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Technology Solutions That Drive Education

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It's no secret that Google applications make teachers' work easier and more effective.

The latest version of Google Forms, for instance, can not only simplify administrative tasks but also give teachers new outlets for connecting with parents and students.

Jennifer Carey, the director of educational technology at the Ransom Everglades School in Miami, Fla., offers a glimpse of recently added features in a post on Daily Genius. She writes that Google Form users can now:

View responses as they are submitted

Insert videos and images into survey questions

Create multiple choice grids that prevent respondents from selecting the same column twice

Publish Forms with pre-filled responses

Insert useful add-ons, such as formLimiter and Choice Eliminator 2

As educators begin to master these new capabilities, they can also explore a few of the tried-and-true ways teachers already use Google Forms in the classroom:
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1. Creating assessments for students

Teacher Tech blogger Alice Keeler, who earned honors on EdTech's 2016 Must-Read K-12 IT Blogs list, spells out five steps for assessing students through Google Forms:

1. Create the Google Forms quiz.

2. Create the Google Sheet for housing student responses.

3. Create an answer key by taking the assessment yourself.

4. Freeze the row containing the answer key.

5. Set conditional formatting before students begin the assessment.

While Keeler's final recommendation is by far the most complicated, it's also the most helpful. The conditional formatting feature of Google Forms allows teachers to color code the background of student responses to simplify grading. Responses that exactly match the text in the frozen answer key automatically turn green, while all other responses will turn red.

2. Building easy-to-use rubrics that can be shared with students

In a post on Whooo's Reading? - another of EdTech 's Must-Read blogs - Google for Education Certified Trainer Shawn Beard says he traded his clipboard for a tablet when he discovered the time-saving benefits of using Google Forms to grade student presentations.

Complete with an interactive template, his instructions spell out two ways to set up a rubric within the app: by rating performance on a linear scale or by assigning students number-based scores.

Beard also recommends that teachers use the autoCrat add-on for Google Forms to merge rubric results with a Google Doc that can then be emailed to students.

"In this way, students will receive their grade in a timely manner, and you can save time and effort by grading as you observe," he writes.

This Google Forms rubric template can help teachers get started. Source: Whooo's Reading?

3. Collecting web-based assignments

Google for Education Certified Trainer Adam Schoenbart says he's found a niche function for the Google Forms app.

"Google Forms are my go-to for work that I want to share," he writes on his blog.

As an English teacher at Ossining High School in Ossining, N.Y., Schoenbart uses the app to collect links to his students' web-based work and then leverages Google Sheets to facilitate sharing.

"After researching elements of Greek mythology, my students created storybook presentations and turned in the link on a Google Form," he writes. "Then, I organized the form results and published them to the web to create the Antigone Project Database."

Schoenbart's students accessed and critiqued one another's work through the published Sheet.

"The Sheet becomes a living archive of our creations and learning, as well as shared notes," he writes.

4. Soliciting feedback from parents or students

While online surveys are one of the more basic functions of Google Forms, they can be quite handy - especially for teachers looking to collect honest feedback from anonymous respondents.

Blogger Monica Parsons, a fourth-grade teacher at Westwood Elementary School in West Jefferson, N.C., offers step-by-step instructions for creating an end-of-the-year parent survey using write-in, multiple choice, linear scale and other answer formats.

The online surveys can be easily linked, embedded or emailed directly from Google Forms.

"If most of your parents use email, this is a fast, easy way to find the answers you're looking for," she writes.

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Tech Tips for Teachers: 4 Ways to Use Google Forms

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It's no secret that Google applications make teachers' work easier and more effective. The latest version of Google Forms, for instance, can not only simplify administrative tasks but also give teachers new outlets for connecting with parents and students.

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7 Must Have Student-Collaboration Apps, Tools, and Resources

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Spread the loveCollaboration in the classroom helps students process and deepen knowledge. Students also develop important real-world skills like problem-solving, communication, teamwork, and leadership. When you choose the right tools, incorporating technology can further enhance student collaboration and learning outcomes. Here are seven of the best student-collaboration apps, tools, and resources for you to try this school year.

