Great Google Docs Tips for Students

Great Google Docs Tips for Students

1. Access your documents from anywhere: Whether you’re in your dorm room or the school library, you can access your Google Docs. Take advantage of this to make it easy to do your work on-the-go.
2. Use Docs reference tools: Take advantage of the Define option to use Docs’ built in dictionary, as well as a thesaurus and an encyclopedia available for use right in your document.
3. Go mobile: Google Docs is available on most smart phones, and has a number of capabilities available on the go.
4. Save to different file types: You can easily save your documents and spreadsheets to commonly used file types like DOC, XLS, CSV, and HTML.
5. Use keyboard shortcuts: With keyboard shortcuts, you can speed through all of your tasks in Google Docs.
6. Use templates: Google Docs has a template gallery for just about anything you can imagine, from an apartment bills organizer to a doc for organizing college visits.
7. Convert PDFs to images and text: Use Google Docs to make PDFs easily editable.
8. Create forms: Gather research information, ask for opinions, and more by creating Forms in Google Docs.
9. Search EVERYTHING: Search through pretty much everything you’ve got by searching Docs and Gmail together, thanks to Gmail Labs settings.
10. Autodetect links: Simply add links in Google Docs by having them automatically detected, instead of having to input full URLs.
11. Adding video: You can embed video in documents, slides, and more to dress up your presentation.
12. Insert photos with drag and drop: Instead of going through the process of attaching, you can just drag and drop files from your hard drive into the document, then wrap text around the photo.
13. Create graphs: Visuals are great tools for getting your point across. Using charts in Google Spreadsheets, you can create your very own information-sharing graphs.
14. Look up live finance data: In Google Spreadsheet, you can use special formulas to pull live information from Google’s finance service.
15. Self-update spreadsheets: In addition to inserting live finance data, you can create a live link to that data for a document that constantly updates itself as accurate.
16. Draw in Docs: Using Polyline, snap to guides, and other drawing features, you can easily create the images your documents need.
17. Insert facts: Using Google Spreadsheet, it’s easy to insert facts, like the population for a city, which is simply pulled through the Google search engine.
18. Simply add equations: Google Docs has found a way to make it easy for students to take notes in class, offering an Equations editor for adding equations onto your pages.
19. Embed Docs anywhere: Get a link to your document or spreadsheet, and you can embed or publish it anywhere, including Facebook or a class blog.
20. Just share: Get the ball rolling on collaboration through Google Docs by sharing your document through email links.
21. Turn it into a webpage: Download your document in HTML, and you can share it as a webpage with a minimal amount of hassle.
22. Chat away: In Google Docs, you can see anyone who is currently editing the document, and if needed, send a message to chat with them.
23. Team up with anyone: Using Google Docs, you can collaborate on a document with friends, classmates, and professors.
24. Share an entire folder: If you’ve got a collection of documents to work on together, just open up a shared folder that everyone can access.
25. Work on documents all at the same time: Google Docs allows users to simultaneously work on a single master document, so you can come together with other team members and professors to work on a document at the same time.
26. Allow editing without signing in: If you’re sharing a document with classmates who don’t have a Google login, just make it available to edit without signing in.

