Leveraging the Power of Google Forms, Scripts and Formulae

Last week, I led two workshops at my school's professional development day. One was relevant to the flipped class. It was a presentation inspired by a webinar led by Ramsey Musallam. He framed the use of his tools as solutions to design problems. I took his lead and discussed VLookUp, Formemailer, editing the form confirmation page, and Flubaroo as solutions to four design problems in my flipped course. Incidentally, I learned about Formemailer and editing the form confirmation page from Ramsey as well.

Here is a link to my presentation and below is the YouTube playlist of my tutorial videos demonstrating how to use the relevant hacks, scripts and formulae in Google Forms. 

A Busy Week as a Flip Class Ambassador

This week has been a busy one as a flip class ambassador. I found out that my proposal for FlipCon 14 was accepted. I am presenting on a model I call Mastery Learning Cycles. In a previous post, I explain that the model is a hybrid of mastery learning and Explore-Flip-Apply. 

On Thursday,  I intended to present at the NYSAIS Teaching with Technology conference about various models of flipped learning and the evolution of my understanding of flipped learning. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to inclement weather. There are plans to reschedule in June. 

Next week, I'm leading a workshop at my school's Professional Development Day. Before the new Academic Dean took over, I suggested a day of teacher led workshops and I'm happy to lead one those workshops on flip class. The presentation is actually about Google Forms and scripts, which have been invaluable in managing workflow in my asynchronous flipped class. 

I will continue to look for opportunities to share my experiences with the flipped class. It is a powerful vehicle that can help students and teachers. 

Teaching with Technology Conference Presentation

As I am waiting for word about a possible snow day tomorrow, I feel some despair. Instead of missing school, I will miss my presentation at the NYSAIS Teaching with Technology Conference. Even if I am unable to present, I've included my Google presentation below.

The Results of a Semester of Flip Class

Now that a full semester is complete, I can judge the effectiveness of the change to flip class. The results confirm my perceptions of positive change. 

Results

1) Student achievement is up from previous years.

Quarter 4 of '12-'13 was first quarter of flipped class

2) Academic Notifications are progress reports sent home for struggling students. I have sent fewer academic notifications this year. 

 

3) The number of students averaging in the 90s has increased. 

4) There has been no change in the number of failing students

5) I have better relationships with students. I no longer have to manage behavior during content presentation; the most significant behavior issue I have to deal with now is making sure students are on task. More eighth graders have asked me for recommendations this year than in all the previous years combined. My job satisfaction has increased.

6) Since I have recuperated class time, there are more opportunities for project based learning. In previous years, I did not have any projects. This year, I had three projects in the first semester. 

Major adjustments from the first semester

1) I had a few horrendous workflow issues early in the first quarter. I required students to use multiple sources to acquire and keep track of work. After feedback from students, I streamlined this process. I created one assignment sheet with links to all handouts and assignments. 

At the beginning of this semester, I have done away with the tracking sheet since some students did not use it on a consistent basis. I opted to display the required weekly assignments in class; this information is also posted on the homepage of the website. This should greatly reduce any questions about expectations. 

2) The asynchronous nature of the course, made it difficult for students to work with different groups. In addition, it also diminished the community feel of each section. I started to use synchronous assignments to give students the opportunity to work as a class and with different individuals. Some synchronous activities are labs, Socratic Seminars, Peer Instruction and the projects. These have helped with both problems.

3) In the middle of quarter 1, I started to meet with individual students in class after failing a quiz. This helped me gauge their misunderstandings and suggest remedial activities. (Over the summer, I hope to increase my Library of remedial assignments.) I offered students an opportunity to retake part of the genetics exam, even though I did not have this plan. I allowed students to retake part of the exam if they submitted all outstanding work, retake any quizzes they did not receive perfect scores on, and submit test corrections. All but two students (out of 6 or 7) increased their test score in the retake. Even though they loathed the requirements, some told me that it helped them. Unfortunately, the two students who really would have benefited the most, did not take advantage of this opportunity. I'm unsure how to address this issue, other than explicitly including the offer in an Academic Notification. (I neglected to do this because I did not originally plan to allow students to do a retake.) 

Future adjustments in Semester 2:

1) More frequent check in times with students. Although, there are mandatory and optional check in assignments, I did not have an effective way to enforce them. I will be more diligent about checking in with students. This should help keep struggling students accountable (the tracking sheet did not work with struggling students because they typically ignored it.) This will also increase scores because some students neglected to show me assignments in previous quarters, even though they may have completed them. 

In general, I just need to hound kids more often. 

2) More optional assignments or components of assignments: I received some feedback that not all activities are required to understand some concepts. While I'm skeptical that all students can gauge what they need, I will be flexible with students who have demonstrated success. 

3) More engagement with my Personal Learning Network and resume weekly blog posts: in the first quarter I did not engage my PLN as often as during the summer. I regret missing consecutive Flip Class chats on Twitter. In December, I stopped posting weekly reflections to my blog. Even though some weeks are not note worthy, the habit forces me to reflect on successes and needed adjustments. I should at least draft a weekly reflection even if I choose not to post it to the blog. 

Institutional obstacles:

1) iPads are limited. 

• They don't reliably print. I'm not sure the nature of the issue. In semester one, I started to print copies of handouts but that caused a lot of waste. I will no longer print the handouts and will encourage students to use Notability and/or Google Drive. After a semester, 8th graders have a better handle on iPads.  
• These devices do not support Flash. I frequently use online simulations. It is unfortunate that students cannot use their devices for all work. It's hard to plan for laptop usage since the course is asynchronous.

