Small Group & Station Work: Dynamic Management with Merlyn

Elevate Collaborative Learning: Focused & Supported Groups

Small group work and learning stations are powerful tools for engagement and differentiation. However, effectively managing multiple groups simultaneously can be challenging. How do you keep every group on task, provide timely support, and ensure smooth transitions without being tethered to your main computer or interrupting the flow?

Merlyn empowers you to orchestrate dynamic group activities with unprecedented mobility and precision. From setting multiple timers to seamlessly pushing resources, Merlyn ensures you can support every student, wherever they are in the classroom.

Keep Groups on Track: Multiple Timers for Each Station

When different groups are working on varied tasks or rotating through stations, precise time management is essential. Merlyn's Timer tool allows you to set and display multiple timers, providing clear visual cues for each group's progression.

How it helps:

• Structured Work: Ensures groups stay on schedule and complete tasks within allocated timeframes.
• Student Accountability: Promotes self-management as students monitor their own time.
• Seamless Transitions: Signals when it's time to rotate or move to the next phase.

Example Use:

Your class is rotating through three learning stations, each requiring a specific time limit. You can say:

"Start a 10-minute timer."

"Start an 8-minute timer."

"Start a 12-minute timer."

Merlyn displays multiple timers on the main screen. You can use your Airmouse to move and arrange these timers across the screen, allowing all students to see their group's remaining time.

Facilitating Interactive Group Work: Student Sessions

To provide clear, individualized instructions for each group and gather their questions or results in real-time, Merlyn's Student Sessions offer powerful interactive tools like Transcription and Brainstorm Board.

How it helps:

• Clear Instructions: Ensure every group receives and understands their specific task instructions through transcription.
• Real-time Communication: Allow students to post questions or results directly, fostering immediate feedback loops.
• Focused Interaction: Manage communication and data collection for multiple groups simultaneously.

Example Use:

At the beginning of your group work, you want to provide specific instructions for each station and collect questions.

You say:

"Start a session."

After students join the session from their devices, you can provide instructions for each station or group. For example, for Station 1, you give verbal instructions, and Merlyn's Transcription feature displays them on the main screen for all to see. 

To start and stop transcription, hold down the Chat button while a session is active. With the Transcription tool active, hold down the Push-to-Talk button and speak your instructions into the remote. The transcription will appear in your active student session.

Then, for each station or group, you can create a Brainstorm Board:

"Open a brainstorm board for Station 1."

Students can then post questions or results from their actions directly to their group's designated board, allowing you to monitor progress and address needs efficiently.

Share Resources Directly: LMS Integration

Sometimes a group needs to delve deeper into content on their own devices without displaying it to the entire class. Merlyn's LMS integration allows you to share digital resources directly to your learning management system, including content found on your Google Drive.

How it helps:

• Individualized Access: Students can open and explore content on their personal devices.
• Reduced Distraction: Avoid displaying content to the whole class when only a subset needs it.
• Efficient Distribution: Quickly find and share relevant presentations, documents, or links with a voice command.

Example Use:

You're helping a small group with a problem and realise they need to review a presentation from a previous day. You want them to access it on their own devices.

You can say:

"Search Google Drive for my presentation about the water cycle." Merlyn searches your Google Drive and displays the presentation.

Then, you can say:

"Share this with my Google Classroom." or “Share this with my Canvas class page”

Merlyn sends the currently displayed presentation (or a link to it) directly to your Google Classroom, allowing the students to find the answer on their own devices without having the content displayed to everyone.

Your Group Work Advantage with Merlyn

By integrating Merlyn into your small group and station work, you gain:

• Efficient Management: Keep multiple groups on track with clear time cues.
• Empowered Mobility: Provide individualized support and intervention from anywhere in the room.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Foster independent learning while providing accessible, on-demand resources.

Ready to transform your group work into a highly productive and engaging experience? Explore Merlyn's Timer, Student Sessions, and LMS integrations today!

