iTeach808 Ask the Expert Workshop: Classroom in the Cloud with Doctopus, Goobric and Flubaroo!

Managing multiple student files is never an easy task.  Whether we're dealing with physical worksheets, large video files or digital other physical or digital projects... depending on how we organize ourselves and train our students... things can still get lost in the shuffle.

That's why I really appreciate how Google has helped me to become a better organized teacher by handling all of the paperwork for me so I can focus on curriculum development and assessment.

When I started using the Google Spreadsheets Add-on called Doctopus, my workflow got even better. Doctopus allows me to quickly take a template worksheet document I have and replicate and distribute a unique copy to each of my students.  I keep ownership of each file, can access the student documents 24-7 and can quickly grade and give feedback to individual students easily.

The school I teach at, Le Jardin Academy, we use rubrics exclusively to assess student work and give feedback.  An additional Google Spreadsheets Add-on Goobric (which works with Doctopus) allows me to assess students work using a pre-determined rubric.  This rubric gets inserted on the end of a students document complete with their score and feedback i've given them.

Sometimes I might need to assess students knowledge via a quiz.  Google helps me again by allowing me to create quizzes using the Google Forms tool.  Once i've created a form, I can also attach another Google Spreadsheet Add-on named Flubaroo which will automatically grade portions of the quiz for me.

Google Apps for Education Suite of programs including Drive, Docs and Spreadsheets and the Spreadsheet Add-ons has saved me lots of time and energy... giving me an opportunity to give that time back to my students in more useful ways!

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Resources for the session 

Session Presentation File: Session Resource Folder

Session Back Channel: https://todaysmeet.com/iTeach808-041214

Session Flubaroo Survey:  Presidential Survey

Link to a copy of the NEW Google Spreadsheets: Sample Spreadsheet to COPY(if needed)

Download Chrome: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/

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Video Tutorials:

The following videos were created by Jay Atwood, an amazing Google Apps for Education Certified Trainer and Teacher.

The New Doctopus and Add-ons Gallery


Doctopus: Creating Class Folders



Goobric: Assessing Student Work


Flubaroo Overview

iTeach808 Session 4: Maximize Google Apps for Education with Doctopus, Goobric and Flubaroo

Using the Google Action Scripts, of Doctopus, Goobric and Flubaroo allows me to collect manage my classrooms easier than ever.  With Doctopus, I can quickly and simply create student digital worksheet copies from a template document.  Adding on the Goobric Action Script allows me to attach a custom Rubric to provide direct and timely feedback to students.  Finally, to save time, I use the Flubaroo to help me quickly grade any of the quizzes I give to my students!

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Resources for the session

Session Presentation File: Session Resource Folder

Session Back Channel: https://todaysmeet.com/iTeach808-Feb14-D

Session Questions and Answers Document: http://goo.gl/VBnWZk

Session Post-Survey:  http://goo.gl/f8aJwI

Session Flubaroo Survey:  Presidential Survey

Building a Paperless Classroom in the Cloud using Google Apps for Education

Aloha!

For those teachers using Google Documents to replace hard-copy printed work in the classroom, often file management can be problematic.  When students create a Google Document, spreadsheet or presentation... by default it's not shared with you.  Teaching students how to share documents is helpful, but the last thing I want is an email box full of notifications informing me that I've been granted access to 20 plus student documents with each of my 7 sections of students.  Additionally, now I've got a Google Drive folder that's full of individual documents that have no organization.  There is a better way...

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Resources for the session

Session Presentation File: Presentation Link & Session Resource Folder

Session Back Channel: https://todaysmeet.com/iTeach808-Feb14-C

Session Questions and Answers Document: http://goo.gl/VBnWZk

Session Post-Survey:  http://goo.gl/f8aJwI

iTeach808: Managing Student Digital Portfolios for Success

Aloha and Welcome Back to all of our participants who joined us in our last session as well as those who are here for the first time.  We've been learning about how we can use the Google Apps for Education program Blogger in our classrooms as a digital or ePortfolio platform that is easy to use, powerful and free.

Todays session focuses on looking at some of the ways teachers are successfully using blogs in their classrooms as digital archives, learning workspaces and growth showcases.  We'll enter into a discussion on some of the questions teachers and schools need to ask themselves before starting a digital ePortfolio program and how to we support students in learning the necessary skills needed to manage their work.  Finally, we'll discuss how we develop and use exemplars and rubrics as tools for assessment.

As with before, there are resources that will help us all participate together in the session as well as resources to help us dig deeper outside the session.  These resources can be found below.

