Perception of pre-service teachers in using Google Docs for lesson plan writing

Abstract

In the twenty-first century education is technology driven. The pre-service teachers are the future educators and lesson planning is an integral part of the curriculum of a pre-service teacher. Though at present everything is being digitalized and paperless, it has been seen that lesson plans are still being handwritten in the traditional way. This study aims at analysing the benefits of Google Docs in writing lesson plans. The sample for this study consisted of 60 pre-service teachers from two teacher training colleges in Goa, India. A 5—point Likert scale consisting of 15 items has been used to gauge the perception of pre-service teachers in using Google Docs. The data obtained has been analysed using SPSS 28. From the study it has been seen that a majority of the participants are in favour of using Google Docs for writing lesson plans.

1 Introduction

In the twenty-first century technology has become a part and parcel of our lives. The use of technology has been a driving force that has brought about changes in several fields, with the field of education being no exception (Yamin, 2019). We cannot deny the fact that education during the pandemic of covid—19 was largely driven by technology (Shivam, 2022). Technology is a powerful tool in education that helps teachers to harness learning (Raja & Nagasubramani, 2018, p. 33–35). There are various digital tools that aid in making the teaching learning process effective depending on the type of education and the students' needs.

In the modern era, technology has not only made things available at the click of a button but has helped build relationships by fostering communication and collaboration with various educational experts and has also helped to bridge the gap between students and teachers.

Using technology not only helps the teachers but is also a boon for the learners who will become technologically skilled for the future. With the onset of the internet, several digital tools, software and applications are used in different sectors. The use of google applications is undeniable, be it using google pay or google maps. We also have google communication tools like Gmail, google talk, google calendar. Besides this, google also has tools that help in increasing productivity. The use of tools like Google Docs, google slides, spreadsheets make work much easier and faster. Google Docs enables you to share your document with anyone you choose to. By doing so, multiple users can work and edit a document at the same time, irrespective of their location (Mansor, 2012; Zhou et al., 2012).

The scope of using technology in education is wide and is gradually being incorporated in the field of education. Various research studies have been conducted on the use of technology in education. Technology can be used at all levels of education. The B.Ed. course (Bachelor of Education) is an undergraduate degree program that prepares students to become aspiring teachers. The course requires the teacher trainees to give a number of lessons, for which writing a lesson plan is mandatory. A lesson plan is a draft of a lesson that is prepared by a teacher before teaching a lesson. It includes the main objectives, the materials needed and a clear procedure of what the students are going to learn and how it will be taught during the class time. The lesson plans are hand written on sheets and need to be approved by a mentor prior to every lesson. Writing a lesson is a tedious job and is very time consuming.

During the pandemic of covid 19, there were no physical classes and as a result some of the teacher trainees opted to use Google Docs to type lesson plans. This seemed to be the best option, since the document could be shared with the mentor and the mentor could suggest changes and the teacher trainees would make the necessary corrections. Google Docs also work best for writing collaborative lesson plans. This study attempts to find out if Google Docs can be used to make lesson plan writing more effective.

2 Review of literature

Sharma et al. (2011) examined the role of ICT in the process of teaching and learning. The study found out that the appropriate use of ICT can transform the whole teaching–learning process. ICT provides a learner centered and interactive approach and has the potential to transcend the barrier and space in education.

Kubilinskiene and Dagien (2010) identified and described the main parts of a lesson plan based on the metadata standard model and accordingly created a template for a technology-based lesson plan.

Karo and Petsangsri (2020) conducted a study on 26 computer education pre-service teachers of Thailand to evaluate the utility of cloud based online mentoring through a professional learning community. It was found to be effective in terms of usability, security and functionality.

Using a cloud-based platform for collaborative lesson planning need not be limited only to schools and offices for the purpose of teaching and research, on the contrary, people can work virtually from any locations. Besides convenience, it also helps to improve the quality of the work since the opportunities to collaborate increase (Shi Qi Liu, 2014).

Lin et al. (2016) conducted a quasi-experimental study in Physics to check the effectiveness of using Google Docs in collaborative concept map**. It was seen that Google Docs used along with Google Chat for discussions not only fostered the ease of representation of the concepts of Physics but also had a positive effect on the attitude of pupils towards science. It also made pupil better observers as compared to those to those who used paper -pencil method and face to face discussion to draw concept maps, as changes can be tracked by the real time co-editing feature and revision history.

Wahyuni (2018) used Google Docs to integrate six activities which were designed as per the revised Bloom's taxonomy and incorporated it in an English lesson plan. These activities were conducted to develop critical thinking in three phases; during the pre -teaching, teaching and post teaching phase. The activities were conducted by giving tasks that gradually increased in complexity. The observation asserts that there was an improvement in students' critical thinking in the English language.

