Technology is providing greater access to education, collaboration opportunities and an incredible amount of information at our fingertips. Take a look at Google Docs, Google Drive and Gmail – these three Google systems allow millions of internet users to communicate, collaborate, and store electronic information.
Today, Google linked these applications together through its own Learning Management System (LMS) for not only educators, but for companies as well. Global companies are utilizing LMS systems to leverage classroom-focused technology in order to advance training goals, end-user onboarding, and other initiatives. LMSs, such as Google Classroom, allow trainers to streamline the administration, documentation and evaluation of eLearning courses.
Google Classroom was first announced in May 2014 and the results are in – students and teachers love it. Here are the top reasons why this eLearning system is stealing the show for classrooms for students and employees alike:
1. GOOGLE CLASSROOM CATERS TO DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES
Google Classroom allows trainees to send private comments to trainers with creative suggestions on alternative submission styles. For example, trainees can submit video assignments rather than written assignments. This diversity of options works with assignment distribution as well. Google Classroom allows the trainer to submit assignment directions via video, written description, or both. For global companies, this flexibility can be a major asset, as different cultures have distinct learning styles.
2. ENCOURAGING FEEDBACK
Google Classroom allows trainees and trainers to have conversations before, during and after assignment submission. This is done through Google’s automatic “viewing” and “editing” features. Trainees are given the “editing” status prior to due dates. After the due date, the status automatically changes to “viewing” which allows trainees to continue to access assignments, but they can no longer make changes.
This allows trainees to see trainer feedback. After the trainer grades the document, the setting is switched back to “editing” and trainees can continue to make changes based on the feedback. This system helps encourage communication between trainees and trainers.
3. ARCHIVING ACHIEVEMENTS
The biggest difference between Google Classroom and other LMSs is that other services will delete old data rather than archiving past achievements for future review. Google Classroom’s files and folders are all collected within Google Drive (a Google file service that allows users to store, share, and collaborate files in the cloud) when trainers add a “classroom” folder to Drive.
A sub-folder is created for each classroom that a trainee joins. With this, trainees aren’t limited on the length of time that they can review old assignments, presentations, or information. That means that if they begin training again after a long break or enter a new training program and have forgotten previous information, they can always look back on what information has already been presented to them.
4. SAVING CLASSROOM TIME
Rather than spending time discussing broad overviews of performance on the assignment, trainees can utilize Google Classroom to review their own personalized feedback online. Teachers have been utilizing this tool to also share the most outstanding submissions as examples with the click of a button.
5. CAPTURING “THOUGHT PROCESSES”
An eternal struggle of teaching or training is capturing and catering to the student’s or trainee’s thought process. One way that trainees can animate their thought processes is by creating a YouTube video with a voice over. They can also demonstrate thought processes through written submissions, utilizing SnagIt, a screenshot program that simultaneously “snags” video display and audio output for sharing. Both of these options can be downloaded into Google Drive and attached
6. CROWDSOURCING AND COLLABORATING ON RESEARCH
Google Classroom allows trainees to collaborate ideas or research findings within one document to be utilized by the entire classroom or company. This is monitored by the trainer and holds trainees accountable for conducting quality research and working as a team. This also encourages perseverance of problem-solving, as trainees can point out suggestions or problems that they encounter.
7. CO-TRAINER COLLABORATION
Google Classroom’s collaboration doesn’t stop with trainee collaboration. Trainers are able to collaborate with each other by observing other classrooms as “co-trainers” to work together on drafting assignments across classrooms.
8. IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK
The interactive aspects of online learning allow trainees to receive immediate feedback on assignments. For example, Playsheets is a game-like interactive worksheet within Google Classroom that provides immediate feedback for trainees. Trainees can be confident in their work, as Google Classroom will flag errors for trainees.
TRANSLATING ELEARNING CURRICULUM
The bottom-line benefit of Google’s new eLearning expansion is the ease of collaboration and communication between users. Whether it’s student-to-student, teacher-to-student, or trainee-to-trainer communication, Google Classroom makes it possible through a remote classroom – an essential value for companies implementing online training programs across borders.
In our increasingly globalized world, there’s an incredible demand for bilingual content within business. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that the audiences reached through eLearning certainly will not, and should not, be monolingual. Multilingual eLearning tools allow organizations to become more diverse, consolidate training on an international level, and distribute content electronically.
Ensuring accurate translations is absolutely critical, especially when translating the content of educational technology. Machine translations often fail to capture the context that translations are taken from – something that human translators are capable of interpreting. That’s where your localization partner comes into play. Partnership with a language service provider can help eLearning services achieve globally competitive results in the marketplace.
