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Tech Tools You Can’t Live Without

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

A recent Zoom Discussion with TCEA members found us sharing the technology apps, websites, programs, and tools that we simply couldn’t live without. It was such a powerful list that I thought I would share it with you. Big thanks go to all of those members who joined the discussion and shared their favorites!

By the way, did you know that you, too, can join in our free-to-member discussions and webinars? You can join TCEA now for absolutely free through May 8, 2020. Stop missing out!

Productivity Tech Tools

Leisure Websites and Apps

  • House Party – allows you to bring in a video with one, two, or more people and then they have several games you can play together
  • Word Stacks
  • Hamster House
  • Free Rice – play vocabulary games to send rice to those in need
  • Skillshare – fabulous videos for learning art, graphic design, painting, photography, etc.
  • Pocket Frogs
  • Libby – read ebooks and listen to audio books from your public library

Add-Ons and Extensions

Smartphone Apps

Did we leave off one of your favorite tech tools? Add it in the comments below.

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Man speaking to large audience
Professional Learning

Six Steps to Easy Virtual Conference Organization

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

The day has arrived, that moment when you look around the room and say, “We’re ready.” Ready for what? To put on your own online conference. You’ve seen how others do it, and now you have the technology to get the job done. After that, it’s about the logistics, the details of organization. In this blog entry, I’ll share a few ideas about how to organize your own online conference.

Organization Is the Key

Getting organized means more than just marshaling your team of able-bodied assistants. These assistants will need to work hand-in-hand with you, or at least online, to organize the event. Some things you will need to take into consideration appear below.

#1 – Establish a Timeline for the Virtual Conference

Set dates for such things as website development, proposal submissions, etc. Setting a timeline can be critical for smaller teams to ensure the work gets done. It’s also important for larger group to facilitate collaboration and transparency. Be sure to set measurable goals, know who is doing what by when, and how to follow-up.

#2 – Set Up an Online Presence

You can do this via a website or learning management system. This will allow others to find you and make it easier for you to communicate the upcoming event. One of my favorite tools is the new Google Sites. Google Sites is easy to edit, collaborative, and integrates with Google Drive. That makes it simple to insert calendars, Docs, Sheets, and Slides files. For example, embed a Slides file that doubles as a virtual flyer that participants can blow up full screen or print.

What’s more, Google Sites is mobile responsive. That makes it a wonderful companion on the day of the session. Skip paper.

Don’t forget that a part of going virtual is knowing where to store your video content. Consider creating your own YouTube channel, then post all presentation videos there. Or, if you don’t like YouTube, use Vimeo, G Suite EDU (unlimited storage), or Microsoft OneDrive for Schools. Where you store your videos will make a difference.

My top two favorite locations are YouTube (video) and Google Drive (audio or video). Both offer unlimited storage and are easy to access for most.

Another alternative is Flipgrid.com. Flipgrid offers a powerful professional development presence if you prefer video. Imagine creating a Flipgrid grid featuring keynote/featured speakers. You can invite conference attendees to post their own responses, as well as presentations in Flipgrid topics inside the grid. Learn more online via Flipgrid.

Did You Know?

Sign up for one of our Google Certified Educator certifications. You’ll learn about more than Google Meet, as well as earn 12 CPE hours per course. Use these courses to get Google Educator certified. Find out more online.

#3 – Add a Virtual Conference App

As nice as a mobile responsive website is, you may want to organize your conference sessions as an app. You can do so in several ways. Let’s review them:

  • Google Sheets and Glide App. The Glide app is one of my favorite tools. You can organize your session schedule in Google Sheets, adding animated GIFs and images. What’s more, you can add links to session titles and have them point to the presenter’s materials. You can even put links to the video of the presentations, if an asynchronous conference. That means you change your content in the Google Sheet, and it updates in the app on people’s smartphones. Wow! And Glide makes it possible for you to open up a conversation with attendees as well.
  • Sched. This tool provides, at a discounted rate for non-profits and EDUs, a host of features.
  • Voxer. Want to create a virtual space where attendees can discuss the import of a virtual keynote? Use Voxer to set up virtual discussion rooms, audio only, that empower chats. Participants can have real-time conversations about a virtual session. Only one conference organizer would need to have a Voxer Pro account ($30 per year). You can embed links to Voxer chats in your app, too. (See the example below.)

Again, you can offer these apps as added features. Or consider running your whole conference via an app interface. You can share the app with a custom short address via social media like Twitter, bulk email, or Instagram.

See Glide app with embedded link to a Voxer chat shared online.

#4- Request Presentation Proposals

One of the easiest ways to capture presentation proposals is Google Forms. Realize that you may have to process the responses in Google Sheets. What the word “process” means in this situation is to get the data out of Google Sheets into Google Docs. This makes presentation and use of the Forms-collected data better and easier to work with.

There are several ways to process information in Sheets. One way  is to use a marketplace app like Document Studio. Another is to use Save as Doc. Both make it easier to shift data from Sheets (hard to read) into a Google Doc (easier, like mail merge). AutoCrat, yet another option, makes it possible to create PDFs, as well.

An important question to ask is, How will presenters license their content? It may seem a trivial point, but you may want to encourage participants to use Creative Commons. This makes the content re-usable. I would recommend a Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike license. Learn more about Creative Commons and open educational resources (OER). You can also read the TCEA TechNotes blog entries on the subject.

#5 – Grid Your Sessions

Figure out early how you are going to arrange your time in a virtual conference. Doing this maintains a sense of order. It grants attendees a sense of normality. Be sure to think about how much time your attendees will want to spend sitting in front of their computer screen. Allow for breaks and some networking opportunities.

virtual conference

Here’s a sample session grid you can use. Note that you can link the titles to specific pages about each session. Even if you only use the session grid for planning, it will help you organize time better. Plug in sessions as you get them. Ask yourself, “What would work better?”

