The purpose of this blog is to provide technology tips for teachers to use in their classroom. I also plan on highlighting some of the great ways I'm seeing technology used in Granville County Public Schools.
Google Forms has added a new feature that enables you to easily turn a Google Form into a quiz. This feature creates a quick and easy way to deliver auto-grading assessments. Questions can be multiple choice, checkbox, and drop-down questions. You can also do short answer or paragraph text, but you will need to go back in later and grade those questions yourself (See Grade Individual Responseshere).
To create a quiz, you create a Google Form, as usual. I'd encourage you to mark all of the quiz questions as required so students cannot submit the form without answering all questions.
Once your Google Form is completed, you click on the gear wheel (settings) to switch to Quizzes.
Then adjust any of the quiz settings, as needed. Click SAVE.
Next you assign a point value to each question and identify the correct answer.
If you want to see a summary of responses, then open the Google Form and click on RESPONSES.
To see individual responses, click INDIVIDUAL. To see a summary of all the responses, click SUMMARY.
If you are a Flubaroo user, you might be interested in checking out this article that compares the Google Forms quizzes feature with Flubaroo and then deciding for yourself which you prefer.
Google Form quizzes can be used in many ways in the classroom, including as a formative or summative assessment, for peer evaluations, or for surveys and polls. Take advantage of the Quiz feature to automate grading and then make the most of the data it generates for you.
If you're looking for a way to collect real-time data from your students but lack student devices, Plickers is a great option. Plickers stands for "paper clickers". It's a simple tool that allows for quick checks for understanding. Plickers use a technology similar to QR codes and it allows the teacher to quickly assess students throughout a lesson.
https://goo.gl/images/zMqW4H
Teachers assign all the students a Plickers card. Each card has a unique number that can be assigned to individual students. You can print out the cards for free from this site: https://www.plickers.com/cards On each card, students have the option of choosing A, B, C or D as their answer choice. Here's an example of what a student card might look like:
Next, teachers need to add classes and students through the Plickers website on the Classes page. You can have up to 63 students per class. Then, you add your questions which can be multiple choice or true/false and even include images.
Tap the camera icon to scan students' responses and receive instant feedback:
If you want to display classroom results with students, use the Live View tab on the website. You can use the Scoresheet to monitor student progress and Question History will show you the latest results.
What a quick and easy way to assess students using just one device. Better yet, students cannot easily look at another student's answer since no two Plickers cards look alike. You can't get much more authentic data than that!
If you'd like a little more in-depth tutorial, check out this 30 minute recording:
One of my go-to tools for collecting responses from an audience is Padlet. Padlet acts as a virtual wall that allows people to post content, such as text, images, videos, and even attach documents. The Padlet looks like a piece of wallpaper and users double click anywhere on the wallpaper to start a new sticky note. Padlet does not require you to create an account BUT it is helpful if you do because you can easily access Padlets you have created in the past.
Here's how you set up a Padlet:
1. Go to https://padlet.com
2. Click "Create a padlet". (If you want to keep up with your Padlets, Sign up to create a free account or Log in, if you already have one.)
3. Give your Padlet a Title and Description.
4. You can then adjust the layout (how posts are arranged) or select the wallpaper. When finished customizing your Padlet, click the pink "Next" button.
5. Then adjust any People & Privacy settings, as desired. I tend to leave all these as default. Then click "Next".
6. If desired, take a peek at the "Share/Export/Embed" options. Here is where you'll find a QR code to your Padlet, the hyperlink, and embed code, among other things.
7. When you see this screen, you'll know your Padlet is ready to go:
Share the Padlet with others by posting the link or QR code somewhere people can access. Users then access the Padlet and post!
If you need ideas for how to use Padlet in your classroom, there are lots on Pinterest! Check some out here.
Especially this time of the school year, I find myself recommending Quizizz more than ever before. For those of you who are familiar with Kahoot!, it's just like that BUT even better...in my opinion! Quizizz is a web-based clicker tool that allows students of all ages to answer questions in a game-like atmosphere. There are sound effects, funny memes, leaderboards, and timers.
The teacher logs onto Quizizz and can search for a pre-made quizzes (using the "Public" tab) or can create their own.
