The Power of Collaboration

Back in the winter I came across a tweet from Google About a month ago, I received an email from Google confirming that Delphi Community High School was going to be able to participate in its #LoveWhereYouLive Expeditions Beta program. I was ecstatic! I was super pumped to get to use one of Google's tools to create something exciting and unique. But it wasn't just for me...it was for the kids at my school as well. It is for the kids that are tired of worksheets and book work. It was for students in classes that don't get to "create" something authentic for a global audience. It was for the kids and families in the Delphi community.

When I originally submitted my application for the Expeditions Beta program back in the winter, I focused on the 10 miles of beautiful trails that surround the Delphi community. If you have paid any attention to the news over the past year, the trail system has received plenty of media surrounding the passing of two of Delphi's angels, Abby and Libby. Since that time, there has been a large support for improving the safety and security on the trails. One of the immediate upgrades will be improved lighting and cameras along the trails. These upgrades and improvements will be wonderful for the trails and for the community. But what will we do for those that cannot travel to view the 60-foot Monon High Bridge? What will we do for those that are physically unable to get out and walk along the trails on a sunny afternoon and feel the calm breeze and listen to the birds speak? How about the folks that have never seen the beauty of Sunset Point on a late summer's night? What will we do? Well, we will build a virtual tour for those people. In fact, we will build virtual tours of various places around Delphi and Carroll County!

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This is where the power of collaboration will come in. I knew I could do this project on my own, but where would the fun be in that? So I enlisted the help of Laurie Kinzie and her Interactive Media 2 & 3 class. We have started to list different areas around Delphi and within Carroll County. (We don't want to limit ourselves with just the trails system. We want people to come to Delphi for the other amenities this little town offers.) The students have also started researching these different sites for their Expedition. This research is necessary as we will need to include beginner, intermediate, and advanced questions within each Expedition. This part is not as much fun. But since we are a G Suite for Education school, the group collaboration has become much easier with the use of shared Google Docs. Each group must share with myself and Mrs. Kinzie as well. It's always important to have a "fact checker".
So in conclusion for this post, we need to remember that collaboration is one of the 4 C's of education. Collaboration is key, and collaboration is power. Sure, I could have been selfish and kept the Google Expeditions Beta to myself and hogged all the glory. But where is the fun in that? And how is that helping my kids? Giving the kids the power to collaborate is going to give them the power to do our next couple of "C"s.
Never fear kids, we are almost to that next step--the "Creation" step!