The AICs post a weekly tech tips podcast, and this week's episode is about an approach to teaching that is very much in line with formative assessment, and the whole checking for understanding approach to monitoring (or having students themselves monitor their) mastery of a topic.
CPS clickers, which can be used in a variety of engaging ways following this approach to teaching, have arrived in our district on a larger scale, but a far greater number of students have access to a laptop on a daily basis than the clickers. For that reason, we wanted to show the steps to turning a device with Internet access into a clicker.
Here are the tools you'll need to get started:
Internet Access.
An account with Google.
If you don't have an account, this is not difficult to remedy... go to docs.google.com and click on "Create an account now." Supply an email address, create a password, and answer a few questions.
Then, from your home page at Google Docs, click "Create New," and click "Form."
Enter questions about the skill your students are exploring, the answers to which reveal their levels of mastery.
I know, I know... I just glossed over one of the toughest jobs in teaching! But that part is on you.)
You can enter a topic, directions, your question, some help text, the type, possible answers, and save your first question. To enter a second question, type it in the next box. To go back and edit your question, click the pencil. To duplicate your question (to alter it for the next question but keep the same answer bank), click the duplicate button. Save your work.
Select the appearance of your form by clicking on "Theme" and selecting one that fits.
Your students can access the form using the link supplied at the bottom, but to make it easier for them to get there, you might embed the form on your wiki or your teacher web page.
To work with the data your students generate, return to your Google Docs home page and click on the form you created. You will see a spreadsheet with your students' answers. The data can be easily copied and pasted into Excel, which will allow you to sort your students' responses, or even graph them visually.
This is some neat stuff. If you can't get your hands on the set of clickers soon enough, but you can get your students in a lab or on laptops / minis, try creating a form and working with the results in Excel.
Next week... AIC Awards.
Catch you then.
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Scott Swindells
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Week in Review
Just a quick update on our progress with some current projects:
Today we received training on CPS clickers, and brainstormed some ways teachers could use them beyond the standard multiple choice quiz. How about students using them to check in with self-related levels of understanding during lectures or class projects? What CPS software lacks in terms of importing class lists from Gradebook (not impossible, just a few extra steps that might take longer than just typing the names in), it makes up in its ability to integrate with PowerPooint and easily create question banks.
This week I got to see the Walton Farm Video News Team editing its first episode. Things are coming along well, as is the planning for training the teachers involved in the video grant. We'll be trained on Final Cut and other video-related topics next week.
Several teachers ran into issues with uploading files to Wikispaces this week, receiving error messages saying the files were too large. As an avid user of Wikispaces since 2007, I've never had trouble uploading files, so I inquired with their online help and received a quick response. Apparently there has always been a 20 MB limit for free educational wikis, and it wasn't until this week that we all tried to upload larger files. Still seems strange, though. I opened a PowerPoint file, made a few changes, and couldn't re-upload it. I also ran into trouble posting a short video, when I'd posted several similar files before. Will have to keep looking in to this.
In other wiki-related news, a teacher at Hatfield has done some excellent work setting up grade-level wikis for teachers to share resources, particularly SMART Notebook files. While another excellent wiki has been set up by the Reading and Language Arts Supervisor to share district documents, this one will be teacher-driven and exist to share resources from teacher to teacher.
I've also been looking at Google Docs as a potential means for 5th graders to collaborate and share information on the 13 colonies. Students from two different classes would like to share information, links, pictures, and their own projects to learn about the colonies instead of using the textbook chapters. It's a great idea, and we recently had good success with 5th graders using a wiki to learn collaboratively about early explorers. Not sure if Google Docs will require user emails (not all these students have them or would have permission to use email),a nd need to check the TOS for age restrictions.
I'm looking forward to training teachers on CPS clickers soon, working with the teachers in the video grant in the coming weeks, and training secondary administrators on Web 2.0 apps next week. We're stayisng busy and doing some good work for the district and its teachers and students.
