Aside from teaching, I am also an event planner. Due to the volunteer nature of most of the events I have assisted with managing, the coordinators have all worked separately at a distance and come together physically only for the actual event. In order for collaboration and understanding to occur from all sides, we have to use a web-based program for sharing files...etc. Zoho has been just that miracle we need to keep communication, organization, and accountability high to produce together what we could not do efficiently and quickly alone. Corporately and in distance learning, Zoho has become a familiar name. However, in the rheum of standard K12 public education, it is still quite unknown and unused.
Zoho provides the tools that could transform students' learning experience, while greatly lightening the teacher's workload! Two elements that we all strive for as educators!
"Zoho’s Office Suite offers a virtual powerhouse of tools for business people, students, and casual users. With solutions for projects, invoicing, forms, and so much more, Zoho is truly a dynamic resource." (Career Overview, 2008)
From composing a word document to creating a slideshow presentation, Zoho has a program for just about any kind of created visual aid you could use in the classroom as well as that your students could create to show their mastery of the content. Testing is even made simpler and faster though Zoho. Now teachers can upload and create assessments, conduct them, and then the application will even grade them! Groups within Zoho's applications can be created by anyone and also kept closed and secured between users. Zoho allows for student learning, surveying, peer collaboration, and even IM-style communication to occur. Several people can edit and collaboratively create one document!
A few lesson ideas I have thought of are: for the class to create 1 poem or narrative story together by each composing a few lines at a time; create informative visual-aid slideshow for a class presentation; and for all group assignments to be completed through Zoho so that I can monitor and assist as needed while allowing students be in charge of their learning. One of the biggest problems I face in group work is that all too often students are absent from class or one student takes the assignement home and leaves it there-- ultimately the whole group suffers. If Zoho is used, then the students can access it from school or home and the product is never in the hands of irresponsibility or unforeseen circumstances. Overall the possibilities of uses for Zoho in the classroom are endless! I close this post with some of those possiblities... and a play on what students Can do when given the resource of Zoho.
Students Can:
- conduct the required surveying polls for middle school math and language arts.
- collaborate together to build wikis, slideshows, data collection....etc.
- create a pletura of products to prove their understanding of content
- communicate with each other and their teacher
- coordinate schedules and tasks to break up work loads
- compose letters, documents, stories...etc.
- critique each other's work and hold each other accountable
- comprehend a world larger and broader than that that lies within the walls of the classroom
- conduct group meetings online
- catch up on work even if they are not able to be at the school
- can achieve their goals together
- can be better prepared for life and careers of the future
- can feel success, accomplishment, and pride in their products
- can have fun at school!
References
Career Overview. (2008, October 9).
The ultimate guide to Zoho: 100 tips and resources to better use the web office alternative. Retrieved from http://www.careeroverview.com/blog/2008/the-ultimate-guide-to-zoho-100-tips-and-resources-to-better-use-the-web-office-alternative/
Judith. (2006).
Using web-based office applications for group activities. Retrieved from http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:JK_yXfxE6I8J:tlt.suny.edu/Slides06/JudithGTLT06Zohowriter.pdf+using+web-based+office+applications+for+group+activites&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Zoho Corp. (2009). http://www.zoho.com/