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The classic 9 square model is ideal for a tic-tac-toe approach to a choice board that requires students to complete any three activities in a row across the board. Teachers can organize a choice board so that each column focuses on a particular skill or standard.

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Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

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February 23, 2017
Exit tickets or cards are informal assessment tools teachers can use to assess students understanding at the end of a class. They can also be used for formative assessment purposes to help teachers design better instructional content based on students feedback. Exit tickets can take the form of a prompt or a question related to what have been taught in the lesson. Here are some examples of questions and prompts to use in your exit cards as featured in Brown University:

"Name one important thing you learned in class today.
What did you think was accomplished by the small group activity we did today?
Write/ask one question about today's content-something that has left your
puzzled.
Today's lesson had three objectives (These would have been shared at the
beginning of class and should still be available for referencing.), which of the
three do you think was most successfully reached? Explain. Or, which was not
attained? Why do you think it was not?"

The traditional way exit tickets were used to be delivered was through pen and paper. But with the pervasive use of technology in education, there appeared a number of useful web tools teachers can utilize to create and share exit tickets with students. Here is an updated list of some of the best tools we recommend for teachers:

1- Google Forms/ Docs
You can create an exit ticket form in Google Forms and share it with your students. You can collect and store students responses in a spreadsheet to use for later reference. Alternatively, you can create a Google document with the questions and prompts you want students to work on and share it with them. Using the commenting feature, students add comments to the document and in this way you will be able to see what each student has contributed.

2- Polling tools
You can also use a number of interesting polling tools to instantly assess students learning at the end of a class. Examples include:

Poll Everywhere is a powerful web tool for creating and distributing polls. It offers you five types of polls to choose from: multiple choice poll, free response poll, true or false poll, clickable images poll, and discourse poll. Your respondents can vote on your poll either through SMS or via the web using the generated link you will provide them. Poll Everywhere also has a wonderful way of displaying the results of the poll. You can have the results displayed on a chart of bouncing bars.You can also present your polls as a seamless part of your PowerPoint or Keynote slideshow. Flip on through and instead of another flat picture, your respondents see your slide come alive with real time poll results.

AnswerGarden is another great tool to use for collecting feedback from students. This is how it works: you type in your question in Create New AnswerGarden page. When you hit 'submit' you will be directed to your newly created AnswerGarden page. From there you can share your page with others or embed it in your class blog or website. Respondents will have to either enter their answers or choose from existing ones."If you're satisfied with the results, you can for instance show the AnswerGarden to your friends, tweet about it or export it to Wordle or Tagxedo.

Here are some of our favourite student response tools to use in class to do the same job a pen and paper exit slip can do:

A- Today's Meet

This is an excellent tool to use with students to gather instant feedback on their learning or poll them on matters related to what you teach them. Today's Meet allows you to create rooms and invite students to join them with no sign up. It is also a very good backchannel platform where students can engage in fruitful discussions and conversations.

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February 23, 2017 Exit tickets or cards are informal assessment tools teachers can use to assess students understanding at the end of a class. They can also be used for formative assessment purposes to help teachers design better instructional content based on students feedback.

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Give students a voice and choice in their learning!

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According to education thought leaders Kathleen McClaskey and Barbara Bray, personalized learning occurs when learners take charge of and actively participate in the design of their own learning.

"Learners who own their learning are intrinsically motivated to learn and succeed," state the founders of Personalize Learning on their website. The pair, who developed a chart comparing personalization to differentation and individualization, also believe that "personalizing learning is the key design element to transform education."

If you've been thinking about transforming your own classroom in this manner, we've provided 10 quick personalized learning examples to get you started.

1. Give students a voice and choice regarding what they want to learn, and how they want to show what they know. This personalized learning example may mean rather than requiring all students to submit written assignments, give them the option to submit a video, drawing, song or other evidence of learning.