Once the teacher finds or creates a quiz, he/she clicks "Play Live" in order to launch the game immediately. Clicking "Homework" instead allows the teacher to schedule a window of time for the game to be open. This is great for those who want to assign it for homework or for teachers who want students to complete the activity in workstations throughout the week.
Teachers can adjust any of the settings on their game including whether or not you want the questions and/or answer choices jumbled, if you want the correct answer to show after the student responds, and game settings such as a leaderboard, question timer, and music.
Once the settings are adjusted to your preference, a website for students to join the game (join.quizizz.com) and a unique pin code is displayed on your screen. Students enter the code from any device that has Internet. If you don't have a lot of devices, have students play in pairs or teams!
Here's a sample of what students see on their device:
As students play the game, the teacher can monitor the students using real-time data. Once the students are finished, the teacher can review any of the questions and even download an Excel spreadsheet with the data. If you log into your account any time later, you can access this same data under "My Reports".
So why do I like Quizizz better than Kahoot!?
Students play asynchronously--once they answer a question, they move on and do not have to wait for the rest of the class to answer
Teachers can shuffle the questions and answer choices
Students see the questions AND answer choices from their own device and don't have to look up onto a projector screen or SMARTBoard
Teachers can monitor real-time results
And yet, it still has many of the same GREAT features as Kahoot such as the game-like feel, public quizzes available, and it can be used on any device with Internet. Oh, and they're both FREE!
For a quick walkthrough of Quizizz, here's a short video posted on their website:
In March I had the privilege of attending NCTIES, a well-known technology conference in Raleigh, NC. One of the sessions I attended was led by Richard Byrne and he highlighted some of his favorite web tools. Evernote Web Clipper was one of the tools he shared and it's now one I've been eagerly sharing with teachers and administrators in our district.
Evernote Web Clipper is an extension in the Chrome web browser that clears away the formatting, layouts, and advertisements so the reader can focus on the content. Check out the before and after of this Time for Kids article I found online:
So how do you use Evernote Web Clipper? Once you're on a website that you want to simplify, click on the Evernote Web Clipper icon near your bookmarks bar and select "Simplified article". Ta da! It really is that EASY!
Are you looking for ways to formatively assess students? Formative is an amazing FREE tool that was created by teachers and allows for real-time assessments. The teacher can easily create online classrooms for their classes. Then, students register for an account and join your specific class with a code. Below is a quick overview of the process once a teacher has an account:
Teachers can upload a document or PDF that they want to transform into an interactive activity for students. Then, on the document, the teacher can click on any part of the worksheet and make it interactive by adding in question prompts, hyperlinks, even videos!
As the teacher, you're able to distribute assignments to students, which could also entail entrance and exit tickets. If desired, point values can be assigned to questions.
The best part about Formative is that assessment results are available in real time. Students can type, show their work with drawings or submit images. Below you can see a sample screen of what a teacher might see as students are drawing an image in response to the proposed question about surface area:
As you're learning how to use the tool, know that Formative has a bank of tutorial videos that are quick and easy to follow. Check out their tutorial videos: http://community.goformative.com/videos.
Here is a quick 5 minute overview of Formative that will paint a clear picture of the application:
This week I had the opportunity to train a group of teachers on how to use iBooks Author to create iBooks that can be read on a Macbook laptop, iPad or iPhone. These books are interactive and can include as much (or as little!) multimedia as you prefer--images, video, audio, links, etc.
I had not created an iBook in a while and needed a refresher so I browsed YouTube for endless tutorials. The tutorials I found most helpful are below with a series by Matthew Henchen:
To actually create the books, we went through the process step-by-step together in just under an hour from start to finish and shared to iPads. We chose to do blank templates and create simple books with text, images, and a Discovery Education video. The easiest way to add multimedia is just to simply drag and drop the item onto the iBook page. We decided to use iTunes U to share the books with a student set of iPads because it does NOT require syncing the device with each new book.
Here is the presentation I walked through with teachers.
Here is a copy of one of the books I created as an example. I have embedded it as a PDF in case a reader of this blog does not have iBooks.
Don't be intimidated by the thought of creating your own iBook! It's easier than you would think!