#6 – Decide on Synchronous or Asynchronous

One tough aspect of any virtual conference is when it should happen. That is, should it happen in real time? If you decide on real time, synchronous discussions, scheduling can be a nightmare. You have to make sure that presenters, who may be in different time zones, know when to connect. You also have to find the appropriate virtual conferencing platform.

Option A: Synchronous

Selecting a virtual conferencing platform can be expensive. The reason why is that the free option of a platform may not scale. You could pick a platform that can handle ninety-nine participants for free. But since your virtual conference could have a few hundred people, you would fill the room. This leaves leave others out in cold cyberspace. The best platform out there now, and most popular, is Zoom.

Zoom has a lot going for it and works great on mobile devices. Imagine attending a conference while at the grocery store. Consider watching a session during breakfast. I’ve done both via Zoom. You can save the video of a session as an MP4 and then publish it later via YouTube.

Option B: Asynchronous

For asynchronous sessions, there are many benefits. For low-cost and low-stress events, this is my preference. This is a session when not all members are online at the same time. With asynchronous sessions, you can ask presenters to submit a link. That link can be to their own website featuring their resources and materials.

More importantly, you can ask the presenters to post their video on YouTube or Vimeo. The benefit of this is that everyone gets their resources and videos finished ahead of time. Then, at the scheduled time, event organizers send the video links out. They have the choice of sending them out via email, social media, or add to the event website or app.

My recommendation? Go asynchronous. You can gather all the materials by the deadline date, then publish a complete product. People can watch the event unfold as you publish videos and resources. Post conference, you can “lock up the content” or even charge others for access.

Explore Some Virtual Conference Examples

While there are many examples for successful face-to-face events, consider a few examples of virtual ones.

Example #0: TCEA’s Elementary Technology Conference

Our own elementary-focused summer PD event has gone virtual. We’ve included the opportunity to earn 14 lives CPEs, and more than 100 hours of on-demand credit. Plus, we’re working to keep the beach vibes of our traditional in-person event going, with social events, and virtual ways to explore Galveston.

Check out the details (and register!) on the Elementary Technology Conference site.

Example #1: LearnON Online Conference

Want to learn more about Microsoft OneNote? What if you could learn from expert users of Microsoft OneNote, focused on different aspects of the tool? If that’s of interest, then you would have loved this multi-day, digital event. This conference, organized by Jared DeCamp, trended in 2018. He organized various speakers and saved their video recordings to Vimeo. Then, at the appropriate time, he posted the videos to a temporary website (now offline).

Jared sold an All Access Pass that provided late-comers access to all content. That content included conference recordings and audio recordings (great for joggers and treaders). He threw in a webinar on how he used OneNote to plan events and a five-day course. Watching his one-person organization was a master-class in virtual conference management.

Takeaway: Don’t sell yourself short. One person can organize quite a bit via email and with a few video links.

Example #2: DitchSummit

Matt Miller, of Ditch That Textbook fame, has a great event every year. You can listen to his pitch for the conference. The Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit accomplishes several goals.

First, it advertises Matt’s creative efforts, such as his blog, books, and services. It also gets a lot of creative people to share their work with a global audience via short, powerful videos. Watching the videos earns participants some learning and free certificates. If you are a Texas-approved SBEC provider of CPE credits, then you can issue credit for participants, too.

Participants are often quite motivated to watch these events. You can relive the events via sketchnotes made by participants. You can see work from 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to gather a few friends and put on your own event. The more grassroots it is, the more engagement for some you are trying to build community with.

Example #3: EdCamp Voxer

This was one of the most amazing events I have participated in. I didn’t expect that audio alone would be powerful enough for a conference experience. It was. You can learn more about EdCamp Voxer at the link above.  Consider this excerpt about the event (edited):

Using Voxer, participants had instant access. They could respond to each other, even while traveling to and from family functions. Teachers had the autonomy for self-directed professional growth. The best teacher professional growth does not only occur between the walls of the school. Or at a designated time.

Participants crafted the daily agenda and contributed authentic local experiences. Time and location were no longer variables. The goal was deeper learning. It was not creating the typical surface-level echo chamber for the sake of compliance. Adapted from Randall Sampson’s article.

Today, you can use Voxer as a companion app for augmenting learning conversations.

Example #4: Online Conferences

My first introduction to an online conference was the K-12 Online Conference. Dr. Wesley Fryer was one of the early organizers. You can find the archived content online. It ran from 2006 through 2018, so there is a lot of content. Explore it to see all the amazing content generated at no cost to anyone.

Note how video is used to introduce a wide range of sessions being offered.

Example #5: Global Education Conference

Another online conference is the Global Education Conference. Steve Hargadon and Lucy Gray continue to organize and work on this conference. Since the conference is still ongoing, you can see how they organized it at their website.

In this blog entry, I’ve shared some steps and examples for organizing your own virtual conference. There are many details, but if you take your time, you can put together an incredible conference. The technologies available now make conferencing online easy. Give it a try.

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knowt
Good Teaching

Test-Enhanced Learning Made Simple with Knowt

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

The research is clear: rereading a text doesn’t work as well as taking a test over the material. Known as retrieval practice, it involves students studying a passage of text. Then, students take a low-stakes test about it. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a tool that empowers students to make their own tests.

The Testing Effect

“Retrieval practice” involves frequent testing or quizzing. Students take practice tests over a period of time. This pushes them to recall material from memory. In time, this assists students with remembering the material. Research shows that students recall more information from practice testing than rereading.

Practice testing has an effect size of .46. The Visible Learning Meta X database describes it in this way:

Practice testing is a well-established strategy for improving student learning. The aim of practice testing is to support long-term retention. It is also to increase access to retrieving the “to-be-remembered” information. Sometimes called retrieval practice, practice testing, or test-enhanced learning.

