Active Learning In Virtual Environment/Collaborative note taking

Activity: #in-class/short-term, #group-work

Outline
Students are encouraged to work collaboratively during the lesson or lecture. The activity can be arranged in small groups of up to 5 people. Each student is given a category on which he has to fill in the notes during the class. The simplest way to arrange this assignment would be through Google Docs. Throughout the class students fill in their list of notes which they can later compare with the whole class. Additionally, it brings an opportunity for a student to add some piece of information he overlooked. What is more, the notes added from students contain their own perspective which may differ from their peers. Summing up, collaborative note taking carries the beneficial purpose of exchanging knowledge, comparing and learning at the same time.



Activity arrangement

 * create a Google Docs and add a table to give visual organization
 * each column needs to be assigned for a different category
 * you can divide students into groups or held this activity with the entire class
 * assign one student to a certain category
 * if the activity is held in entire class, students will take turns as official note-takers

Pointers

 * collaborative work
 * opinion exchange
 * ability to be held in a group of any size
 * students feel less overwhelmed as they need to focus on only one category

How to use this method in online class?
As was already mentioned numerous times, the activity can be held through Google Docs which a teacher shares with students. A simple table can be created there in order to organise categories.