Ed Tech Notes

Newsletter of the Division of Technology

January/February2016

Google Computer Science First (CS First) Program

Providesfree,easytousecomputerscience(CS)clubsenrichmentmaterialsthat
targetandengagegrades48thgrade(ages914).
Runbyteachersand/orcommunityvolunteers.Nocomputerscience
experiencenecessary!
CSFirstmaterialsarevideobased.
StudentprojectsarebuiltinScratch,ablockbasedcodingtool(scratch.mit.edu).
Themedclubsattractstudentswithvariedinterests.

Programoverviewandapplication

Easy Way to Keep Track of Contacting Parents

OneofourfabulouseducatorsshowedmehowshekeepsacontactlogandIlovethe
ideasomuchthatIhavetoshareitwithallofyou!

CareerTechteachercreateda
GoogleForm
withsimplequestionsaboutthestudentandthereasonfor
contactingtheparents.Afterspeakingwiththeparent,shefillsouttheGoogleFormincludinginformation
onwhattheirplanisforthefutureandhowtheywillhelpthestudentachieveit.Youcanquicklycreatea
similarFormwithquestionsthatfityourneeds.EmailChrisifyouneedhelp.

Using Google Forms for Assessments

ByJuliaVanderMolen,MarylySkallos,MACULSIGProfessionalLearning

GoogleFormsisagreattooltouseinaneducationalsetting.GoogleFormsareeasytocreate
andtheyallowteacherstocreateassessmentsinavarietyofways.Teacherscanchoosebetweenmultiple
questiontypes(text,multiplechoice,checkbox,dropdownmenu,scale,andevengrid)andhaveaquizor
surveyreadywithinminutes.Theycanthenaddalinktotheirformsandstudentscaneasilyfillouta
surveyorquizattheendofclass.Formscanalsobeembeddedintoawebpage.Sowhataresome
practicestoconsider?Howaboutaclassquizortest,peerassessment,flippedclassroom,gathering
informationandswitchtherole.

1.PEERASSESSMENT

(AKACROWDGRADING)
OneengagingwaytouseGoogleFormsistohave
studentsusethemtoassesseachother.Bycreatingastandardassessmentform,studentscanreview
eachothersworkandsubmittheirownthoughts,feedbackandevengrades.Thiscouldtaketheformof
assessingstudentpresentationsanddependingonhowyouwanttosetuptheform,thiscouldbe
anonymous.

2.FLIPPEDCLASSROOM
Withtheabilitytoaddmultimediamaterialaswellaslinkouttothirdparty
resources,GoogleFormscanbeusedtobothdeliverinformationaswellasgatherit.Trycreatingafull
lessonwithintheformsothatstudentscancompletetheworkintheirowntime.Youcanthenusethe
responsesanddatatoguideinclassdiscussionandselectappropriatefurtherlearningmaterial.

3.GATHERINGFEEDBACK
OfcourseGoogleFormsdonotneedtobeallaboutgradesandmarking.
GoogleFormsisatooltocollectinformationquickly.Theymakeitextremelyeasytosecurelycollectand
collateallkindsofinformationforanyfurtheruse.

4.SWITCHTHEROLE
Fliptheassessmentconceptcompletelyandaskyourstudentstocreatetheirown
quizorsurveyusingGoogleForms.Notonlyistheskillofcreatingformsawonderfulexercise,theanalysis
ofresultscanberewardingaswell.

5.CLASSQUIZORTEST
ThisisprobablythemostcommonuseofGoogleFormsinaclassroom.Teachers
cancreateasetquestionsusingGoogleFormsandeithersendalinkorembedtheforminalocationthat
studentscanaccess.Uponcompletionoftheassessment,resultswillbecollatedandaccessiblewithinthe
form.

OneofthebestfeaturesofaGoogleFormsisplayingwiththedata.Responsesareautomaticallyentered
intoaspreadsheetteacherscanperformfunctions,createchartsandgraphs,orexportyourdatainto
anotherprogramforthispurpose.GoogleFormsevenhasashortcutforgettinganoverviewofthe
responses,labeledShowsummaryofresponsesintheFormmenu.

Finally,workingwithvariousaddonsinGoogleFormscanhelpstreamlineassessmentsorsurveys,create
afasterwaytobuildandcustomizeyourform,andbuildontoyourexperiencewithnewfeatures!

ADDONEXTENSIONS.
IncreaseGoogleFormsoutputbyusingtheAddOnsfeature.Addonsgiveyou
moreflexibilityandoptionsinhowyouuseGoogleForms.Theserobusttoolsallowforevenmorefeatures
toyoursurveysandassessmentssuchassendingcustomemailsbasedonresponses,storinglistsof
choicestoyouaddtoyourquestionsorextrafeaturesinbuildingyoursurvey.

FLUBAROOwww.flubaroo.com/
FlubarooisaGoogleSheetsAddonthatcangradeGoogleForm
submissions.Thisaddonprovidestheabilitytogrademultiplechoicequestionswithease.Teacherscan
alsogradefreeresponse.Flubaroohasotherfeaturesforteacherstoassistintheassessmentprocess.This
toolcanautograde,andsendresultstothestudentassoonasthestudenthitssubmit.