Let’s take a look at some research. These results compare studying versus practice testing as a way to increase retention:

  • Studying
    • Need information retained for a short time? Study it.
    • Studying over fewer, longer sessions is less effective than its alternative. The alternative is spacing out the intervals of study over a longer period of time. This is called Spaced vs massed practice and enjoys an effect size of .65.
  • Practice Testing
    • Need long-term retention of information? Use practice testing.
    • Testing has a greater impact than repeated study when done over time.
    • Testing after reading improves students’ ability to answer questions. That includes questions that are “in the text” and “in the head.”
    • Testing done once a day after covering material increased retention
    • Students tested often had increased retention.
    • It doesn’t matter what form the questions take. Students gain the benefit of practice testing regardless of question type. All questions were as effective as the others at enhancing the students’ learning. Question types include:
      • multiple-choice,
      • short-answer, and
      • hybrid questions

You can deepen the impact of practice testing if students receive feedback. Delayed feedback yields better results. That’s no surprise since feedback has an effect size of .64 itself.

What’s convenient about practice testing is teachers or students can create the test. The question is, what’s the best way to do that?

Reviewing High-Effect Size Strategies

Before we jump into the technology side of this, notice that there may be a happy confluence. The confluence is of high-effect size strategies that include the following:

It’s easy to see how these powerful strategies speed growth in a year and a half in a school year. Ok, now that’s out of the way, let’s review some technology tools.

Ways to Create Practice Tests

Although teachers can make a practice test, there’s a benefit to students making it. No doubt, teachers are making tests using various tools that support quizzing.

Some of those tools teachers use include the following:

While students can use these tools, there is another one available.

Student-Created Quizzes

As a high school student, I stumbled upon a technique that I wish someone had told me about earlier. That is, how to read a selection of text then select content that might appear on a test. At the time, I did not create a test. I highlighted, wrote down or summarized critical test information. It was only later that I would reformulate my notes into test questions. This technique was quite effective in history classes, which I made straight “As” in.

Students can now use a free service to turn their notes into practice quizzes. Students can use an online notebook, or import their notes. The imported notes can be in Google Docs, or Word format. Once imported, the student click a button and their notes get turned into a quiz.

Wondering what the digital tool is that can students can use? Asking yourself what tool can they use to get a .47 effect size boost to knowledge retention? Let’s find out.

Meet Knowt: Get to Know Your Notes

Students can take their online notes, click a button, and a quiz appears. Knowt features fill in the blank, multiple choice or short answer questions. Recall that question type doesn’t matter for practice testing. Instead, it’s the repetition on a daily basis to allow for spaced practice (.65 effect size).

For fun, I asked Knowt to import a tough Google Doc. The Google Doc? Matching High-Effect Size Instructional Strategies and Digital Tools. It created a twenty-five question quiz out of the content.

Here’s the first question:

In case you’re wondering, the answer is C. Performance. How did Knowt do this? Knowt describes their process in this way:

First, we take your notes and analyze them using machine learning. On our server, the A.I. determines the best question formats for each sentence. Once it knows the best questions, the algorithm sends it to the web or mobile app for you to take a quiz. It only takes seconds. At the end, you get great quizzes that are custom made from your notes that you can take anywhere you go.

In this 25-question quiz that I created from complicated content, the questions made sense and worked. Here’s what my notes looked like in Knowt:

Fiction vs Non-Fiction

For fun, I decided to drop one of my favorite stories into Knowt. The story? Frank Stockton’s The Lady or the Tiger (online).  One of my favorite teachers, Fr Richard O’Shaughnessy, introduced it to my classmates and I. Like everyone else, we agonized over the ending.

Knowt turned the story into another 25-question quiz. Some of the questions were not reasonable, but if you have to know it cold, Knowt works great.

Watch a Video

Need a quick way to get started? Check out esteemed educator, Richard Bryne, as he shares a demo of GetKnowt.

A teacher’s edition is under development and is due out in April 2020. That’s right around the corner. Sign up for the beta.

Making an AI-powered quiz of study materials has never been easier. Give Knowt a try. Want to share quizzes you create as a teacher? The Knowt Teacher’s Edition makes it possible. It also features a class section, student management, and more. Pilot programs for the teacher’s edition are also available.

Image Source

Feature image. Screenshot by author.

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Good Teaching

How to Increase Reading Fluency with Repeated Reading Strategies

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

How do you increase a child’s reading fluency? It’s a question that seems to have an easy answer. One common response is that you give them more opportunities to listen to others as they read. You also make it important for them to read aloud and then provide them feedback on their reading. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a high-effect size instructional strategy that can increase reading fluency and explore some ways technology can make implementing this strategy easier.

A Quick Review

If you’ve been following the TCEA TechNotes blog, you’ve sensed our new focus on the work of John Hattie. Hattie conducted meta-analyses of research on instructional strategies. Some strategies fall above what he characterized as the “hinge point,” or an effect size of .40. Strategies that speed up student growth in one year fall above the hinge point. For example, the jigsaw approach (1.20) yields three years of growth in one year when used in a consistent way. Reciprocal teaching (.74) yields almost two year’s growth in one year.

Picking a high-effect size strategy is not enough. These strategies also fall into general categories. They include “surface,” “deep,” or “transfer” learning. That’s because Hattie defines learning in this way:

…the process of developing sufficient surface knowledge to then move to deeper understanding such that one can appropriately transfer this learning to new tasks and situations. (Source: Visible Learning for Literacy)

Jigsaw is a surface learning approach that assists students in two ways. Fisher, Frey, and Hattie says that surface learning consists of two sub-phases. The first to help students acquire, summarize, and outline a topic. The second is to practice testing and receiving feedback. As you might imagine, the jigsaw approach works great for this.

Reciprocal teaching focuses on comprehension. As such, the goal is to assist students to transition. That transition is from surface knowledge to a deeper, conceptual understanding. Knowing when and why you will use a strategy remains important. Neither strategy (e.g. jigsaw, reciprocal teaching) would be appropriate for developing decoding as a part of reading fluency, which is our primary concern in this blog entry.