ISTE Standard Alignment:

• 2.4: Collaborator
  • 2.4.b: Learn Alongside Students
    • How Merlyn Aligns: When a teacher uses Merlyn's Airmouse and Voice Commands to quickly search and display a resource (e.g., a presentation from Google Drive) on the main screen to troubleshoot a problem a group is facing, they are actively engaging in co-learning. The ability to navigate this content with the D-Pad and highlight with the Airmouse from proximity further emphasizes this real-time, shared problem-solving and discovery of digital resources.
    • Why it Matters: This standard emphasizes teachers and students learning together. Merlyn empowers the teacher to become a dynamic co-learner and problem-solver right alongside their students during collaborative activities.
  • 2.4.c: Use Collaborative Tools
    • How Merlyn Aligns: Merlyn's seamless control over the classroom display and its LMS Integration (e.g., sharing to Google Classroom) allows the teacher to effectively facilitate student use of collaborative platforms and efficiently distribute resources for group work. By sharing content directly to the LMS, students can access it on their own devices, supporting their collaborative work within project teams.
    • Why it Matters: This standard highlights the use of collaborative tools. Merlyn ensures the teacher can fluidly interact with and guide students' work on shared digital platforms, enhancing the overall collaborative learning experience and efficient resource sharing.
• 2.5: Designer
  • 2.5.a: Accommodate Learner Differences
    • How Merlyn Aligns: The ability to set multiple timers and dynamically move them around the screen with the Airmouse directly accommodates varied pacing and task needs. Merlyn's mobility (Airmouse, Voice Commands) enables the teacher to circulate and provide targeted, individualized support to specific students or groups based on their unique needs, and also to instantly share differentiated content through LMS Integration.
    • Why it Matters: Designing learning experiences that accommodate variability is crucial. Merlyn provides the flexibility to differentiate instruction and support dynamically during collaborative activities, ensuring all students can thrive.
• 2.6: Facilitator
  • 2.6.a: Foster Student Ownership of Learning
    • How Merlyn Aligns: The clear, visible presence of multiple timers encourages students to take ownership of their time management and progress within their groups. The teacher's enhanced mobility, facilitated by Merlyn, allows for more frequent and direct cheque-ins, subtly prompting students to take responsibility for their collaborative tasks. Furthermore, the ability to share resources directly to the LMS empowers students to independently access and review content on their own devices, fostering self-direction.
    • Why it Matters: This standard promotes student agency. By providing clear structures, enabling immediate, direct guidance, and facilitating independent resource access, Merlyn helps students develop self-direction and greater ownership over their group learning processes.
  • 2.6.b: Foster Classroom Management of Tech
    • How Merlyn Aligns: This workflow directly showcases efficient technology management. The teacher uses voice commands and the Airmouse to set/manage multiple timers, dynamically display content from Google Drive on the main screen, navigate within presentations, and share resources directly to the LMS. This streamlines the complex technical orchestration of multi-faceted group work across various digital platforms.
    • Why it Matters: Effective technology management is fundamental for smooth instruction. Merlyn ensures digital tools support, rather than hinder, the teacher's ability to facilitate learning and manage group dynamics in a versatile digital environment.
• 2.7: Analyst
  • 2.7.c: Use Data to Guide Progress
    • How Merlyn Aligns: Merlyn's enhancement of teacher mobility enables the collection of more robust observational data during group work. By moving freely and easily displaying shared digital work or resources (including searching Google Drive), the teacher can more readily observe group collaboration dynamics. Additionally, the ability to share resources to the LMS can indirectly provide data (e.g., via LMS analytics if available) on which students or groups access specific supplemental materials, offering insight into their self-directed learning and informing subsequent planning.
    • Why it Matters: This standard emphasizes data-driven instruction. By improving the quality and ease of in-the-moment observation and providing a mechanism for distributing and potentially tracking supplemental resources, Merlyn supports teachers in using live classroom insights to guide progress and make informed instructional decisions.

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