2. Give specific, positive, actionable feedback to students using their preferred method of communication (video, audio or text). They will appreciate the individual attention and will be more motivated to act on your suggestions.
3. Use beginning big questions or exit slips to gauge student understanding either before or after a lesson to ensure you address specific needs during the coming lesson.

4. Identify students who are struggling to meet learning objectives and assign personalized learning activities for reinforcement. If your learning platform has learning objectives reports and a recommendation engine to assign activities, most of this process can be automated (with the teacher approving all activities assigned, of course).

5. Work with students to create Individualized Learning Plans (ILP's) for tracking personal growth or senior projects. Plans can include skills, goals, task tracking, reflections and feedback from mentors. If your learning platform allows, progress can be automatically communicated to students, teachers, parents and mentors via their dashboard.

6. Allow students to use e-portfolios and blogs to reflect, take ownership and foster a lifelong love of learning.

7. This personalized learning example puts the student in control! Encourage students to create rather than just consume by empowering them to develop portions of a lesson, surveys, or even a test! Research shows that students who create their own tests score higher than those who do not ( Dylan Wiliam, Cambridge Assessment Network Keynote, 2006).

8. Help familiarize students with productivity tools such as the personal dashboard in their learning platform. Task blocks that pull in aggregated lists of student tasks, assignments, due dates and status can keep them on track. Options to personalize their dashboard's look and feel with graphical themes, or add/remove blocks such as course listings and Individual Learning Platform progress can further encourage students to manage their own learning.

9. Encourage peer-to-peer assessment through the use of discussion boards, or pre-flight checklists where one student evaluates another's project using a set of defined criteria.

10. Personalize who has access to which assignments based on student needs by using groups and permissions in your learning platform. For example, you may want to assign advanced students a different set of assessment questions or assignments than you would for students who need extra help in grasping basic concepts.

We hope these personalized learning activities and suggestions help you to foster a more engaged classroom with your students!

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10 Personalized Learning Tips Using an LMS | itslearning US

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According to education thought leaders Kathleen McClaskey and Barbara Bray, personalized learning occurs when learners take charge of and actively participate in the design of their own learning. "Learners who own their learning are intrinsically motivated to learn and succeed," state the founders of Personalize Learning on their website.

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Hashtag assessments- students write hashtags and cannot write something that has already been shared

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Hashtag assessments- students write hashtags and cannot write something that has already been shared

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We have a few answers to this question. One is that personalized learning always involves these core four elements - targeted instruction, data-driven decisions, flexible content, and student reflection and ownership. Check out our Core Four white paper for a more detailed description of these elements, as well as classroom examples.

Another answer is that, "it depends" - we believe strongly in the design thinking process, and that school leaders and teachers are in the best place to put together instructional models that meet the needs of their students. Check out this great blog post on the process by my colleague, Kelly!

That being said, we realize that we can never answer this question enough. In response to this demand, here is a short collection of videos, photos, artifacts, and teacher testimonies that we hope will help illustrate what personalized learning could look like at your school or district. Some of these examples are from Education Elements districts and schools, and some are from other places!

Personalized learning is: Incorporating Self-Reflection and Goal-Setting

In Middletown, NY , the school culture incorporates student reflection and goal-setting starting with the youngest grades. Check out these classroom photos of goal-setting artifacts.

From a Middletown teacher: "[Students] use a Google form, and t
he forms are sent to me automatically so I am able to instantaneously see how they are self-assessing. It gives them a sense of accountability and it also lets me be aware of how they think they did... I use their self-assessment to help guide my instruction and to help group them for math and ELA." Check out this classroom teacher as she talks about her approach to Student Ownership & Reflection
Personalized Learning is: Flexible & Intentional Master Schedules

In Wake County, NC, school leaders at Rogers Lane Elementary School have created a master schedule that's aligned to their three core principles: Agents of Change, Out of this World Learning, and Intentional and Reciprocal Relationships. While it's still a work in progress, the schedule does a wonderful job of showing the back-end work it takes to explicitly incorporate co-teaching, multi-level classrooms, student choice, and blocks for targeted small-group instruction.