1. Track visits: Using Google Analytics, you can track how much traffic a published document is receiving.
2. Set notification rules: Find out about the changes made by your collaborators on any given document by setting up notification rules.
3. Use Docs instead of emailing attachments: Rather than emailing revised versions of documents over and over again, you can just use Google docs and see revision histories.
4. Kick slackers off of a project: Simply remove collaborators doing more harm than good by clicking None next to their name.
5. Freeze to stop editing: If you’ve perfected certain rows and columns in your spreadsheet, just freeze them so they’re not accidentally edited.
6. Revert back to old versions: If your group doesn’t like a certain set of changes made, it’s very simple just to revert back to automatically saved previous versions in the revision history.
7. Save brainstorm notes for group projects: Get everyone’s ideas all together in one place by using Google Docs for brainstorming.
8. Use data validation: Make sure that your collaborators aren’t adding a mess to your spreadsheet by using data validation on shared documents.
9. Use color coding: You can change text colors based on rules, like setting green for one classmate, blue for another, and red for yourself.
10. Clean up your main Google Docs page: Move items to individual folders, and you can make your landing page a lot cleaner and easy to navigate.
11. Insert a bookmark: Make it easy to access other parts of your document, like a table of contents, by inserting bookmarks throughout.
12. Create subfolders: For an extra step of organization, create folders within folders.
13. Get color coded: Color code the names of your folders for quick and easy identification.
14. Get synched: Using tools like Syncplicity, you can get all of your Google Docs synched up with documents from Microsoft Office.
15. Create your own shortcuts: Put together shortcuts to launch Google Docs, create a new document, and even access frequently used documents in a flash.
16. Print multiple Docs at once: If you need to speed through printing several documents at one time, just download and open them as a zip file.
17. Quick View PDFs: When you see PDF files in search results, you can just Quick View them to open them up in Google Docs.
18. Check your translation work: Google Docs has added a translation tool, which can easily be used to double check your work when writing a foreign language essay.
19. Get a grade before you turn assignments in: Using Flubaroo on Google Docs, you can get quick feedback on your assignment, giving you a chance for improvement before you need to turn it in.
20. Write in full screen mode: Make your toolbar, menus, and other tempting distractions disappear by displaying your Google Docs in full screen.
21. Automatically correct your common mistakes: If you have words that you just can’t spell to save your life, set up a preference to automatically find and replace your mistakes with correctly spelled words.
22. Customize your styles: If you like a consistent look for your documents, set up a customized style so you don’t have to go back and fix it with every new document.
23. Work offline: Use the offline feature of Google Docs to work on the bus, plane, or anywhere you plan to go without an internet connection.
24. Save web pages to your Google Docs account: Turn any web page into a PDF for viewing later by using the send to Google Docs extension for Chrome.
25. Back it all up: Google Docs itself offers a great way to back up your documents, but it never hurts to save elsewhere, right? Back up and download all of your Google Documents and save them to a hard drive for safekeeping.
26. Use Google Docs for everyday stuff, too: You can use Google Docs to track expenses, maintain your calendar, and more.

Via Open Colleges

Web 2.0 Foundations Joins the Canvas Revolution

This week Web 2.0 Foundation students break the mold of online and blended learning. Canvas LMS has arrived at Wiscasset High School.

Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) is more than a LMS, its an ePortfolio Builder, Social Networking and PLN hub, Google Apps integration, mobile learning and much more. Teachers see the stats on Canvas LMS HERE. Students see some of what Canvas has to offer: http://www.instructure.com/students

Blogging: What would your day look like?

The inaugural Web 2.0 Foundations blog posts are due this weekend.  After participants looked over detailed directions and had some face to face collaborative planning time about blog basics we have moved on to understand blogs in a more conceptual sense while using blogs in learning context.  We use a comprehensive Blogging design sheet for our weekly reflection blog assignment:


At first I will give participants prompts, but in weeks to come their self organized research topics will guide blog posts:

Prompt 1 was given at the beginning of Week 2:

After viewing and commenting on the post above (http://whsii.blogspot.com/2012/02/networked-student.html) answer the following question in a new post on your blog "If you could get credit for school learning anyway you wished what would your day look like"? Remember to follow the Web 2.0 Blogging Assignment carefully and add images and or video in your post.

To scaffold this learning we devoted time to brainstorming dream designs and experiences for learning.... and had our first Mobile Learning experience with a short "walking" tour of the science wing to ideate on the potentials of WHS architecturally. More discussion in class.... I have students take group notes via Google Docs with one volunteer scribe to capture the big ideas.... Now its up to them. A few examples of divergent and very successful learning environments will follow in the next posts for participants all.

