving them comment privileges. Now students can comment on the video using Presentation's comment feature without having to sift through the sludge that is YouTube comments. Participants can also respond to each other using comment threads.

3) Blog Posts If you are using Blogger, students can easily comment on posts using the commenting tool available at the bottom of each post. Comments can be moderated by teacher before they go public.

4) Commenting on Images from Drive You can comment on images you're uploaded to Google Drive. These can be images found online, photos you've taken, scans of artwork... which you've  uploaded to your Google Drive. Share the image with students giving them comment privileges. This commenting method allows you to comment or discuss a particular part of the image. Here's an older blog post of how this can be done.

5) Comment on Images Using PicasaWeb. You can have participants comment on images using the comment box at the bottom of each image in a PicasaWeb album.