Day 9 of Google 2018: Jamboard

Today happens to be about Jamboard. Jamboard is officially considered an application of G-Suite now and can be found in the ‘waffle’ icon. What is Jamboard you ask? Great question! Jamboard is a tool that allows students the ability to collaboratively work together to:

• Mind map and brainstorm ideas
• Determine workflow and guidelines for managing projects 
• Collaboratively take notes
• Draw
• Walk through design thinking tasks and challenges
• Character analysis of novels

The possibilities are endless.

How is Jamboard different from other G-Suite products?

• You are given a ‘whiteboard space’ to put items on
• No limits in terms of where to place items
• ‘Freer’ drawing tool
• Stickies are a highlighted feature to help get thoughts across
• Ability to pull in Google documents into the space
• Word prediction and drawing prediction capability

Below is a quick example of a Jam where students collaboratively manage their progress and time through a project. Very simple example but hopefully will help give a quick idea. You and your students can definitely take this to the next level.

Two Jamboards?

We are extremely fortunate that our school received a grant for two Jamboards that can be used in classes to help further enhance the experience of collaboratively working through digital tasks/designs/ideas. The physical Jamboards do not need to be in the classroom in order to use the product though, as Jamboard has a web and app version. To get started with the web version, go to jamboard.google.com to create your first Jam. You can also find the Jamboard icon in the ‘waffle’ as well. You will also be able to find your previous Jams in your Google Drive.

Jamboard works similarly to other G-Suite products. You are able to share your Jam with others in your school domain to collaboratively work together. I am really excited about the possibilities with Jamboard. If you are interested in stepping into this new adventure, let me know as I am looking for guinea pigs!

And that is my Spiel…