Definition: Decoding: Decoding is the ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words. Understanding these relationships gives children the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure out words they haven’t seen before. (Source: Reading Rockets)
Definition: Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. (Source: Reading Rockets)

Developing Decoding Skills

Listening to teachers at a professional development event, one teacher pointed something out. She made a connection to the type of problem reciprocal teaching solves. “Students first need to move beyond the mechanics of reading. They need to become fluent readers first.” Reciprocal teaching addresses a different problem. That problem is, “What if students are fluent readers, but cannot comprehend what they read?” But what about those students who haven’t overcome the mechanics of decoding?

Why Decoding and Fluency Are Important

Students, from grades one through middle school, may encounter decoding challenges. This might also be true for older students learning a second language. Timothy Shanahan  offers the need to:

  • Get students to read the author’s words in an accurate manner.
  • Read texts at about the speed of oral language.
  • Make reading sound like language. This involves pausing in the right places so that text makes sense.

While there are several approaches for addressing decoding, repeated reading offers one approach. It works for young readers as well as middle school students. Repeated reading (effect size of .75) enables students to move from decoding to meaning:

Repeated reading involves students reading the same passage (=>3x) to teachers. When the student miscues, the teacher can read the correct word aloud. Then, the student rereads the passage until reaching a satisfactory reading level.

Repeated Reading Approach

There are several other approaches to achieve repeated reading effectively. One way is to have a student listen to a passage read aloud by the teacher. Then the student reads it to himself several times. Then, the student reads it aloud. The teacher calculates the rate, accuracy, intonation, pacing, and expressiveness and reports this to the student along with elapsed time. The student re-reads the passage again with this information in mind. The student has the goal of improving these elements.

How could classroom technologies facilitate repeated reading as a strategy? Let’s consider one of the challenges teachers and students face.

Opportunity for Repetition with Repeated Reading

One of the challenges teachers and students may encounter with repeated reading is the opportunity for repetition. A teacher with a large class may be unable to read for each child. Carol Chomsky suggested another approach that involves teachers recording a selection to audiotape. Students are then invited to record themselves as well.

With modern technologies, teachers have several options:

  • Option #1: Use Flipgrid. The teacher can read the text, modeling facial expressions and word formation for students. This is great for dramatic readings since students can see it. In return, students can record themselves reading their text. They can submit as many repeated responses as they like. What’s more, Flipgrid includes Microsoft’s Immersive Reader. This makes it a fantastic addition given Immersive Reader’s features.
  • Option #2: Seesaw. Teachers can share an audio/video recording of a reading, then invite students to leave a video/audio recording of their repeated reading. This is great because it makes archiving and tracking student growth easy for sharing via Seesaw.
  • Option #3: Google Slides or PowerPoint Online. The teacher can display text to be read on screen via a slide and then insert an audio recording. Students can then record their own versions for a particular number of times (three to five times) before turning it in to their teacher.
  • Option #4: Use web-based audio recorder. Using a web-based audio recorder, the teacher or student can record audio. Copies of recorded items can be saved to Google Drive, OneDrive, or submitted as part of Microsoft/Google Forms.

These are great options to use because they result in a record of reading, and it can be dramatic to see growth over time. What’s more, they make it easier for the teacher to provide corrective feedback. Corrective feedback has a significant impact on fluency and comprehension.

“Repeated readings has been the most researched and successful approach to improving reading fluency,” says Lauren Nienhuis. These technology tools mentioned can assist you in maximizing your impact on student readers. Give them a try for repeated reading.

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G Suite EDU
ChromebooksGoogle Tips and Tricks

Overcome Five Challenges in G Suite EDU Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Looking for G Suite EDU goodness? Then you need look no further than this blog post. In it, we’ll explore a few ways educators are using G Suite EDU tools to resolve classroom challenges. Let’s take a moment to review some of the main challenges that educators face.

A quick list of challenges includes:

  1. Providing individualized feedback to students
  2. Encouraging collaboration with experts and peers
  3. Learning Google Classroom
  4. Viewing educational YouTube videos in the classroom
  5. Locating top Chrome apps and extensions

Ready to get started? Here we go.

G Suite EDU Challenge #1: Individual Student Feedback

In this video, Sean Thompson shares how educators can more easily provide individualize feedback to students who then review the feedback and then hold formative, reflective discussions one on one with you.

The video uses two tools you may be familiar with, along with a third you may not. The third tool is one you may be unaware of, the Autocrat extension. Autocrat features a simple description that belies great functionality:

Autocrat is an easy to use, flexible document merge tool. It makes creation of PDF or shared Documents from a spreadsheet straightforward. Autocrat is a multi-purpose document merge tool. It allows you to take data from a spreadsheet and merge it into a document via a template.  Tell Autocrat which fields to merge via <>. Then, let Autocrat mass-generate personalized documents.  You can also send the documents as email attachments.  Or, when new forms are submitted, let Autocrat automation take over. This automation means less oversight from you, making your job easier. (Source: Adapted from Autocrat G Suite Marketplace)

The other two tools include Google Forms and Sheets. You may want to watch other videos in this series.

G Suite EDU
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G Suite EDU Challenge #2: Foster Collaboration via Expert Cards

Wish you could have students self-identify as guides on the side for other learners? You might want to try this approach that Zak Kolar suggests. He writes:

I used these “expert” cards with 5th graders for a Google Sites project last year. Students who are more experienced place “expert” cards on their desks. That signals to other students they can answer questions related to a certain area. Those areas include inserting images, creating links, changing layouts, etc.

