Google Forms and Flubaroo

 Google Forms and Flubaroo 

22nd June, 2016

 

Will provides a short run through of one way to use Google Forms to quickly collect, mark and grade assessment data.

As a pre-service teacher, I am sure you have heard about or engaged with Google Forms before. They are becoming increasingly popular in the classroom and I have seen 4th and 5th grade students use them effectively. This post will share just one way to use Google Forms as a pre/post assessment tool that I have found extremely helpful.

I am not going to discuss how to actually make a Google Form test – this is self-explanatory and there are numerous tutorials already available. I enjoy the flexibility of the types of questions – short/long answer, multiple choice, checked boxes, drop down menu and more.

You want to make the first two questions of your test “What is your first name?” and “What is your surname?”. Once the test is created, you need to complete the test with the correct answers. You are now ready for students to complete the test. After they have finished, you want to click the Responses tab and the View Responses in Sheets button. 

Once in Sheets, you need to download the Add-on that will automatically mark the test for you. This is called Flubaroo and can be found under Add-ons > Get Add-ons. Once you have this installed, head to: Add-ons > Fulbaroo > Grade Assignment

Step 1: The first questions (What is your name/surname?) can be used to identify the student. Other options allow you to change the value of each question but the default is 1 point per answer. A new feature is manual grading for those questions that you need to read individually before marking. 

Step 2: You now chose a person’s response to grade all the other submissions from. This is where you select your response which will have the correct answers. Once you continue, Flubaroo will work its magic. It will produce a new sheet with some valuable data for analysis including:

• There is a nice little summary at the top. A good place to see how many students completed the test, the average score and summative grades can be recorded.

• Vertically you can see student names with their score and percentage. Flubaroo goes the extra step by highlighting in red any students who scored below 70%. This is excellent data to see the range of student abilities on the topic and help in forming focus groups.

• Horizontally every question is listed with the answers. Boxes are highlighted orange if they were poorly answered across the group. This can be used for key concepts to focus on in future lessons. For example, students may easily answer a multiplication question with 2-digit numbers but struggle with a question using a 3-digit number.

At the end of a unit, complete the same test and compare students’ before/after scores and clearly identify questions/concepts that they are still struggling with.

I encourage you to try out Google Forms and Flubaroo. This was just a short introduction to some powerful software that is valuable for assessment practices in the 21st century classroom.

- Will

Approaches to Technology in the Classroom

24th February 

In his final post on approaches to technology in the classroom, Will looks at excuses and the real damage they are doing.

This post will explore the teachers that use excuses to avoid or reduce technology use in their classroom. There are countless excuses that teachers may put forward but these are just a few that I wish to highlight. These are the ones that frustrate me most and/or are so easy to overcome.

"In preparing my lesson, the technology works perfectly. When implemented with students something always goes wrong."
Yes, technology breaks down. We have all experienced a network error, Wi-Fi problems, connectivity issues, blue screens and error codes. Firstly, it is possible to think it ‘always’ breaks down because you keep recalling that one bad experience and fear trying it again. When technology does fail, a Plan B is necessary. However, I argue that a Plan B should always be in place for any lesson (not to mention a Plan C through to Plan Z). Have you ever had a non-tech lesson finish too early, lack discussion or not be able to print your precious worksheets because the photocopier is broken? These too require a fast thinking (calm) teacher to carry on with the lesson. In my experience with technology problems in the classroom, often it takes just a couple of minutes to troubleshoot and resolve the problem. In upper primary this can often be a chance for students to offer solutions and work on their problem solving and collaboration skills. After all, they are going to encounter ‘error codes’ in their real working lives.

"I have always taught this way; it works so there is no need to make it more complicated."
This is all well and good for you but think of the invaluable experiences and skills the children are missing out on. This is often the view of teachers who have been teaching longer than I have been alive. I do not dispute that they can bring immense experience and knowledge of teaching to a school but if they are reluctant to grow as a teacher into today’s technologies then students will fall behind. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that students are likely to be exposed to technology in their lives outside the classroom. To deprive them of this familiar tool will leave students feeling confused.

