My Google Classroom Thoughts

Over the last couple of days, I've been fortunate to be able to test drive the future release of Google Classroom.  You've seen some advertisements - click here - and you've seen some video reviews - click here.  I thought I would share my initial thought with you.

Google Classroom seems to be very intuitive in it's design and ease of navigation.  It is very easy for a teacher to create a class.  One suggestion I would have is that the teacher name each course uniquely.  If you teach multiple sections of Algebra II, you might consider combining all sections into one course or naming your courses Alg II-1, Alg II-2, and so on.  The section number you place in the name of the course does not get used in the folder creation, just the name.  Here is a picture of how easy it is for teachers or students to add a course.  When a teacher creates a course, it is assigned a course number so students can join using the course number.

Once the students are in the course the teacher has the task of posting announcements or assignments.  This has been made quite easy.  The teacher click a selections, adds the information, and posts.  The teacher can attach files, add materials from their own Google Drive, add videos from YouTube, or add links to other websites.  See below.

When an assignment is created, Google creates a folder in the teacher's drive (an in the student) for each assignment.  The teacher's drive has a new classroom folder and inside it, a new folder for each class, and inside it, a folder for each assignment.  This helps with the organization of the teacher's documents being turned in and distributed.  Google names the folders with the course name, so pay attention to what the name of you course is - name wisely.

As assignments are created, the teacher will have choices as to how to give visibility of the materials. If the teacher wants each student to have their own, they can distribute copies to each student, or they can make things viewable or editable.  Google is great about ease of choice.  It is a pull-down menu right where the materials are chosen.

When the students do their work, they can easily submit to the teacher.  The teacher then has a an update on their class timeline, with how many have completed and how many have not, as well as, having a sheet with a list of students and their status.  This is where the teacher can add grades, comments, and email the students directly from a class roster.

There are a couple of features I'd like to see, but for organization and distribution, Google Classroom seems to be a good starting place for Google.  It is not a full LMS, it is just an straightforward way for teachers to work with students.  It is not a grade book, your grades must be moved to your current grading program.  My guess is that Google will add features and this project will grow into quite a nice, easy, and functional way for teachers to utilize Google in the classroom.  

I can't wait for this to come out in the fall.  I think teachers will find it quite useful.

Formative Assessment and Google Forms

Recently, I attended ITIP Ohio Google Summit in Sandusky, Ohio.  It was a conference of over 700 teachers and administrators from all over the state, and beyond.  It was a two-day conference focusing on Google Apps for Education and how it can be utilized in schools.

I was fortunate enough to be able to share on the topic of formative assessment and how Google Forms can be used to collect, analyze, and share the information with staff and students.  It's always fun to share how powerful Google Forms are for teachers.  Here is my presentation.

ITIP Ohio Summit Roundup

ITIP Ohio Summit took place this past Monday and Tuesday, in Sandusky, Ohio at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center.  The focus of the Summit was Google Apps for Education.  Many sessions were given over the two days.  The Conference was hashtagged at #ITIP14, if you'd like to go see what was said.  The programs are here.

Day 1 - Pre-Conference
Day 2 - Conference

Sessions I attended were:

The Chrome-an Empire: In the 21st Century

Dusty Miller, of WGTE Public Media, presented on the development of Chrome.  She talked about the features and benefits of Chrome.  She mentioned some great Chrome Apps and Extensions.  She also talked about some of the benefits of using Chrome with Google Drive.

Her presentation materials are here - http://tinyurl.com/l243p47

Google SLAM

Many presenters talked about cool apps:
Boomerang for GMail in Chrome - Bill Mooney - so you can schedule emails
Field Trip App for iOS and Android - Dusty Miller - adds Google Info to your current location
PearDeck - John Sowash - An interactive presentation app - "keep you audience engaged"
NearPod - Marcia Kish - An interactive presentation app - "keep you audience engaged"
Jam for Chrome - Marcia Kish - App to create music in Chrome
Chromie is Your Homie - Ryan MacRaild - cool features of Chrome - http://goo.gl/I6drnF
Calendar - Labs - Mary Ann Falk - Explored some different labs in Google Calendar
Anticipated Preview of Google Classroom - Carrie Rathsack - http://www.google.com/edu/classroom/
Google Sheets - Anthony Luscre - Conditional spreadsheet applications

Google Apps: It's Elementary!