Zak points out that this approach frees him up to circulate and answer tougher questions. Adapt the approach for both technical and content-related challenges. Teaching students self-assessment can be helpful. When students learn to check or assess their own learning, this can be quite powerful. As such, you can see a gradual release of responsibility when students own their learning. They may begin with you checking for understanding, but as they gain confidence, they move on to self-checks. As they gain knowledge, they can becomes aides to others.

You can see specific ways in these links:

Why make the effort to empower students to self assess? John Hattie explains that students are accurate at self-assessment. As their own critics, they set goals and want to achieve them. To do this, students might follow a specific process that culminates in expert cards:

  1. Students set goals for themselves. Teachers provide descriptive feedback to help them know what they need.
  2. Pupils predict their performance before they begin a task or series of tasks. For a quiz or test, students compare their actual performance with their prediction. 
  3. Learners then reflect and reconcile the difference between the two. This enables students to gain insight. Are they meeting their set goals on a specific assessment? (Source: Chris Bettiol) 

Self-reported grades empower students. Zak’s expert cards appear as the visual acknowledge of student expectations well-met.

G Suite EDU Challenge #3: Learn Google Classroom

Every time I use Google Classroom, I’m amazed at the new features. As you might imagine, the wealth of new features makes keeping up difficult. Let’s explore three miscellaneous questions that have come up about this tool.

Question #1:  “If a person gets added to Classroom later in the term, does he/she receive all the assignments? Does the new person get earlier assignments and stuff?”

Response:  “Yes, that person will have all of the stuff that everyone else in the class has.” (Source: Heather Dawson)

Question #2: “I am a robotics teacher at 4 schools. I have a different Google Classroom at each school that I access with an email address for that school. I have created a quiz at one of the schools. Is there a way to move that quiz to each of the other classrooms without entering the information again?”

Response: “Make a shared drive or a shared folder that all of your email addresses have editing access. Then anything you put in that folder will be accessible to each classroom.” (Source: Laurie Anastasio)

Question #3:  “How are you using G Suite EDU to maximize efficiency? That is, when creating standards scales, data/standard tracking (teacher & student)?”

Responses: 

  • “I made a standards based “gradebook” for my 3rd grade co-teacher. Used Sheets. You could make a master copy for yourself and import the formulas. This will make an individual one for each student and share that with each student and parent. You can also use Autocrat to have the info pulled from your sheet into a google doc. Then, have it share with students and parents.”
  • “Two videos on grading with rubrics (Video #1: Create Rubrics | Video #2: Grading with Rubrics).”

Challenge #4: View YouTube Videos in the Classroom

How can my students watch YouTube videos without advertisements? That’s the substance of questions I’ve received. Another G Suite EDU user asks the following: 

“I have a set of videos a teacher has asked students to watch from YouTube. I can access them as an administrator, but for students, it says the video is unavailable. “This video is restricted. Try signing in with a Google Apps account.” Student attempted with both GAFE and personal accounts and still could not access. Any ideas?

There can be several responses that result in a positive outcome. Most rely on what your school district’s policy is on YouTube. For example, some schools may put a block on YouTube for students when accessed via wireless (a.k.a. WiFi). Teachers may have to submit those web links to allow for access.  Unfortunately, another possibility may include student honesty. Jennifer Brower states the following:

This happens to students under 13 who have signed into YouTube and give their real age. Hooray for them not lying, but it means YouTube now restricts them from a lot, even if we have approved the video. Tech hasn’t found a way to get around it as it is YouTube’s policy that under 13 isn’t supposed to have access.

Other educators may choose to use websites like Viewpure, Safeshare. Another possibility for ad blocking includes a Chrome browser extension Video Adblocker for YouTube. Want an alternative solution that is cost-free? Use Wakelet to create a video playlist. Learn more about this solution via this Wakelet on creating a YouTube Video Playlist. Learn more about Using YouTube Videos in the Classroom.

Challenge #5: Top Chrome Apps and Extensions

Want to start a fight in the teachers’ lounge? Ask “What are your top Chrome must haves for approved student apps and extensions?” and you will be sure to get it started. Here are some responses in alphabetical order from other educators. How would you rate this list? What would you include or remove?

Note: Descriptions excerpted from the Chrome Web Store.

  • Clever: Clever is a Chrome extension that enables students and teachers to log in to their applications.
  • Draftback: Draftback lets you play back the revision history of any Google Doc you can edit.
  • Fun Text: Applies fun effects to your text, such as Rainbow, Growing, Upside down, and much more. 
  • Goobric: Facilitates rubric-based assessment. Includes two different Chrome extensions and works in collaboration with the Doctopus Add-on for Google Sheets.
  • Grammarly:  From grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly helps you eliminate writing errors and find the perfect words to express yourself. You’ll get suggestions from Grammarly as you write.
  • Insert Learning:  Insert instructional content on any web page. Teachers can insert questions, discussions, and insight directly into any website. When students go to that website, they can respond to those questions and discussions. They can also take their own notes.
  • Kami: Allows you to take any existing document and enhance it in your browser. Annotate scanned PDFs, as well as write, draw, type, comment, augment.
  • LastPass Free Password Manager:  LastPass saves your passwords. It then gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device. Only remember one password – your LastPass master password. Save all your usernames and passwords to LastPass. It will autologin to your sites and sync your passwords everywhere you need them.
  • LucidChart Diagrams: The easiest way to draw flowcharts, mockups, UML, mind maps and more.
  • PearDeck:  Pear Deck is an add-on for Google Slides that will allow teachers to ask students questions. Students will be prompted to answer your questions as you advance your slides. Read these TCEA blog entries featuring PearDeck.
  • Read and Write:  Offers text-to-speech to hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting, and more. Read this TCEA blog entry. 
  • Screencastify:   Capture, edit and share videos in seconds. Read TCEA blog entries featuring Screencastify.
  • WriQ:  WriQ helps teachers assess student writing, provide valuable feedback, in Google Docs.