"Students get easily distracted on iPads and computers."
In any classroom, especially at the start of the year you sit down with the students and establish classroom rules. These are mutually agreed upon and throughout the year you, as the teacher, enforce these rules. If a student runs across the classroom with a ‘no running inside’ rule, they know it is likely they will get told off. The same goes for technology. It is up to the class (teacher and students) to set ground rules for technology use and if these are broken then there will be consequences. If general class distraction is a common theme in technology lessons maybe it is time to look are the quality of the lesson. Is it engaging students? Is there clear expectations and learning intentions set for the session? Students can’t just be handed a computer and be told to learn. Technology or no technology, a teacher still has the same role to play – to facilitate learning and maintain a safe, supportive, engaging and fun learning environment.

To summarise, excuses like these are ultimately limiting children reaching their full potential and their exposure to the technological world. This is the final post of 3 which looked at different approaches to a 21st century classroom. Ensure you approach technology with a positive and open mindset - I urge you all to constantly experiment with new ways of teaching and push the boundaries of technology use in the classroom. 

- Will

Approaches to Technology in the Classroom (2)

14th January, 2016

Will looks at a welcoming approach to technology and draws on recent first-hand experiences.

To continue from my previous post, today I will be exploring a welcoming technology teacher and what it looks like in a classroom. I have been lucky enough to have experienced this first hand in my recent placement so I will discuss the aspects of technology which I saw and learnt about. To set the scene, the school was trialling 1:1 Chromebooks in Grade 5 and I was in one of the three classes. A Chromebook is essentially a laptop that runs on a Google Chrome Operating System and a connection to the internet is necessary for them to work properly. 

Before I delve into the incredible learning benefits which I witnessed, I do acknowledge that this type of program requires a lot of planning, research and above all, funding before a school can implement 1:1 devices for students. However, I believe that most schools are constantly working to improve student access to at least some type of ‘device’ (computer, Chromebook, iPad etc…). 

Obviously I was very excited to have been placed in such a classroom. However, I was intrigued to see my first 1:1 classroom and questioned if too much access is ever a distraction for the students. My teacher ensured me that they use the Chromebooks appropriately and in my 4 weeks in the classroom the students proved themselves to me. The first benefit I noticed was the amount of time we were saving each lesson. No longer is there a 5 minute scramble at tubs to get a workbook or a student standing at the bin sharpening their pencil. In seconds students can open their Chromebook and be straight into the activity. It should be cautioned however that this can lead to an overexcited and rapid switch between lessons. I found it important to still stop and have a ‘brain break’ in between lessons and not just ‘close literacy’ and ‘open religion’.

The super-fast access was due to students having all their work stored on the cloud in Google Drive. Students had been taught to organise this into subjects and terms but work could easily be located using the search bar. Working on the cloud meant work was automatically saved so it was hard to ‘lose’ and nigh impossible to blame the hungry dog. Students completed most tasks using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides or Forms. Documents can be shared between teacher-student and student-student for group work tasks. The collaboration of learning spread across all three Grade 5 classes and students were definitely learning more from interacting with each other. Moreover, they were experiencing a flipped classroom where they took control and responsibility of their own learning.

I felt like a true 21st century teacher when it came to assessment and feedback to students. As mentioned, work can be shared with each other with set privileges of ‘can edit’, ‘can view’ or ‘can comment’. The comment feature was wonderful in allowing the teacher to comment on student work, providing instantaneous feedback and clear indications of areas of improvement. For new units a Google Form was created and used for a pre/post assessment. This saved time in marking and generated data that was be analysed to help guide small group foci, whole class tasks and spot individual students who need extra support. I may do a future ‘how-to’ post for these online pre/post assessments.
 

I could go on about what I saw for many posts but I simply want to highlight this perfect example of a 21st century classroom. I saw students using skills that they will ultimately use in the workplace and performing tasks that many people in today’s workforce would be amazed by. Yes, this school were fortunate to have this 1:1 access but they did not take it lightly. They are continuing to push the boundaries, try new approaches and set challenges for staff and students as we move into a world loaded with technology. 

- Will

Approaches to Technology in the Classroom

Approaches to Technology in the Classroom

10th November, 2015

Will discusses the simplicity of incorporating technology into the classroom. 

In my experiences in classrooms I have seen many different approaches and attitudes towards technology in the classroom. They can be broadly grouped into the three categories below which will be discussed in detail over my next three blog posts. At each stage I discuss implications for students and some suggestions for moving forward into a technology rich environment. No matter what stage you might consider yourself at, there are always opportunities to incorporate technology into the classroom. 

