Manage non-Google Assignments in Teacher Dashboard

Yesterday, while cruising up I-57 back from the University of Illinois in Champaign after presenting at the AdvancEd conference, Jason Markey (@JasonMMarkey) started up a conversation that began with his now famous "I have an idea..."  In this case, it was more like "I really wish..."  Basically, we were talking about how well Teacher Dashboard has been working for us at Leyden and Jason was suggesting how great it would be if our teachers could also manage assignments involving non-Google Apps tools in TD.  I reminded him about my digital dropbox idea which uses a single Google Form to collect the URL's of each non-Google project.  While he agreed that method was working for some teachers, it still required them to leave Teacher Dashboard and did not provide an easy method for providing the students with feedback without utilizing some scripts.  After a little brainstorming, here's an idea I came up with.

• Teachers could create a Google Doc template (text or spreadsheet) for an activity/project/assignment that involves a tool other than Google Docs or Blogger, which are currently managed in Teacher Dashboard (i.e. Glogster, VoiceThread, Themeefy, YouTube, WeVideo, etc.).  By the way, I'm a huge proponent for assigning an objective to students and letting them pick their own way of demonstrating their learning (see Student Choice Leads to Creativity).
• The template should include at least a spot for the students to paste in the URL of their products, but could also include things like a rubric, project check list, reference list, etc.
• Teachers would then use the Smart Copy tool in Teacher Dashboard to push out the template to each student.  This automatically creates an individual copy of the template in each students' appropriate subject folder in their Google Drive with edit rights for the teacher.  And, of course, the teacher gets to control the name of these documents.
• Teachers can then use the filter option when viewing their class in Teacher Dashboard to view just the links to each specific activity/project/assignment document.  By opening each document, the teacher would be able to see the link to the student's product, add notes or comments, possibly add grades, check off items in a check list, and other options for interacting with the student throughout the process of the activity/project/assignment.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone that tries out this idea to learn how it works for you and/or how it can be improved.

Teacher Dashboard - Another piece to our 1:1 puzzle

We have had just an amazing and historic school year so far.  This is our first year being fully 1:1 with almost all of our 3,500 students having been issued Google Chromebooks.  Personally, I think we have far surpassed where I thought we'd be after a little over one semester in our new technology supercharged learning environment.  I have both witnessed and heard about some remarkable transformations of curriculum, lesson plans, the way we communicate, the way we collaborate, and more all because we've eliminated the "access" obstacle for our students.  Now, I know this has been a monumental undertaking for our teachers and most of them have compared this year to being a first year teacher again, but they have certainly risen to the challenge.

So far, there have been two primary tools (in addition to the Chromebooks) that have had the biggest impact on our year.  At the top of the list is Google Apps for Education (GAFE).  In my 18 years in the district, I have not seen any technology have more positive returns than the Google Apps suite.  In fact, 20 years from now, we may look back and say that adopting GAFE was one of the most important decisions ever made in this district.  Yep, even slightly ahead of choosing to go 1:1.  The second tool that has really changed the way we play the game of school at Leyden is OpenClass.  This is the free content/learning management system we're using for all classes.  We have chosen to set up one OpenClass course per prep (teaching assignment) for each teacher and their students are automatically loaded into the appropriate courses.  This system has provided a consistent framework for teachers to take their classes "to the Web" and design and develop digital curriculum and resources.  Our classes are no longer contained to the 48-minute periods in our school days.  Students have access to content, notes, resources, support, and anything and everything our teachers wish to include in their courses.  As an added bonus, we don't hear our students ask "What I'd miss yesterday?" anymore.  Beyond these two primary tools, most of our teachers have found numerous other Web tools and resources that they've been integrating into their classes.

With all this said, there were two reoccurring concerns throughout our first semester that were shared by both teachers and students.  First, there seemed to be a lot of different ways to manage documents at play.  From an administrative perspective, we allowed our teachers to try out a number of different options without scripting or mandating any one method.  Some teachers like this and others don't, but it's the path we chose to follow and we've learned a great deal about what we should and should not be doing.  Second, very few of our teachers were versed in the methods of managing a "lab" class.  With every student having a device in front of them, most of our teachers are continually working to learn how to manage such an environment.  For example, just knowing how and when to ask their students to have lids up or lids down is a simple but new classroom management technique that our teachers have needed to add to their toolkit.

Starting with the first day of second semester on January 8, 2013, we rolled out a new application in hopes of helping our teachers both manage their students' documents better and manage their classroom environment better.  That tool is Teacher Dashboard by Hapara.  In a recent survey of our teachers, we've learned that the majority of them are using these new tools and find them extremely beneficial.

• 80% of our teachers reported that they use Teacher Dashboard.
• 56% of our teachers reported that they use the Smart Copy tool to push out and share documents with their students.
• 65% of our teachers reported that they use Teacher Dashboard to manage and view their students' documents.
• 12% of our teachers reported that they use Teacher Dashboard to manage and view their student's blog posts and comments.
• 73% of our teachers reported that they use the Chromebook remote control/management tools.
• Comments included:
• "Love the Teacher Dashboard!"
• "Please keep Teacher Dashboard around.  It is the best thing since sliced bread.  I don't ever want to live without it."
• "Teacher Dashboard has been a great addition this semester!"
• "The dashboard has saved so much time and made using docs so much more manageable."

Overall, Teacher Dashboard has been well received by our teachers and I'd expect the usage to increase as the semester rolls on.  This has certainly been a key piece to our new 1:1 puzzle.

Below is a slide deck that was used to help introduce our teachers to Teacher Dashboard and may help you get a better understanding of what it has to offer.

SORRY - SlideRocket was bought by another company and no longer has educational accounts.  The presentation below is no longer available.  I'll try to convert it to another format.