2) Headphones: I should purchase a class set of headphones since some students neglect to bring headphones on a day they need to watch a video. In some instances, students are forced to watch the video in the hallway, which decreases my ability to hold them accountable. 

Conclusion: 
The first semester switch to the flipped class was a successful one. Students are performing better and my job satisfaction has improved. Even though there are still tweaks and improvements to be made, the outlook for this flipped class is positive!

Flipclass Resolutions in the New Year: Week 15 reflections

cyberscooty

I plan to make some changes, which could only occur at the beginning of the school year. However, in the sprit of the New Year, I have identified flipclass New Years Resolutions which will take place immediately. 

My Flipclass New Years Resolutions 

1) Flipclass chat and more general engagement on twitter and G+

Immediately following FlipCon 13, I lived on twitter by participating in the weekly flipclass chat and following #flipclass. Once the school year started, engagement with my PLN dropped tremendously. I've learned so much from my online peers and I'm resolved to continue this learning in 2014. 

2) Engage one on one, force the issue, especially those who are most resistant. 

The switch to flipclass has been mostly positive and I haven't experienced the great resistance I initially expected. However, I have not reached each student. A small minority have not internalized the mindset and skills required for success in the course. I pledge to take a more active role to engage the students who have not made the necessary adjustments. 

3) Alternative assessments like PBL and projects and incorporate SBG 

In this first full year of flipping, my focus is creating content and test banks to support asynchronous learning. It's a great first step but I expect the real benefits when students have greater autonomy in how they learn and are assessed. My long term goal is to develop a standards based rather than assessment based course. In the meanwhile, I can make the transition by offering some alternative options for learning and assessment. 

4) Analysis of flipclass efficacy 

It's self evident that teachers ought to evaluate their work and make adjustments. While I have received continuous student feedback about the course, videos and units, I haven't administered an exhaustive survey about flipclass, in general. 

5) Volunteer and apply for more presentations 

I learned tremendously from my PLN about flipclass. I consider myself newly baptized in this way. Excuse the analogy but I feel obliged to convert other teachers. To that end, I will volunteer to lead presentations to share these learnings. 

I hope these resolutions will not have the same fate as the customary  resolutions of loosing weight, spending less time at work or visiting the doctor more often. But rather, I hope these resolutions will transform my class into a model flipclass and motivate students to demand other teachers to consider changing their practices. 

Borrowing Old School Lessons - Test Corrections in Flipclass - Week 14reflections

In my capacity as Department Chair, I have the wonderful opportunity to witness a variety of pedagogies and strategies. I'm so thankful to work with a group of outstanding individuals. I was recently reminded of an important metacognitive strategy I had long forgotten: test corrections. My colleague has her students fill out a sheet after exams where they identify which questions were answered incorrectly, provide an explanation of their mistake and cite the correct answer. I will definitely use this strategy because it solves two problems in my course.

The first problem that test corrections, or at least quiz corrections in my course, solve or minimize is the phenomenon of students repeating the same mistakes on future quiz attempts. I've had post quiz conferences which were eerily similar to previous ones from the same student. I have come to believe that allowing retakes without reflection encourages repeat mistakes. Why do the hard work of reflection when you are assured three attempts on a quiz? 

The second thing solved by quiz corrections is minimizing the length of post quiz conferences. Earlier in the school year, I spent so much class time conferencing after quizzes. If I have students attempt the corrections first, then the conferences should take less time; many of those conferences might only take the amount of time it takes to read the corrections. 

The first trial will be the Moodle part of the Genetics exam. In order for any student to take a second attempt, they will have to submit all outstanding work, make test corrections and write a message explaining why they should be allowed to retake that part of the exam. My rationale goes as follows. They need to submit all outstanding work because the assignments teach or reinforce the content, which should help prepare for the retake. It will also give a clearer picture of the actual grade. A student might not want to retake an exam if their grade is "high enough." The corrections will serve the function of metacognition and avoiding repeat mistakes. The mandated message is to help guard against the student who earned 97% on the exam and want to shoot for 98%. I will outrightly deny any student who can't demonstrate why they should be able to do a retake.

It's easy to get caught up in new and flashy strategies and tools like flipclass, augmented reality, and gamification but sometimes old fashioned and battle-tested techniques like test corrections can make a big difference.  

Rethinking Unit Exams in an Asynchronous Course: Week 13 reflections

My students took their first major exam last week. Scheduling a synchronous exam in a largely asynchronous course is difficult. I've changed the date of the exam at least two times. My strategy has been to schedule the exam once the slowest or close to slowest person has finished the bare minimum of assignments in order to take the exam. Balancing that desire with making the sure the fastest students are also fairly tested has proved to be a major obstacle. I think next year I ought to rethink the synchronous exam. This is especially possible since part of the exam is online and are different for each student, so there's no real need to have at least part of the exam occur on the same day. If I can construct enough written questions in a bank, then perhaps the entire exam can be asynchronously. On the other side, the one benefit of keeping the exam synchronous is it behaves as a catch up point for slower students. It puts the pressure on students to push ahead and not become complacent if they lag behind. It is a tough call. The entire purpose of going asynchronous is to meet the needs of all students, to give each student the ability to work at their own pace. I fundamentally believe this ought to be true. Unfortunately, the wild cards are students who have the ability to work faster but choose to slack off. I want the students who work behind to be those who normally struggle, not just because they behave in a lazy way.