• Cautious - “I stick to using the same technology as new technologies are unpredictable” 
• Excuses (lazy) - “I don’t want hassle of dealing with technology breaking down – I teach how I have always taught” 
• Welcoming - “I am confident with technology and want to always try new things”

This post will delve into a cautious technology teacher. These teachers might let students publish work using word processing software or know the basics of the interactive whiteboard, but they are reluctant to venture into the world of ever changing and advancing technologies.

Yes, new technologies can be unpredictable but so is anything ‘new’ – new students, new content or new strategies. If students are using the same technologies every day, in every curriculum area, are they really developing any ICT skills? What opportunities does this provide the students to become 21st Century learners? The beauty of incorporating technology is that it can take simple tasks that are familiar to students and make them incredibly powerful. 

As an example, a popular introduction to any unit of work is a brainstorm to establish prior knowledge and to question what content needs to be learnt. A conservative teacher might have students sketch this in their workbooks. A cautious technology teacher may even let students create the mind map in a program like Word or Inspiration. However, through the use of a mind mapping application, students are suddenly exposed to authentic technology use. An application such as Popplet (available on iPad and Web) allows students to easily create mind maps filled with text, colours, images and even videos; this appeals to a range of learners in Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences.

The most exciting part about using an application like Popplet is that it allows students to communicate their ideas and work collaboratively. They can invite classmates to view or collaborate on their map by entering their email address. But why stop there? Think of the benefits and possibilities or collaborating with another grade, another school, even another country? Now THAT would be ‘unpredictable’ - but imagine the learning, collaboration and motivation in your 21st century students!

In summary, if you are cautious about using a new technology, don’t over complicate it. Start small and simple and the outcome can be far greater than if you confined students to their stable, familiar, ‘always perfect’ technology.

- Will

21st Century Learners

"Wait, are you telling me that MySpace is NOT a website about planets?!"

  21st Century Learners

15th October, 2015

Will reflects on the children in classrooms today, their technology-rich environments and the impact this has had on the curriculum.  

 

In 2006 I started secondary school and was part of the laptop program. My shiny new ‘portable’ device was bulky and weighed the best part of a brick, but I didn’t care because I had my generous 256 megabyte USB. Jumping forward just nine years we can pick up a 16 gigabyte USB for around $10 (a storage increase of over 6000%). Technology advances exponentially and it is clear to see we are in the rapid growth stage when you consider computers double in capabilities every 18 months. 

 

So what does this have to do with PSTs, teaching and the 21st century classroom? Well, have you considered that the students you will teach in the near future were all born in the 2000’s or even the 2010’s? (I know, they were deprived of the glorious 90’s). What must be considered is the fact that students today are technology natives. The 90’s generation were the 1st generation of technology natives; they grew up and adapted to 21st century technology. Children today are 2nd or even 3rd ‘Net-generation’ and born into a world saturated with digital technology that enhances connectivity and accessibility. For some of us, this may mean accepting that little Johnny’s ICT skills are far superior to yours. 

 

So how can we prepare ourselves for such an environment? Whilst I find it astounding that my current course does not have a core unit solely devoted to the topic, I was fortunate enough to do an elective on technology in education. In an upcoming series of blog posts I hope to share some valuable insights I gained. One resource I would encourage you to start using (if not already) is Twitter. Twitter is an interconnected web of educational resources, ideas and experts. To get started I would suggest following some of these: 

@DLTVictoria  

@ipads4learning 

@misskyritsis 

@AusLessons 

@jjash 

@LeighGMurphy 

 

One of the general capabilities in the Australian Curriculum is Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This means ICT is a dimension that will be harnessed across all learning areas and as 21st century educators, it is our job to facilitate an environment where students can use ICT to: 

• Access, create and communicate information and ideas 
• Solve problems
• Work collaboratively

Furthermore, technology in education does not just exist for students. In the minefield of software and applications in the Education category, technology can also be used by teachers and parents to implement fresh approaches to feedback, assessment, planning, collaborating and communicating. 

To finish, I would like to pose a question: in what ways have you seen technology used in the classroom? Before you answer, exclude the obvious, overused and generalised answers of ‘Microsoft Word’, ‘PowerPoint’, ‘Interactive Whiteboard’ and ‘iPads’. What specific ways has the technology helped the student or teacher in the areas discussed and how did it shape them as 21st century learners?

- Will