Nabhan and Sa’diyah (2021) examined the use of Google Docs in collaboration writing in an EFL classroom at the high school level and found that it increased digital literacy, social skills, enthusiasm and writing skills amongst the students. Google Docs also helped to increase teacher to student and student to student interaction in collaborative learning of English Grammar in Palestine. Teachers could give written feedback and there was easy access to course material (Khalil, 2018).

Reyna (2012,) explored Google Docs as a tool for collaborative writing, as completing school and work schedules posed a problem for students of School of Education, Greater Western Sydney Region. The researcher found that Google Docs facilitate group assignments and sharing of information to students.

Ali (2021) investigated the integration of Google Docs in facilitating undergraduate students’ interactional collaboration. The study sought to evaluate their experience of using this platform in collaborative translation. The researcher found out that most of the participants felt confident and secure in using Google Docs and saw Google Docs in collaborative translation being user-friendly and flexible, while a few participants felt that the translation projects were time consuming and boring. Overall, using Google Docs in an online collaborative translation course was seen to be more effective than working individually or collaborating via discussion platforms in improving students’ translation quality.

From previous research studies it can be seen that appropriate use of technology can lead to effective learning. It has also been proved that the use of Google Docs allows students to work collaboratively on tasks as well as collaborative writing. However, no research has been conducted on using Google Docs as a platform for writing and correction of lesson plans. Hence this research has been undertaken.

2.1 Leverage of cloud – based word processor application to lesson plan writing

There are various cloud-based platforms. Google has been seen as one of the most commonly preferred platforms. Google Docs is a word processing application of Google which is free of cost giving the user the liberty to make optimum use of any of its features. Being a cloud-based platform, it eliminates the risk of losing data due to hardware malfunctioning. Data is automatically backed up on Google servers at 100% uptime. Users can access data at any point of time from any device provided there is good internet connectivity Brown and Hocutt (2015). Multiple users can collaborate on a given project, without having to be present physically in the same location. This makes it ideal for writing, submitting and discussing a lesson plan. The contribution of each user to the document can be tracked by using the version history and activity dashboard feature. An editor or Method Master can suggest changes to the document which can be viewed by the trainees in real time. Additionally, a cloud-based platform like Google Docs offers the users security, as Google Apps and the data associated with it are SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 Type II compliant with ISO 27001 certification.

3 Significance of the study

Google Docs helps to create and edit google documents and work collaboratively with several others at the same time. Lesson planning being an integral part of the B.Ed. program, requires teacher trainees to write lesson plans before executing a lesson. Pre-service teachers are currently hand writing their lesson plans which is tedious and time consuming. By using Google Docs one can type a lesson plan and edit it as and when required. Since changes are auto saved, the document does not have to be saved every time a change is made. Google Docs work best for ty** collaborative lesson plans as several teacher trainees can view, edit and work on a lesson plan together at the same time. Ty** a lesson plan is much faster than hand writing a lesson plan.

Since using Google Docs has numerous advantages, using Google Docs seems to offer an ideal platform that will greatly simplify the process of writing and correcting lesson plans.

4 Objectives

This study attempts to

• Analyse the preference of pre-service teachers in using Google Docs over handwritten lesson plans.

• Examine the perception of pre-service teachers in using Google Docs for writing collaborative lesson plans.

• Evaluate the advantages of using Google Docs as a tool for lesson plan writing

5 Methodology

5.1 Population

Goa is the smallest State in India. It has three teacher training institutes which offer the 2- year Bachelor in Education program. Every year, 300 hundred pre-service teachers graduate from these institutes most of which are females. The population of this study comprises of all the pre-service teacher trainees of Goa

5.2 Sample

The participants for this study were 60 pre-service teachers from two teacher education colleges in Goa, namely, Nirmala Institute of Education, Panjim, Goa and Goa Vidyaprasark Mandal’s Dr. Dada Vaidya College of Education, Ponda, Goa. These pre-service teachers belonged to different methods—English, Hindi, Konkani, History, Geography, Mathematics and Science, from both the first year and second year B.Ed. course.

The sample consisted of 90.5% females and 9.5% males. A majority of the participants i.e. 58.7% belonged to the age group of 24–26, 34.9% belonged to the age group of 21–23, 4.8% belong to the age group of 27–29, while 1.6% of the participants were above the age of 30. Out of the entire samples 63.5% of were postgraduates while 36.5% were graduates.

