Feed the Feedback Loop with Google Docs

I presented today at Assistechknow, a very cool assistive technology conference put on by Kindy Segovia and others at Kent ISD. My topic was about enacting feedback in different ways within Google Docs, and it was tailored for the unique needs of special ed teachers but still applicable to others.

One of the things I struggled with is how make the process timely and engaging for students. I always struggle with how to make feedback available in time for action to be taken and for it to be communicated in a way that doesn't turn students off to the process. If they feel dumb or inept at any point, there's a good chance they will shut down. If you don't provide focused responses to their work, they won't grow in optimal ways. My best answer is that each teacher has to hone their tone and even personalize feedback for each student depending on how he or she is.

Whew, add that to the many mind-bending tasks for teachers. Hopefully the content below helps move people towards some measure of success in their feedback pursuits.

What Do Your Grades Represent?

This post originally appeared in the Kent ISD Ed Tech Blog

This is an image of a report card. Though it is obviously dated, many current report cards might look quite similar. There are grades and perhaps some comments but little to no information about what the student can or can’t do. At best, these are vague representations of student ability.

Here are three points from research-based sources that could improve this situation:

1. The most successful schools assess and report proficiency on each learning objective (Ken O’Conner)
2. Schools need to build strong curriculum and provide interventions when needed (Multi-tiered Systems of Support)
3. Schools need to provide access to learning in multiple formats (Universal Design for Learning)

Most would agree that they want to do these three things in their schools, so why isn’t it practiced more? The three big reasons are time, resources, and tradition. For time, it is challenging to set up a system of standards-aligned assessments and resources that provide actionable data. It is also expensive to pay people or buy systems that do it for you, and traditional structures like college admissions and grading practices can be challenging barriers to address.

Fortunately, technology now enables us to do these things without overwhelming our time and resources. We can set up sophisticated assessments, assign digital resources to individuals, and accommodate cooperative learning in flexible ways. At Kent ISD, we have developed a system called Edify that accommodates all of these practices. You can click on this link to learn more about how that works. However, this is not an advertisement for our tool; it is a call to consider your practices and move towards what is best for each student.

No matter what tools(s) we use, we should be striving to create learning structures that capture and organize student data efficiently, provide opportunities for teachers to connect with students in personalized as well as collective ways, and report out to stakeholders in a way that shows details about what a student can do – not just a vague letter with a dash or a plus.

Here are some links to how other tools can or could support a standards-based approach. All have pros and cons, but you can look at what might work for you.

DiscoveryEd, Schoology, PowerTeacher (gradebook endorsed by Ken O’Connor),PowerSchool, and Moodle

Helping Students to not do Dumb (and hurtful) Stuff Online

The image above is a screenshot of a message I found on a student's shared Google Document the other day. The student called me over a little freaked out and said that he didn't type it. I checked the revision history, saw who typed it, and sent that student to have a chat with the principal.

Sadly, this was a class of fourth graders, and somewhat ironically, it was during a lesson on staying safe and helpful with online interaction (link to lesson). Despite the unfortunate effects of the student's comments, it was, what some may call, a highly teachable moment about how our online actions can impact ourselves and others.