Looking for more ideas? John Sowash has a nice list online. And here’s my list. Remember, avoid Chrome extension overload for yourself and students by introducing a new extension when needed and not before.

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Good Teaching

You’ll Be Thankful for the “Gobble Gobble” Breakout

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

It might feel like Christmas is already upon us, judging from the decorations already adorning homes and storefronts. But don’t count out Thanksgiving — especially when there’s a great educational breakout all about Turkey Day that you can use right now! This breakout is great for upper elementary students and above but you know your students best.

Breaking Into Breakouts

A breakout is a bit like an escape room but on a smaller (and safer) scale. Students are challenged to use clues to open locks, and ultimately finish the game. My Thanksgiving-themed breakout, which I developed in 2017, is entirely digital. A digital breakout does not require a physical box and locks, like traditional breakouts. Instead, this type of breakout needs a web page on a Google Site. The page can include images, text, and hidden hyperlinks that students can use to solve digital puzzles.

A Google Form is used to create the digital locks. In order for a Google Form question to act as a lock, the question needs to have the response validation selected. You can find this option by clicking the “Skinny Snowman” (three horizontal dots) in the lower right-hand corner of each question. The most common locks are Direction, Color, Number, Word, Letter, and Date.

Gobble Up the Gobble Gobble Breakout

Screenshot by author.

This one’s not only a fun challenge but it’s filled with interesting facts about the holiday. Did you know Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey, which he called “a respectable bird,” to be our national animal, instead of the bald eagle? Or that Thanksgiving became a national holiday due, in large part, to one pioneering woman?

Jump in, learn even more, and see if you can break out!

Access the Gobble Gobble Breakout

Remember that if you need a hint or two, please email me at preimers@tcea.org. And be sure to check out our other digital breakouts here. Happy Breaking Out!

More Thanksgiving Resources

Ready-to-Use Thanksgiving Resources

Give Thanks with Google Forms

Gratitude Activities for You and Your Students

Native American Heritage Day

Gratitude Towers for Social-Emotional Learning

Thanksgiving Digital Resources

Tips, Tricks, and Tech Tidbits: Thanksgiving Resources, Names, Templates, and More

More Breakouts
Fall Is Here Breakout
The Merry Merry Breakout
Bonus: Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Featured image created by TCEA.

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iPads
ChromebooksGoogle Tips and Tricks

TCEA Responds: Move That G Suite Data

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Dear TCEA Responds:

Does someone have a document they share with students and staff that are leaving the district in regards to their Google accounts? I’m looking for something that explains how to transfer ownership (whether through sharing or Google Takeout). Thanks in advance!

-Ron

Dear Ron:

Getting ready to move on, but not sure how to take all that Google Drive goodness with you? Maybe you want to move those emails out. Stay tuned since this blog entry will cover tips and techniques for getting your work data, email, and stored files into a personal Google account. Let’s start with the hardest item first, Gmail.

Ridding Yourself of Detritus

The first thing you need to do is ensure you aren’t grabbing confidential, student data, or sensitive information. These are bits and bytes you do not want subject to open records requests. Make sure to delete those items with personally identifiable information (PII) about staff or students. Did you subscribe to JC Penny’s or Macy’s sales with your work email account? Get rid of those messages. Maybe your Google Drive is full of content shared with you? Time to clean that up.

Clearing Your Inbox and Archived Mail

Next, you will need to run some searches and remove emails with attachments (use the has:attachments search to find those). Get rid of unwanted calendar invites (search: “Invitation:” or “Updated Invitation” or “Canceled”). Eliminate any shared document invitations, too. Search on “drive-shares-noreply@google.com” to find and then delete them. Are you a member of any Google Groups? Do you really need all those emails? Throw those out. Remove your labels and message filters. You can do that one by one on the left-hand side of the screen or go into Settings to remove them in bulk.

One last tip for essential emails: Create a folder/label with all the messages you want to keep. Taking these steps ensures you have eliminated all the detritus.

Tips for Emptying Your Google Drive

This next tip requires you to be ruthless. Over time, your Google Drive has gathered a lot of junk. What you need to do is decide what is worth keeping and what needs to be done away with (think “Does it bring me joy?”. Create three folders you can drag-and-drop content into. Here are the three folders:

  • Keep folder. This folder is where you house all your worthwhile content that you want to save.
  • My Shared Items folder.  This is for items that you have created, but others depend on. This includes Google Forms and the Sheets where responses are saved. If there is something you need to keep (a select form or response sheet), make a copy of it and then drag it over to the Keep folder.
  • Other folder. Put anything you don’t want to keep in this folder.

Now that you are done, you have several options to get backups of your G Suite data, including your email and  Google Drive. One easy way to clean it out before sorting is to use the Google Drive Cleaner. It will go through your Drive and remove any duplicate files you may have. Read more about this process.

Preparation’s Over, Work Begins

Now that you have your essential emails and files in Drive, and little else, you are ready to back them up. The old Google Takeout makes it easy to save all your Google content as files you can save on your computer or a USB external flash drive.  The main benefit is that it lets you get copies of much more than Drive and Gmail. You can get Google Photos, Google Sites, Blogger posts, etc.

While it works well, you are going to need a program like MS Office 365 to open the files. You may want to rely on a free, open source solution (FOSS) solution like LibreOffice, OpenOffice, or NeoOffice. All of these work on Windows, Mac, or GNU/Linux operating systems, but not Chromebook.

Recommendation: Use Google Takeout Transfer on any device with a web browser to back up your email and Google Drive from G Suite EDU to your personal Google email and Drive.