5.3 Tools of data collection

A google form was used to collect the data for this study. A 5- point likert scale in which the response categories were: Strongly agree (SA), Agree (A), Undecided (U), Disagree (D) and Strongly disagree (SD) was used to gauge the perception of pre-service teachers in using Google Docs in lesson plan writing. The instrument consisted of 15 statements given in Table 1. Besides these the instrument consisted of one open ended question where the participants had to mention if they prefer ty** a lesson plan using Google Docs or hand writing a lesson plan and provide three reasons for their choice.

Table 1 Tool to gauge the perception of pre-service teachers in using Google Docs in lesson plan writing

6 Analysis

The data collected for each of the items from the likert scale was converted into numeric values (Strongly Agree—5, Agree—4, Undecided—3, Disagree—2, Strongly Disagree -1) for the purpose of analyzing the data. The instrument was face validated by two experts from the field. For the purpose of checking the reliability of the tool the Cronbach’s alpha method was used. According to Taber (Taber, 2017) the reliability of an instrument is considered acceptable if Cronbach’s Alpha value is equal to 0.77. For this instrument the Cronbach’s value for 15 items was 0.774 as given in Table 2

Table 2 Cronbach’s Alpha value to measure reliability

The data was analysed using SPSS 28. The mean, mode, standard deviation and percentile of each item is given in Tables 18.

Table 3, shows that a total of 34 out of 60 (56.7%) participants strongly agree that it is easier to organise ideas in Google Docs while 23 (38.3%) agree, and three (5%) remain undecided about the same.

Table 3 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 1 (It is easier to organise ideas in Google docs)

Table 4, shows that 41 (68.3%) participants strongly agree, while 19 (31.7%) agree that one can create, edit and collaborate with other pre-service teachers/teacher educators in real time.

Table 4 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 2 (One can create, edit and collaborate with other pre-service teachers/teacher educator in real time)

From Table 5, we can see that 33 (55%) of the participants strongly agree, 24 (40%) agree while 3 (5%) remain undecided about the fact that the spell check feature in Google Docs aids in minimizing spelling and grammatical errors.

Table 5 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 3 (The spell check feature in google docs aids in minimizing spelling and grammatical errors)

Table 6, shows that a total of 33 (55%) participants strongly agree, 20 (33.3%) agree, six (10%,) remain undecided while one (1.7%) disagrees that Google Docs enables collaborative virtual interaction between pre-service teachers, pre-service teachers and the teacher educator and vice versa.

Table 6 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 4 (Google docs enables collaborative virtual interaction between pre-service teachers, pre-service teachers and the teacher educator and vice versa)

Table 7, shows that a total of 41(68.3%) strongly agree, 18 (30%) agree while one respondent (1.7%) remains undecided that the collaborator can directly edit the Google Docs or suggest changes based on their needs.

Table 7 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 5 (The collaborator can directly edit the Google Docs or suggest changes based on their needs)

From Table 8, we see that a total of 17(28.3%) strongly agree that 31 (51.7%) agree, 11 (18.3%) remain undecided while one participant (1.7%) disagrees that Google Docs aids in collaborative brainstorming.

Table 8 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 6 (Google Docs aids in collaborative brainstorming)

From Table 9, we see that a total of 31(51.7%) strongly agree, 27 (45%) agree, one (1.7%) remains undecided while one participant (1.7%) disagrees that Google docs makes visible the comments and suggested edits of each collaborator.

Table 9 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 7 (Google docs makes visible the comments and suggested edits of each collaborator)

Table 10, shows that a total of 26 (43.3%) strongly agree, 28 (46.7%) agree, 6 (10%) are undecided about the fact that a teacher educator can map the extent of each pre-service teacher involvement and interdependence based on version history feature (in case of team lessons).

Table 10 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 8 (Teacher educator can map the extent of involvement and interdependence of each pre-service teacher based on version history feature (in case of team lessons)

Table 11, shows that a total of 38 (63.3%) strongly agree, 21 (35%) agree, while one (1.7%) is undecided if Google Docs helps to save time as the collaborators do not need to meet physically and can collaborate in a virtual environment.

Table 11 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 9 (Google Docs helps to save time as the collaborators do not need to meet physically and can collaborate in a virtual environment)

From Table 12, we see that 19 (31.7%) disagree, 16 (27%) agree,13 (21.7%) remain undecided and nine (15%) strongly disagree and three (5%) strongly agree that it is difficult to use Google Docs on a smartphone.

Table 12 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 10 (It is difficult to use Google Docs on a smartphone)

From Table 13, we see that a total of 34 (56.7%) out of 60 participants agree, 16 (26.7%) strongly agree and 10 (16.7%) are undecided whether the chat feature allows real time communication for trainee-trainee or trainee – teacher and vice versa.