Shahnyn Moody-Benedict and Angela Maxwell presented on how they use Google Apps for Education in the elementary school.  They are media specialists and work with staff and students to use Google Apps to accomplish many tasks.

Their presentation is linked here - Google Apps: It's Elementary! Presentation and Survey

50+ Uses of Google Forms & How to Create Them

Lisa Johnson-Bowers and Darlene Adamson, from Mentor, presented on many ways to use Google Forms.  They provided a lot of examples of how you could use forms and even demonstrated how to create a form.  One big feature I liked was the demonstration of how to create a "conditional" survey.

Their presentation is linked here - http://goo.gl/A7VpHj

Making GMail Safe for Schools

Eric Curts, Tech Integration Specialist for SPARCC, presented how Admins can write scripts and rules to allow mail to flow in and out of your organization.  He shared many features to help be specific about which members can send and receive email from different groups.

His presentation materials are here - http://www.appsusergroup.org/presentations/email-security

These two days have been outstanding.

If you are a GAFE user, you should make a point to attend next year.

Shorten Your URLs with "goo.gl"

Have you ever needed to shorten an extra-long URL?  I do all the time.  Now that I am using Google Forms frequently, I am always needing to shorten them.  I have tried many and there are some benefits to others, but I have started to use "goo.gl" as my go-to shortener.

I love the fact that is keeps track of all of the URLs that I shorten.  I also love the fact that it quickly, and automatically, creates a QR Code.  Goo.gl makes it very easy for me to create a form, shorten the URL, and collect data from people.  Here is a screen shot of the details for a recently shortened address.

Here is a quick tutorial, demonstrating how "goo.gl" easily shortens the address and provides your information.  Check it out and give it a try.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRANKI!

Just wanted to say "Happy Birthday" to the most wonderful person I know. Just wanted to acknowledge that this blog wouldn't exist if not for Franki. Thanks for the "pushing and prodding" to make me do it.

 My thoughts wouldn't be here - If Not For Franki!

 Happy Birthday!


 Scott

Google Apps Training Almost Finished

We are half-way through our third and final cycle of Google Apps for Education initial training for teachers.  We have already trained in Drive basics and Calendar basics, and are now finishing up GMail basics.  It is an exciting time for our staff (a little nerve-racking, as well).  Teachers and staff are starting to see some of the real power in Google, and we haven't even spent much time looking at the advanced applications of Apps.  The future is bright.

Our mail changeover date is less than 1 month away.  We are in the process of creating district-wide calendars, resources, and groups.  The migration seems slow, but deliberate.  I think that because we are so deliberate, we are finding that the staff appreciates the efforts we are putting forth in training them to use the different pieces.  We introduce them to an aspect of Google Apps, and then give them time to work with that.  Then, we come back with another App, etc.

We have also provided many ways for our staff to learn.  We have done in-building, face-to-face trainings, created a packet of training tutorials, and created video tutorials that they can access when they have time.  By providing the resources in many formats, we give them different ways to process the information, as well as resources to go back and reference if more info is needed.  We have also put everything onto a wiki that is accessible from anywhere - Google Training Wiki.  Here is a video from our third training component - GMail Basics.



This has been an interesting process, and am really looking forward to being able to see it go "live".  I am really excited to see how our teachers start to utilize the power of Google Apps for Education, both with each other and with their students.

Google Forms at Central OEA/NEA Leadership Conference

I got the opportunity to spend the afternoon at the Central Ohio OEA/NEA Leadership Conference.  We spent a couple of hours talking about Google Forms and how you could use Google Forms to help with Formative Assessment.  Forms makes it very easy to collect, organize, summarize and share data.  I shared some examples and we discussed some ideas with participants.

Here is my presentation.  It shares some steps to create Forms, as well as some ideas on how to share the data.  A couple of things that I use with Forms are Flubaroo, a script to grade assessments collected in a spreadsheet, and Wordle or Tagxedo, word cloud generators.

I am always happy to share what I know, but seem to learn a few things new each time I work with a group.  Google Apps are so powerful and helpful that teachers seem to always find new ways to use them.

Keep Googling!