Story Builder

This morning, while waiting for a conference to begin, I took a look at my Feedly. I've been super busy lately, both at work and home, so I had not explored my RSS feed in quite some time. I Evernoted several strategies/apps, but one blog post immediately caught my eye. iLearnTechnology has a great, indepth post all about Google Story Builder. I immediately thought of several ways that my faculty could use this in the classroom for quick assessments.

Here's a quick video tutorial:


Here's a sample one I created to share with my faculty: http://goo.gl/FlftoD

I do wish that Story Builder had the option for an embed code as well as a link to the finished video, but it's still a nifty little site! Best of all, it's iPad friendly!

How could you use this in the classroom?

LEC 6.3 Reflection: Technology & Assessment

This module has explored the use of technology tools for both formative and summative assessment. As you think about how you will implement formative and summative assessments in the online and blended environments, what are some of the factors you need to consider?

As in the traditional classroom, I think it is important to use a variety of formats for both formative and summative assessments, in order to best reach student needs. In the online and blended learning environments, there are many additional considerations that are not concerns for paper and pencil classrooms. One of the first concerns that comes to mind is that ideally, these assessments, formative and summative, should be device agnostic. Even if the school has a specific program that provides students with devices, if they are working at home it is very possible that they will be using a different OS than that of the school. I myself have been frustrated with e-learning courses when I was not able to use my tablet for the assignments, and had to switch back to my PC. 

Feedback is another major concern. Ideally, the tool used for assessment should have feedback either built in natively, or the instructor should be able to give feedback easily via his/her chosen LMS. For example, Socrative, Google Forms(with Flubaroo), Edmodo Quiz, Infuse Learning, etcetera all have methods of feedback that are quick and easy for both the teacher and the student. The timeliness of feedback is vital to the success of the student in any classroom, but moreso in the online environment, when the student is not getting daily feedback in a traditional classroom setting. 

Technical support and back up are also both important items to consider. Without proper technical support, either from the LMS or within the school, it can be extremely frustrating for teachers attempting to implement the online or blended learning scenario. It is important in the blended learning scenario to have a back up plan in case something goes wrong when attempting the online assessments. (The website is suddenly blocked, the wi-fi goes down, students do not have their device in class, etcetera.) Flexibility is key in the classroom, whether the classroom is virtual, blended or traditional. 

Formative Assessment - Google Docs

What's that you say? A formative assessment that grades itself? Miraculous!

We are lucky enough to live in a era where many technology tools exist that can make our lives as educators a little easier. Some of my favorites include Socrative, InfuseLearning, and one of the simplest, Google Docs. If you're not familiar with Socrative or InfuseLearning, keep an eye out for my upcoming posts about these two wonderful tech tools!

Last week I did a tech tutorial with my teachers on using Google Docs for grading. A few of my more reluctant technology users told me that there was "No way technology could make her life any easier." After we finished, she wanted to know when I could come work with her to create her first quiz!

Getting Started
You need to create a Google Drive account. If your school district is like mine, you'll need to create a separate account using your school email address. Our email system blocks emails from non-school email addresses, so Flubaroo would be unable to email you students their results.

1. Go to https://drive.google.com
2. Sign out of your personal Gmail account(if you are currently signed in)
3. Click the Sign Up button in the upper right hand corner.
4. When on the Sign Up screen, select "I prefer to use my current email address" under the Choose Your Username box.
5. Fill out the form using your district email address.
6. Google will send a verification email to the address you provided. Once you verify your account, you're ready to go! 

Flubaroo

Flubaroo's website does an excellent job of explaining how to use it in conjunction with Google Forms. Check out their intro video here:

Here's a link to their user guide: http://www.flubaroo.com/flubaroo-user-guide
Flubaroo User Guide
In addition to its uses in the classroom, it's also a good way to find out how much your faculty/staff know about a particular topic. We used this in a faculty meeting to gauge the knowledge level of our staff on a particular topic. Try it out - let me know what you think!