Table 13 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 11 (the chat feature allows real time communication for trainee-trainee or trainee – teacher and vice versa)

From Table 14, we see that a total of 36 (60%) participants strongly agree, 18 (30%) agree, four (6.7%) are undecided, while two (3.3%) participants disagree that using Google Docs makes lesson plan writing paperless.

Table 14 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 12 (Using Google Docs makes lesson plan writing paperless)

From Table 15, we see that a total of 41 (68.3%) participants strongly agree, while 19 (31.7%) agree that the document can be digitally stored, shared, retrieved and downloaded in several formats like MS Word, PDF.

Table 15 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 13 (The document can be digitally stored, shared, retrieved and downloaded in several formats)

Table 16, we see that a total of 29 (48.3%) participants strongly agree, 24 (40%) agree, five (8.3%) are undecided, while two (3.3%) participants disagree that one can insert drawing and charts in the lesson plan.

Table 16 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 14 (One can insert drawing and charts in the lesson plan)

From Table 17, we see that a total of 28 (46.7%) agree, 20 (33.3%) participants strongly agree, 11 (18.3%) are undecided, while one (1.7%) participant disagrees that the in-built dictionary supports finding the meaning of words and synonyms.

Table 17 Frequency and percentage of responses of items 15 (The in-built dictionary supports finding the meaning of words and synonyms)

7 Results and Discussion

Table 18, shows that the mean is highest for item number 2 and 13 (4.68) which means that out of 60 participants a majority have strongly agreed that one can create, edit and collaborate with other pre-service teachers/teacher educator in real time and also strongly agree that the document can be digitally stored, shared, retrieved and downloaded in several formats.

Table 18 Mean, mode and Std. deviation of item 1–15

The mean is the lowest (2.75) for item number 10 i.e. most disagree that it is difficult to use Google Docs on a smartphone.

Based on the Mode we can interpret that the participants have strongly agreed (SA) with most of the items with the exception of item nos. 6, 8,11 and 15, where the participants have agreed (A) to those statements. On the other hand item number 10 shows a mode of 2 which means that the majority of the participants disagreed with item number 10.

Table 19 and Table 20, shows the overall preference of the participants in ty** a lesson plan using Google Docs or handwriting a lesson plan. It has been observed that 55 participants, i.e. 91.7% prefer ty** a lesson plan using Google Docs while 5 participants, i.e. 8.3% prefer hand writing a lesson plan. From the table and the pie chart in Fig. 1, it can be concluded that a majority of participants prefer ty** a lesson plan using Google Docs.

Table 19 Mean, Mode, Std. deviation, Percentile, of overall method of preference of participants

Table 20 Frequency and Percentage of overall method of preference of participants

Fig. 1

Pie chart indicating overall method of preference of participants

Most participants preferred ty** their lesson plans in Google Docs as they felt it was easier to edit and rectify mistakes. Many liked the spelling and grammar check feature as it reduces errors. Most participants felt that ty** a lesson plan saves time, some also mentioned about the ‘speech to text’ feature to make the process faster. Quite a number of participants felt that it is easy to store and retrieve documents on Google Docs and there is no hassle of pages getting misplaced in terms of writing a lesson plan. A few of them liked the auto save feature of Docs. A majority of participants were of the opinion that Google Docs works best for writing a collaborative plan. Many participants felt that Google Docs also aids in conserving the environment since it is a paperless method.

On the other hand, only five participants out of 60, particularly those belonging to the Hindi and Konkani methodology preferred hand writing lesson plans as they found it difficult to type in Devanagari script. Some participants prefer hand writing lesson plans as they believe that it would improve their handwriting.

8 Final Thoughts

We are in the 3rd decade of the twenty-first century where almost everything is influenced by technology. Technology has helped in transforming education in many ways. Writing lesson plans is an integral part of the curriculum of pre-service teachers. Over the years lesson plans were strictly hand written. This study aimed at analysing the method preferred by teacher trainees to write lesson plans. It has been seen that most of the pre-service teachers are in favour of ty** lesson plans using Google Docs rather than following the traditional method of hand writing the plans. The main reasons behind this were that it saves time and editing a plan becomes much easier. Many pre-service teachers also felt that this method works well when there is a need to collaborate with others. It is also a good way to conserve the environment since there is no use of paper. Using Google Docs can be an effective alternative for the future teacher trainees to write their lesson plans.

9 Future work

In this study we have explored the collaborative feature of Google Docs and its advantage of being a cloud-based platform. Further study can be carried out by making use of the app, ‘Script Feature’ of Google Docs, so as to program the document as per the users need. An extension can also be added to check for plagiarism. This will ensure that the work done is authentic and original. Since internet connectivity is sometimes an issue, the offline mode of Google Docs can be explored.