Today we received training on CPS clickers, and brainstormed some ways teachers could use them beyond the standard multiple choice quiz. How about students using them to check in with self-related levels of understanding during lectures or class projects? What CPS software lacks in terms of importing class lists from Gradebook (not impossible, just a few extra steps that might take longer than just typing the names in), it makes up in its ability to integrate with PowerPooint and easily create question banks.
This week I got to see the Walton Farm Video News Team editing its first episode. Things are coming along well, as is the planning for training the teachers involved in the video grant. We'll be trained on Final Cut and other video-related topics next week.
Several teachers ran into issues with uploading files to Wikispaces this week, receiving error messages saying the files were too large. As an avid user of Wikispaces since 2007, I've never had trouble uploading files, so I inquired with their online help and received a quick response. Apparently there has always been a 20 MB limit for free educational wikis, and it wasn't until this week that we all tried to upload larger files. Still seems strange, though. I opened a PowerPoint file, made a few changes, and couldn't re-upload it. I also ran into trouble posting a short video, when I'd posted several similar files before. Will have to keep looking in to this.
In other wiki-related news, a teacher at Hatfield has done some excellent work setting up grade-level wikis for teachers to share resources, particularly SMART Notebook files. While another excellent wiki has been set up by the Reading and Language Arts Supervisor to share district documents, this one will be teacher-driven and exist to share resources from teacher to teacher.
I've also been looking at Google Docs as a potential means for 5th graders to collaborate and share information on the 13 colonies. Students from two different classes would like to share information, links, pictures, and their own projects to learn about the colonies instead of using the textbook chapters. It's a great idea, and we recently had good success with 5th graders using a wiki to learn collaboratively about early explorers. Not sure if Google Docs will require user emails (not all these students have them or would have permission to use email),a nd need to check the TOS for age restrictions.
I'm looking forward to training teachers on CPS clickers soon, working with the teachers in the video grant in the coming weeks, and training secondary administrators on Web 2.0 apps next week. We're stayisng busy and doing some good work for the district and its teachers and students.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The Technology You DON'T Want in Your Pockets
I was in the drive-thru at Taco Bell today -- yes, 35% beef is still 100% awesome in my book -- and I was asked if I would like a crunchy or soft taco with my order. Now sometimes I go with the soft tortilla, other times I like a little crunch. Today I went with the soft taco, and on the ordering screen I saw a ten cent charge to replace the crunchy taco with a soft taco. Hmmm. I mean, it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I wasn't asked if I'd like to pay ten cents more for my choice; I was just asked which one I'd prefer.
In the days when we'd pay for small expenses like this with cash, searching through the cupholders for that extra dime just might have been enough incentive to make me question the charge, or at least the shady means with which it was foisted on me, but it's not as much of an inconvenience (so there's just not as much thought) when reaching for the Mastercard to swipe the charge.
Yes, I didn't do anything about it. But I did notice. It seems that companies of all shapes and sizes, in all industries, are counting with increasing frequency on the fact that we very often don't notice.
One of the biggest culprits, in my experience, is EZ Pass. They've got it set up to automatically withdrawal a given amount from one's bank account whenever the EZ Pass account balance goes below a certain number. In my case, they withdraw $50 from my bank account when the account goes under $20. I don't have to watch my EZ Pass account go below a certain amount, and I don't have to write and send a check when it does. This is incredibly convenient, which is probably the reason so many people don't notice what I've noticed: they overcharge almost every month!
It happens in a minor, relatively undetectable way. When I enter a toll road, it just doesn't register sometimes. Then, when I go through the tolls when exiting, I am charged $5, the fee for exiting without being registered upon entry.
It's not like the green light didn't go on, so the error is not in something we drivers are doing. At best, it's in the technology. At worst, it's deliberate.
I might not have noticed this had I not had a month where I'd drastically changed my driving patterns, no longer needing to travel on the PA turnpike every day, without seeing a decrease in the number of times EZ Pass withdrew $50. I was never too great at math, but I knew there was no way my one night a week of driving a $0.75 toll each way would add up to $50 every month, like it had when we were on the turnpike every day.