If you need a solution for Chromebooks, give Google Takeout Transfer a try. If it’s not been locked up as an option, you can use this easy option. It copies all the email and files you own. When you set this up, you will be able to copy content from your school account to a personal Gmail account. Before you see the screen below, you will be asked to verify your personal Gmail account. Make sure that you have sufficient space to house all your school content.

takeout

Once you have started the copy, you will get an email letting you know the process will take a week or so.

takeout

Google creates in your email folders/labels a special folder with the date and time. The folder name is “Moved.” Don’t worry, the original copy remains in your school inbox. After the content arrives in your inbox, you will see a new folder or label like the one shown below:

You will see a copy of your email in the box. Once you have the emails in your inbox, you can move them to whatever other folder or label you want them to be in (e.g. “School”). Since you can run this process daily, you can clean out your inbox with the same frequency.

For Google Drive, you will see something similar. Depending on the quantity and type of files, the process can take longer. An approach you can use instead of Google Takeout to copy files from school/work G Suite Drive to personal Google Drive is Copy Folder for Google Drive. This is a web-based script that makes it easy to copy Drive content from G Suite EDU to your personal Google Drive. Use Joseph Wood’s tutorial for Copy Folder to get started.

Move That G Suite Data

Using Google Takeout’s Transfer option, you can copy email and Drive content from work to your personal account. You can use additional web-based scripts to clean out your Drive or Copy Folders from one drive to another. Need more on the subject? Try this Google Help page.

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gauges for assessing conditions
Digital LiteracyLeadership

Effectively Assessing Digital Learning

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“I’m working on a technology grant. We have to assess students in grades 5-8. I need a free, cheap digital literacy assessment for 5-8th grade,” Janet said. “Do you have any ideas?” The question made me pause for a moment, casting back over time. Where had I seen such an assessment before? Mankato Public Schools had one, a simple listing of technology skills for students. That had been over twelve years ago. Learning.com has such an assessment, but it costs money. Then, I had a flash of insight. Was a list of digital skills the best way to approach this?

In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few of the challenges with digital skill lists. The road to digital assessments is fraught with good intentions.

Good Intentions

The reason why is simple. The question make some suppositions. It suggests that student technology assessments center around digital SKILLS. Instead, digital learning is the desired focus.  I’m tempted to offer a list of digital skills/tools that students need to be familiar with. We achieve effective digital learning when students exhibit control. That is, control over time, place, path, and/or pace (Source: Digital Now report as cited by Dr. Chris Moersch). This suggests that students must have control over their own learning.

How Students Learn Best

When you consider how students learn best, you are not alone. We know how they learn best. This Adobe Education Report highlights best learning strategies. It suggests that students learn best when teachers:

  • Use digital media (videos/podcasts)
  • Engage learners with hands-on experiences
  • Scaffold team-building skills
  • Pose real-world problems for solution development

Assessing Student Learning

As you might imagine, assessing student learning is not a spectator sport. Rather than administer a survey, walk the campus to see what is happening. Use an observational framework, like HEAT or Triple E, to gain insight. You can’t assess students’ digital learning without considering how teachers teach. You could plan a survey with simple list of technology skills, but how effective is that? This will gain you a self-reported, invalid, and perhaps unreliable instrument.

Instead, use a research-based instrument such as the two observational frameworks mentioned. Still want something your students can pass out? Brightbytes’ Clarity has a student survey that provides some insight. Or, if you are gathering information, consider using the Speak Up Survey questions. These would provide some information, and you might mix-and-match the following:

You will want to check with the Speak Up Survey developers due to copyright.

Want to try something else?

Create Your Own Survey Instrument

If you want to create an instrument that is not researched (valid or reliable), you can try this approach for fun. Take the HEAT Lesson Scoring Guide. Develop questions based on that framework, which will result in a shorter survey. This may focus less on digital skills and more on digital learning taking place.

You can use a tool like Microsoft or Google Forms to collect data. This would capture the results and then summarize them in graphical format. In the next section, you will find sample questions you can customize for your own use.

Sample Student Assessment

Below, please find an unscientific assessment keen on measuring digital learning.

Question #1 : What kinds of things do you create with technology? (Check all that apply)

  • Videos
  • Audio/podcasts
  • Slideshows with audio or video
  • Typed documents I share online via the web (e.g. blogs, wikis)
  • Typed documents I turn in to my teacher or are printed for sharing
  • Information with numbers and graphs
  • I don’t use technology to create anything

Question #2: How do you show what you know?

  1. I decide what problem I’m going to solve and I work with others (outside my classroom).
  2. I decide what I am going to do when working on a project with others (inside my classroom).
  3. I decide what and how I’m going to work on something using technology.
  4. I do what the teacher tells me to do.

Question #3 – Does the work you do as a student impact a real life issue, theme, or problem?

  1. Yes, I use technology to create solutions for real problems.
  2. Yes, I use technology to explore real-life problems to solve with my teacher’s help.
  3. My teacher tells me what real-life problem I will solve.
  4. My teacher tells me what to do; I don’t know if it’s a real-life problem or not.

Question #4 – How do you decide what technology to use?

  1. I decide what technology I will use to learn something.
  2. I decide what things (not technology) I will use to learn about something and do it.
  3. My teacher decides what technology and/or things I will use to learn something.
  4. Technology and/or things are not needed to learn something, but they are nice to have.
  5. Technology and/or things to help me learn are not available or used.

Assessing Digital Learning

Don’t like these questions and responses? They may work for fifth graders and above.  That aside, how are you assessing digital learning for students and staff in your organization?

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research-based strategies
Educational Research

Research-Based Strategies: Part 4

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

This blog series has been examining some powerful research-based strategies that can accelerate student learning. We examined the research behind the strategies in Part 1, the use of classroom discussion and micro-teaching/video review of lessons in Part 2, and the strategies of teacher credibility and conceptual change programs in Part 3. In this blog, we will look at two more learning techniques that teachers should be using today.

