Google Forms

I feel SO BEHIND in the world of Google drive, docs, and forms.  But I am SO PROUD of myself for creating this Google form!  YEAH!  I took the leap!!!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jYfyQjAtkDW0wxEb_PL74zsrqAbv17xjuvvbDzbnfOo/viewform

Using a Google form served a couple purposes:

1.  I wanted the students to complete a reflection on the e-mentoring process.  Typically, I just do this in a standard Word document.  However, I realized this method didn't give the students the opportunity to share with their classmates, it was just an independent reflection.  Short of having a classroom discussion, in which usually only a few key players participate, I wanted to have some way to share the information.

2.  With that being said, I wanted to be able to collect the advice the mentors gave the students and have it all in one place so ALL the students could benefit from the collection of suggestions and keep it as a resource.  Again, discussion notes wouldn't necessarily be as complete as possible or engaging.


With this form, students will be able to reflect on the e-mentoring process and I will be able to see all of their feedback in one convenient place.  My plan, is also to consolidate the "advice" comments into one document for the students to keep as a resource in their career portfolio.  I will share that finished product after the assignment is given (end of April/early May). 

Screencasting

Reading more about screencasting and realizing in order for it to have it's fully "flipped" effect it should be interactive - with questions for the student to respond to or some other sort of task/assessment.  I'm wondering when and where I can use something like this in my Career Planning classroom?  My curriculum involves many hands on, authentic activities such as filling out job applications, writing a resume, practicing interviews,etc.


Hmmmmm.....thoughts? ideas?

Raise your hand high enough so I can see

This month's 10 Things Techie Assignment involved student response systems.  Over the past semester I have been trying to integrate these in various ways.  Here's a few of my trials and tribulations:

Polleverywhere.com:  I use this occassionally as a "do now" to gather assessment data instantly from the students.  It seems the typical "do now" has lost it's attention grabbing effects, and something accompanied by "take out your phone" has much more attention getting power.

I also used it recently to poll my students to see if they were interested in taking a particular new proposed class.

+ I had it displayed on the SmartBoard and it was nice that the kids could see the results jump as new votes were tabulated.
- Not as easy for someone without a smartphone since it does involve texting a number.  You can create an account on a desktop, but of course, this lacks the "instant gratification" appeal.


Socrative.com:  As a freshman class advisor, one of the class officers recently used this to poll the freshman class regarding a dance.

+easy to use on a smartphone (I did not try this on a desktop,but I believe it is also easy to use that way)
+loved the way it compiled data into an excel spreadsheet


Edmodo.com Polls:  This is my favorite, just because I've been trying to use edmodo as my classroom "platform" more and more this year.  I posted a poll for the students to take regarding their opinion on an upcoming field trip.

+it was great because my students already had accounts
+easy to use
+they could see the results instantly, transparency in my decision


All in all, I think student response systems are a new and innovative way to take "votes".  I am trying to also integrate them more into the actual learning process to assess student learning.  As mentioned, I do occassionally use them as a "do now"  or a quick quiz to check for understanding.  However, when doing this it is easiest to use a tool that does not require students and/or the teacher to create yet another account.  Edmodo has my vote!!