Additionally, to help parents and students better understand how this schedule would affect a student's daily experience, Rogers Lane created a "Day in the Life of" Primer .
Check out this classroom teacher as she talks about her approach to Flexible Path and Pace Check out this video from a high school teacher, where she describes how she has students use a digital tool to demonstrate their ability to collect and analyze data from a field exercise.
Personalized Learning is: Using Digital Content and Tools in a Purposeful Way - Flexible Path and Pace
Check out from an elementary school teacher about how he uses a portfolio of digital content tools in his classes. These last 2 videos are part of a larger collection of great this video videos from BetterLesson on blended learning strategies.

Personalized Learning is: Incorporating Personalized Playlists

Many personalized learning classrooms incorporate flexible pacing by having students go through content via playlists. However, not all playlists are personalized.

My colleague Brittany, in partnership with teachers and school leaders at Rochester School District, NH, put together this helpful Playlist Building 101 Guide that describes how to build a personalized learning playlist.

Personalized Learning is: Planning for Flexible Seating
Photo: Loudoun County Public Schools (VA), Twitter #LoudounPL Photo: Loudoun County Public Schools (VA), Twitter #LoudounPL

Flexible seating is a popular strategy because it is a physical manifestation of targeted, fluid instruction. With a focus on student choice and comfort, flexible seating is a great way to convey to students, "You matter."

Edutopia has a terrific article specifically focused on flexible seating at the high school level, including classroom photos and teacher testimonies. Ashley Rice Broomfield, a 1st grade teacher, shares, " I am in my 13th year of teaching, but this is my first year incorporating flexible seating into my classroom. I will never go back to traditional seating."

EdSurge also has a great post on 10+ brain-based methods to redesign your classroom, and how to include your students in the redesign process. We love this quote: "A good friend of mine often reminds me that we aren't raising a class of second graders, but in fact, we are raising future adults. She says, 'If they're old enough to do it for themselves, they should not only be allowed to, but expected to do so.'"

Finally, see these pictures above from our awesome partners in Loudoun County Public Schools, VA!

check out the BONUS:#LoudounPL hashtag for more amazing pictures of how Loudoun County schools are personalizing learning.

Personalized Learning is: Involving Students in Grading Conversations

Prolific blogger Catlin Tucker offers another great strategy - including "grade interviews" with students. Tucker shares, " As grade reporting approaches, I sit down with every single student for a grade interview. Students come to these grade interviews prepared with a formal argument. These conversations are invaluable. Students walk away knowing exactly what they need to work on or what they are doing well. Also, I feel like I know my students so much better because we sit down and chat about their learning every 5-6 weeks!" Check out her full blog post !

Additionally, student-led conferences (SLC's) can be a great way to engage both students and parents in reflection. In an SLC, a student might not only explain what progress he or she is making, but why it is that progress is occurring. This Edutopia post has a great set of resources on SLC's, sourced from articles like this Atlantic piece to protocols and videos of SLC's in action.

To learn more about how these examples build on the core four elements of personalized learning, check out our white paper.

More Personalized Learning reading

Blog: Personalizing Learning: Getting it Right

Blog: Personalizing Learning: Reflection and Goal-Setting

Blog: How to Pick the Right Instructional Model for Your Classroom

Blog: Personalizing Learning: Flexible Pace & Path

Blog: Personalizing Learning: Targeted Instruction

Blog: Personalizing Learning: Collaboration & Creativity

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Six Examples of What Personalized Learning Looks Like

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Personalized learning takes different forms in different classrooms - here are six examples of what personalized learning looks like.

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Turns websites and google docs into interactive formative assessments.

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Using google forms for assessment allowed students to receive immediate feedback. Sooooo much better than worksheets that don't get an immediate turnaround for kids.

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Create a PEAKLibrary playlist for a lesson/chapter/unit.

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Facetime with "experts" or guests or kids in other classes to enhance learning.

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Facetime with "experts" or guests or kids in other classes to enhance learning.