Strategy Number 5: Jigsaw Method

research-based strategiesThe jigsaw method is a cooperative learning technique that has been around a long time in schools. It’s powerful because it makes students dependent on each other (and not the teacher) to succeed. Students are divided into small groups  of five or six each. One student assumes the role of the leader, either assigned by the teacher, as a volunteer, or chosen by the group members. The teacher divides the day’s learning into five or six pieces and gives only that piece to one person in each group. Students study their piece for a few minutes and then get into “expert” groups with others who also have the same piece of information. In the expert group, the students discuss the most important aspects of their piece and how they might best teach it to their peers. Then the “experts” disband and go back to their original groups where they share their learning. You can learn more about the jigsaw method here.

Hattie found that the jigsaw method, when taught to students and then used regularly, had an effect size of 1.20. If you wanted to add a technology component to it, you could have each expert create a screencast, blog, or podcast of his/her piece to share with the rest of their classmates. They could also draw it using Google Draw.

Strategy Number 4: Response to Intervention

With an effect size of 1.29, RTI is a strong learning strategy, not only for students who are struggling, but for all students as needed for various content topics. In RTI, the teacher screens students early on to see who is at risk, decides whether supporting intervention will be given in class or out of class, uses research-based teaching strategies within the chosen intervention setting, closely monitors the progress, and adjusts the strategies being used when enough progress is not being made.

Technology that supports response to intervention includes Google Classroom, blended learning, and formative assessment tools such as Nearpod, Socrative, Google Forms, etc.

Strategies 1-3

Next week, we’ll examine the top three strategies and how they can be used in the classroom, both with and without technology.

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Photo by Arthur Lambillotte on Unsplash
Content AreasEducational TrendsGood Teaching

Five Ways to Succeed with Personalized Learning

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Ready to bring about transformation in your school district? As principal or department head, you’ve embraced personalized learning (PL). But now, you need to learn how to speed up its adoption and full integration. In this blog entry, we’ll revisit personalized learning. You will see successful strategies aligned to the research and best practices. See how technology can make adoption of PL faster.

Defining Personalized Learning

PL is not one-size-fits-all learning. It represents a diverse program encompassing a wide variety of instructional approaches. The strategies seek to address students’ individual needs. All educational programs, learning experiences, instructional approaches ,and academic support strategies are available. It’s all about whatever works best for enhancing student-centered learning.

What Is Best for You?

The role of educators in personalized learning environment has shifted (Source: iNACOL). The shift puts educators in the roles of mentors, coaches, and learning facilitators. More to the point, students take ownership and assume control of their learning, which means that learning becomes grounded in students’ interests and passions. Approaches like differentiated instruction and personalized learning plans become critical. What’s more, project-based learning and eportfolios aligned to standards-based knowledge and skills predominate.

A Splash of Cold Water: New Research Findings

However, a new research report reveals challenges about making personalized learning a reality. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded a study via CRPE. The results splash cold water on successful adoption of personalized learning in schools. The study focused on two questions:

  • How do teachers and principals go about designing and implementing personalized learning approaches?
  • How does the organization’s environment support or impede school-level innovation and its spread?

In the report, the authors assert:

  • Personalized learning implementation efforts were not systemic or systematic. These efforts were not blended into the existing system.
  • Teachers and principals lacked what they needed to install PL-motivated classroom practices.
  • Principals failed to provide coordination to convert teacher innovations into replicable, campus practices.

Cooperation stimulates the human brain. (Source). “Human beings have evolved to get pleasure from cooperation,” says Dr. Robert Sussman. Achieving personalized learning, therefore, must involve cooperation.

Make PL a Reality

Are you ready to make personalized learning a reality? Take these report recommendations to heart. To assist you, find specific tips below. Each will help amplify your awareness of the necessary steps. Follow these steps to make personalized learning a reality on your campus. Let’s get started.

1-Embed Coaching Supports

Read the research on coaching? If you haven’t, you need to move to adopt coaching at your organization. Here are a few TCEA resources to get you started and moving in the right direction.

  • The Power of Video Coaching: Video coaching for professional learning is much easier. Learn how to put in place coaching to transform teaching and learning.
  • Coaching Made Less Difficult: Embrace the power of collegial coaching and set up mentees and coaches for success.
  • Effective Peer Coaching Tips and Resources: Peer coaching is a growing trend. It can help teachers integrate technology to engage students. Take advantage of these tips and resources to get started at your campus.

These three coaching resources provide all you need to embed coaching supports. With these supports in place, you can begin the journey towards personalized learning.

2-Change Management Support

Managing any new system can be dangerous as leaders face tough challenges. Being grounded in change management theory remains critical. Personalized learning represents a destruction of the old system. Here are a few TCEA blog entries to scaffold your change efforts:

3-Adopt Knowledge Management Strategies

Knowledge sharing remains a key tenet of successful organizations. The knowledge management process focuses on creating, sharing, using ,and managing knowledge and information. Often this information and knowledge is only in the heads of one or two people. Externalize that knowledge for longevity.

Most schools lack continuity of purpose. Embrace these simple practices and technologies to make knowledge sharing do-able. Technologies include:

Tools abound. Make the commitment to engage in meta-thinking about school and district practices.

4-Establish Communities of Practice

Creating communities of practice can be easier with today’s tools. Two reliable tools include:

  • Microsoft Teams: This provides one-stop shopping for all your meeting needs from live video/audio chat and text on your computer and smartphone to embedded content. You can even create professional learning communities (PLCs). Combine PLCs based in Teams with a OneNote Staff Notebook.
  • Google Classroom: Use Google Classroom within the Google Suites for Education.

Extra, free tools like Microsoft Forms or Google Forms can make data collection easier.

5-Seek Out Innovation Partners

Ready to expand your personalized learning initiative? Partner with individuals and organizations that are adept at personalized learning. Here are a few to start with:

Embrace Innovative Learning

Be sure to join us at the Innovative Learning Strategies conference for a learning experience focused on the intersection of strong pedagogy and technology integration. Sessions will share the best teaching practices and research-based strategies around innovative technology trends will be elaborated on.

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