I went online, saw the itemized deductions, and noticed that the charges were coming through at the right dates and times, but peppered with $5 charges for not registering at one end or another. A phone call got those charges removed (actually, just credited back to my EZ Pass account). The same thing happened the next month, and every time since that I've scoured through those itemized charges. It is always credited back to my account, but usually with some accusatory-toned grilling about how my EZ Pass is mounted to my window, "is it at the right height?," etc. I always answer politely that it is, even though I know that can't really be the cause; my EZ pass has registered a charge from both my glove box and my trunk on separate occasions!
The connection between my thoughts on this subject and technology is pretty clear. We are paying for the advantages of technology with little concessions here and there that don't seem to be a big enough problem to make the technology not worth the convenience.
The connection I want to make between all of this and education is a little tougher for me to describe, but if you're in the profession, you already know that students of all ages just don't do many things that educators, parents, and other adults might have taken for granted that they did, such as watch their receipts when making purchases, or keep a checkbook for their first checking accounts. They don't!
Well, many of us "grown ups" in "the real world" don't either, of course. We rely on the online bank statement without keeping our own independent records. In the long run, it's nickels and dimes. It doesn't cost us that much to us individually, but if you allow your mind to wander (this bank has over 1 million customers just like me...) the costs could be staggering.
If you want to think a little more globally, join me in becoming a watcher.
Watch Restaurants that alter the amount of your tip and charge a few dollars more than you wrote on your receipt (which you saved until it reconciled with the bank statement).
Watch toll boths that shortchange you by a nickel (because about 120,000 other cars pass through too).
Watch your cable, phone, and ISP bills for little price increases without prior notification.
Watch your bank statement every month for those stores that, often accidentally, charged your account twice for the purchase.
These are all things a person can catch and correct if he or she:
a) keeps a check book (hey, it can be electronic... Excel's not bad),
b) reconciles the check book with the monthly bank statement (even the online version),
and c) calls the bank when there is a discrepency.
You will be on hold. You will be transferred back and forth between departments and continents. And in the end, you will only save a few dolalrs here and there. It's not convenient. Maybe that's the very premise of those "bogus convenience fees."
These are often just accidents, but sometimes they are deliberate schemes. If a toll collector shortchanged every car a nickel, how long would it take to have stolen a dollar? Ten dolalrs? One hundred? Not long. Now imagine that toll collector has all of our bank routing numbers and regular access to making withdrawals.
Nickels and dimes do add up, and even more so for the companies that practice this type of business. So fight the crusade with me, and keep in mind we're not just doing it to save a few cents here and there. We're doing it because if everyone did it, companies could no longer get away with it.
Most importantly, please teach our students that these scams are out there. And they aren't always scams, so teach them that these accidents happen, and so many of them can be fixed by keeping track of your own spedning. Teach them about identity theft and Phishing scams too!
It's not like we have to go through life with a paranoid distrust for everything.
But it has to help a little just to watch what's going on around us.
In the days when we'd pay for small expenses like this with cash, searching through the cupholders for that extra dime just might have been enough incentive to make me question the charge, or at least the shady means with which it was foisted on me, but it's not as much of an inconvenience (so there's just not as much thought) when reaching for the Mastercard to swipe the charge.
Yes, I didn't do anything about it. But I did notice. It seems that companies of all shapes and sizes, in all industries, are counting with increasing frequency on the fact that we very often don't notice.
One of the biggest culprits, in my experience, is EZ Pass. They've got it set up to automatically withdrawal a given amount from one's bank account whenever the EZ Pass account balance goes below a certain number. In my case, they withdraw $50 from my bank account when the account goes under $20. I don't have to watch my EZ Pass account go below a certain amount, and I don't have to write and send a check when it does. This is incredibly convenient, which is probably the reason so many people don't notice what I've noticed: they overcharge almost every month!