FORMVALUEShttps://goo.gl/Pv3x5q
StoreandpullfromliststhatyouuseregularlyinForms,likea
listofstaff,students,rooms,resourcesoranythingyouwant.Thisaddoncouldbeusedforroom
reservationrequests,weeklyclassroomhelperassignments,oranythingthatyoudoonaregularbasisbut
theselectionsarealwaysthesame.Onelimitationtothisaddonisthatitdoesnotworkwellformultiple
users.

MORETIPSFORUSINGGOOGLEFORMSFORASSESSMENT
Useofrandomizedquestionforquizzes.
CreateandusetemplatesofGoogleFormsalreadycreated.
GiveStudentsachancetoreflectbyusingaGoogleFormsasareflectiontoolforyourstudentstothink
backontheirlearning.OnceyouvecreatedyourGoogleForm,createaQRcodesoitseasilyaccessibleto
yourstudents.

10 Good Google Docs, Sheets, and Forms AddOns

for Teachers

Heresatutorialonenablingaddons.Startwiththisandthenlooktoseewhichoneswillsuit
yourneeds.
https://youtu.be/lZqX6ocwHWU

GoogleDocsAddons:
The
TagCloudGeneratorAddon
willcreateawordcloudintherighthandmargin
ofanyofyourGoogleDocumentsthatcontainmorethanonehundredwords.

OneofthemostusefulAddonsforGoogleDocumentsisthe
EasyBibBibliographyCreator
.TheEasyBib
BibliographyCreatormakesiteasytoproperlyciteresourcesandformatabibliographyinAPA,MLA,or
Chicagostyle.

Knowingtherightkeyboardshortcutstotypetheaccentsandcharactersisoneofthechallengesthat
studentsfacewhenlearningandtryingtotypeinanewlanguage.
EasyAccents
isaGoogleDocsAddon
thatcaneliminatethatchallenge.
EasyAccents
providesavirtualkeyboardthatenablesstudentstoquickly
insertthelettersandaccentsfoundinFrench,German,Spanish,Mori,andSmi.

g(Math)
isanAddonforGoogleDocsthatenablesyoutoeasilyinsertgraphsandequationsintoyour
GoogleDocuments.TheAddonopensintherightsideofyourdocumentandfromthereyoucaninsertthe
parametersofyourgraphandorgenerateequations.

GoogleSheetsAddons:
AddReminders
isaGoogleSheetsAddonthatwillsetupyourspreadsheetso
thatyousimplyenterremindermessagesandemailaddressesthenspecifyadateonwhichyouwantyour
reminderssent.TheAddRemindersAddonallowsyoutosendthesameremindertoeveryoneinyour
emaillistoryoucansendindividualizedreminderstoeveryoneinyouremaillist.

SaveAsDoc
isafreeGoogleSpreadsheetsAddonthatenablesyoutoselectaseriesofadjacentcellsand
turnthemintoaneasytoreadGoogleDocument.TheSaveAsDocAddontakesjustaminutetoinstall.
OnceinstalledselecttheAddonfromyour"Addon's"dropdownmenuandclick"start."Afterclicking
"start"youcanchooseasetofcellsorallcellstobeconvertedintoaGoogleDocument.Thedocumentwill
appearinyourGoogleDrivedashboard(itmighttakeaminuteortwotoappearifyouhaveselecteda
largesetofcells)whereyoucanthenviewit,editit,ordownloaditasaPDF.

Flubaroo
isapopularGoogleSheetsAddonthatenablesteacherstogradeallatoncealloftheirstudents'
responsestoaquizcreatedinGoogleForms.Flubaroooffersautomaticgradingandemailingofgrades.The
autogradeoptionin
Flubaroo
allowsyoutohavestudentsautomaticallyreceivetheirscoresafter
submittingtheirresponsestoaquizyoucreatedinGoogleForms.Theautogradefeaturewillsendstudents
anemailwiththeirscoresandtheanswerkey(youcanexcludetheanswerkey).Withautogradingenabled
studentsdonothavetowaitforyoutorunthegradingprocessorwaitforyoutosendemails.

GoogleFormsAddons
:
FormLimiter
isoneofmyfavoriteFormsAddons.FormLimiterallowsyoutoset
atimeforaformtoautomaticallystopacceptingresponses.YoucanalsouseFormLimitertosetalimiton
numberofresponsesaformwillaccept.

g(Math)
isaalsoavailableasaGoogleFormsAddonthatallowsyoutoinsertgraphsandmathematical
expressionsintoyourGoogleForms.ToinsertgraphsandequationsintoyourFormselectg(Math)from
yourAddonsmenuandfollowthedirectionsthatpopupontherightsideofthescreen.

FormNotifications
allowsyoutocreatetriggersforemailstobesenttoyouwhensubmissionsaremade
throughoneofyourforms.YoucansettheAddontosendyouanemailalertafteraspecifiednumberof
responsesarereceivedoraftereverysubmission.TheAddonalsoallowsyoutohaveanemailsentto
FormrespondentsaftertheyhavecompletedyourForm.