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Resources for the session

Session Presentation File: Presentation Link

Session Back Channel: https://todaysmeet.com/iTeach808-Feb14-B

Session Questions and Answers Document: http://goo.gl/VBnWZk

Session Post-Survey:  http://goo.gl/f8aJwI

Blogger Mobile Apps: iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch - Android (Google Play Store)

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Additional Resources: 

Dr. Helen Barrett: 3 Levels of ePortfolio Development in Schools

Elementary Age:

• April Larremore's "Chalk Talk" (Elementary School Blog Example)
• PT England School's Year 1 Class Blog (Elementary School Blog Example)
• Mrs. Blakeley's Kindergarten Tales (Elementary School Blog Example)
• Manaiai Kindergarten Blog (Elementary School Team Teacher Approach)
• Hunter Park Heretaunga Kindergarten Blog (Elementary School Student Individual Student Blogs)
• Reflection Form Examples: Primary - Elementary - Upper Elementary/Middle

Middle and High School:

• Kim Cofino: Always Learning: Blogs as Showcase Portfolios
• Dave Lewis and Jason Oncay Discuss the Lawson Middle School Portfolio Program (Video)
• Lawson Middle School Digital Portfolio Introductory Handout for Students
• Le Jardin Academy Design Tech 6th Graders Student Blogs

Student Blogging/Posting Guidelines:

• Karen McMillen Blogging Using Paper
• Yokohama International School Blogging  Guidelines
• Haiku Learning Barbra Pace

Parent Letters and Waiver Examples:

ePortfolio Rubrics: Dan  Wilson - U of Wisconsin Stout -

iTeach808 Post-Session 1: Reflections and Resources

Wow!  I don't think I've ever felt 2 hours fly by as quickly as it did on Wednesday!  Thanks to Laurel Oshiro and her great staff (IT/Facilities/Student Help/Teachers) the first iTeach808 session went about as smoothly as I could have hoped for!

I definitely think there's still a lot out there still to be learned and shared!

First and foremost, I wanted to provide some support materials to all the session participants who tried so hard to get their blogs set up and underway.  Hopefully, all of you have been successful in getting your account started and have tried poking around to see what's possible.

Below you'll find a few links to a couple of online resources that should ease the transition into building out a blog and putting up a first quality post.  Remember, anything you do can be fixed!  So try out a few things and take some risks!

As always, feel free to ask me any questions you might have, here in the comments section down below, via email, in the Today'sMeet backchannel or simply at our next session.

I'm truly looking forward to seeing all the amazing things you'll all be able to do soon!  Mahalo again for your willingness to become students again!

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Resources

Link to Today'sMeet for Session 1:  https://todaysmeet.com/iTeach808-Feb14-A

With all the wonderful questions on the Today'sMeet site and in the feedback form filled out at the end of the session, I thought I would create a centralized location to capture all the questions and provide my feedback.  On that note:

Link to the Post-Session Q&A Google Spreadsheet: http://goo.gl/5rP14A

Blogger has created some very simple and straightforward direction on who to get a blog up and running.  Their resources site should help answer any of the basic questions you might already have.

Link to Blogger's "Getting Started" Help Site:  https://support.google.com/blogger/

When I first started teaching my students how to use the Blogger platform, I developed a series of video tutorials to help introduce them to the various parts of Blogger.  Watching the videos saved me lots of time in explaining the same thing over and over again for my students.  Shortly thereafter I created a worksheet to accompany the video to help the students reflect on what they were learning while watching the videos.  Here are the links to both the videos and the worksheet.

Link to my "Getting Started with Blogger" Youtube Playlist

Link to the Student "Getting Started with Blogger" PDF Packet: http://goo.gl/9Vxy5q

iTeach808: Creating Digital Portfolios with Google Apps for Education and Blogger

Aloha and Welcome to the first session of our talks on using Google Apps for Education's Blogger Platform as a tool to help students and teachers begin creating dynamic and powerful Digital Portfolios.

This sessions will focus on how digital portfolios are enabling students and educators to become more impactful presenters, independant thinkers and adept reflectors.  Student confidence in themselves and their abilities, when framed through presentation and reflection on past accomplishments and experiences help prepare them to take on new challenges with a sense of pride and positive self worth.

We'll learn how quick and simple it is to create a blog using the blogger platform and get up and running with posting content and making simple adjustments to the look and feel of the blog as well as how viewers access it and who can see it.

We'll also be discussing how to support learners of all ages, from those who don't yet know they're alphabets to those who aren't ready to accept that the 21st century has arrived!

Our finishing topic will be to bring in the iPad (or other mobile devices) as a powerful tool for digital portfolio construction, maintenance and promotion.

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Resources for the session

Session Presentation File: Presentation Link

Session Back Channel: https://todaysmeet.com/iTeach808-Feb14-A or http://today.io/kRbX

Session Post-Survey:  http://goo.gl/f8aJwI

Blogger Mobile Apps: iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch - Android (Google Play Store)

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Additional Resources: 

Google Apps for Education: http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/

Google Apps for Education Technology Tutorials for Teachers:
https://sites.google.com/site/teachertechtutorials/googleapps#TOC-Blogger

Blogger's Help Site: https://support.google.com/blogger/

Dr. Helen Barrets' Course on ePortfolios with Google Apps

Dr. Helen Barrets' Course on mPortfolios (Mobile Portfolios)

Dr. Helen Barrets' Course on ePortfolios with Word Press

Jeff Utectht's Thinking Stick Blog: Blogs as Web Based Portfolios

Kathy Cassidy:  A Great Tool to Continuously Assess Progress