It happens in a minor, relatively undetectable way. When I enter a toll road, it just doesn't register sometimes. Then, when I go through the tolls when exiting, I am charged $5, the fee for exiting without being registered upon entry.
It's not like the green light didn't go on, so the error is not in something we drivers are doing. At best, it's in the technology. At worst, it's deliberate.
I might not have noticed this had I not had a month where I'd drastically changed my driving patterns, no longer needing to travel on the PA turnpike every day, without seeing a decrease in the number of times EZ Pass withdrew $50. I was never too great at math, but I knew there was no way my one night a week of driving a $0.75 toll each way would add up to $50 every month, like it had when we were on the turnpike every day.
I went online, saw the itemized deductions, and noticed that the charges were coming through at the right dates and times, but peppered with $5 charges for not registering at one end or another. A phone call got those charges removed (actually, just credited back to my EZ Pass account). The same thing happened the next month, and every time since that I've scoured through those itemized charges. It is always credited back to my account, but usually with some accusatory-toned grilling about how my EZ Pass is mounted to my window, "is it at the right height?," etc. I always answer politely that it is, even though I know that can't really be the cause; my EZ pass has registered a charge from both my glove box and my trunk on separate occasions!
The connection between my thoughts on this subject and technology is pretty clear. We are paying for the advantages of technology with little concessions here and there that don't seem to be a big enough problem to make the technology not worth the convenience.
The connection I want to make between all of this and education is a little tougher for me to describe, but if you're in the profession, you already know that students of all ages just don't do many things that educators, parents, and other adults might have taken for granted that they did, such as watch their receipts when making purchases, or keep a checkbook for their first checking accounts. They don't!
Well, many of us "grown ups" in "the real world" don't either, of course. We rely on the online bank statement without keeping our own independent records. In the long run, it's nickels and dimes. It doesn't cost us that much to us individually, but if you allow your mind to wander (this bank has over 1 million customers just like me...) the costs could be staggering.
If you want to think a little more globally, join me in becoming a watcher.
Watch Restaurants that alter the amount of your tip and charge a few dollars more than you wrote on your receipt (which you saved until it reconciled with the bank statement).
Watch toll boths that shortchange you by a nickel (because about 120,000 other cars pass through too).
Watch your cable, phone, and ISP bills for little price increases without prior notification.
Watch your bank statement every month for those stores that, often accidentally, charged your account twice for the purchase.
These are all things a person can catch and correct if he or she:
a) keeps a check book (hey, it can be electronic... Excel's not bad),
b) reconciles the check book with the monthly bank statement (even the online version),
and c) calls the bank when there is a discrepency.
You will be on hold. You will be transferred back and forth between departments and continents. And in the end, you will only save a few dolalrs here and there. It's not convenient. Maybe that's the very premise of those "bogus convenience fees."
These are often just accidents, but sometimes they are deliberate schemes. If a toll collector shortchanged every car a nickel, how long would it take to have stolen a dollar? Ten dolalrs? One hundred? Not long. Now imagine that toll collector has all of our bank routing numbers and regular access to making withdrawals.
Nickels and dimes do add up, and even more so for the companies that practice this type of business. So fight the crusade with me, and keep in mind we're not just doing it to save a few cents here and there. We're doing it because if everyone did it, companies could no longer get away with it.
Most importantly, please teach our students that these scams are out there. And they aren't always scams, so teach them that these accidents happen, and so many of them can be fixed by keeping track of your own spedning. Teach them about identity theft and Phishing scams too!
It's not like we have to go through life with a paranoid distrust for everything.
But it has to help a little just to watch what's going on around us.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
A Question
Today was the day grades were due for many of our schools, so this week's blog post is a question for you:
Who is doing more work in your class, you or your students?
If you would like some ideas to engage your students in activities that teach the skills and content of your course that don't result in more grading for you, contact an AIC to meet with you.
We're just a click away.
Who is doing more work in your class, you or your students?
If you would like some ideas to engage your students in activities that teach the skills and content of your course that don't result in more grading for you, contact an AIC to meet with you.
We're just a click away.
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