Targets Met (Week One and Two) *:

The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•S)

and Performance Indicators for Students

1. Creativity and Innovation  

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:

a.apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.*

b.create original works as a means of personal or group expression.*

c.use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.*

d.identify trends and forecast possibilities.*

2. Communication and Collaboration  

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:

a.interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. (Partial)

b.communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.

c.develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.

d.contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.*

3. Research and Information Fluency  

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:

a.plan strategies to guide inquiry.*

b.locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.*

c.evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.*

d.process data and report results.

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making  

Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:

a.identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation. (Partial)

b.plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.*

c.collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.*

d.use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions. (Partial)

5. Digital Citizenship   Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:  

a.advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.*

b.exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.*

c.demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning. (Emerging)

d.exhibit leadership for digital citizenship. (Emerging)

6. Technology Operations and Concepts   Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:  

a.understand and use technology systems.*

b.select and use applications effectively and productively.*

c.troubleshoot systems and applications.*

d.transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.*

PD Series: Using Canvas to Create Community

[1]

Over years of teaching I have used many different tools for blended learning.  From Moodle and Mahara, to Wordpress, Blogger, Netvibes, and wholly distributed systems of personal learning networks based on Networked Learning, MOOC and Connectivist movements in education and more. The purpose of all of these tools (and mine as a social studies teacher, tech integrator, and teacher of information studies), for online learning was to build a learning community that extends, enhances and amplifies learning while also allowing learners to build on interests, dreams and aspirations for their future.  In transition to blended learning it is important that all involved, both teachers and students, are appropriately challenged. A good way to accomplish this in the early stages, is through the creation of a learning management system.

Canvas

Canvas offers a learning management system that is intuitive to students and teachers while also being connected directly with Google Apps.  The result is a dynamic environment for course design, management, and communication. As an opening vignette to the professional development series tied to Web 2.0 Foundations we will look at opening a course with Canvas.

* As a reminder: I will set up faculty sites this year for all core courses in Canvas upon request.

Setting up an LMS (Canvas)

This process takes setting the stage for learning in a blended course environment. 

The email:
Students woke up on Monday to an email from me with a small course welcome and the indication that they needed to check a link with a detailed explanation about getting course material: 

The explanation:
http://whsii.blogspot.com/2012/01/welcome-web-20-foundation-participants.html

The outcome:
One hundred percent of the students in my course who where on my original course lists came ready to learn and understanding enough to ask good questions about how they could "catch up" with what I had set forth as expectations.  This is not in my teaching experience unusual.  I have spent up to 24/7 with high schoolers for five weeks as well as in classroom settings and one thing I have found is that they respond to appropriate expectations asking them to take charge of their learning.  Nothing special here. Hello, go to this link, this is what you should expect from me and this is what I expect from you.  Students who have come in later I have worked with to catch up.  Within 24 hours of the course start all students (across the spectrum) where in Canvas communicating with the Web 2.0 Foundations community.


What they found upon entry into OpenClass:
 Organization, simplicity in design, pathways of communication.

What they found in Week 1

 

This is What I found:

Almost 100 Percent participation in the online forums....At all hours

 

Within 48 hours the internal Twitter/Facebook "like" course wall becomes populated with community interaction and peer to peer learning.

 Setting up a blended learning environment takes work.  But more importantly it takes a realization that young people can, will and prefer to learn in part by the digital spaces that their lives revolve around.  In Web 2.0 Foundations first week students exhibited the core of 21st century learning.  They found, validated, leveraged, analyzed and synthesized information and problem solved and collaborated in dynamic spaces.  I hope you see how using an LMS might be a first step to blending your coursework and empowering your students to learn in new ways. For those of you using LMS now,  you already know the benefits and I hope you will find specifics that might help or inspire....(and yes, you can upload your Moodle courses directly into Canvas).
 

PD Series: Creating Blended Learning With Google Apps and Canvas

Web 2.0 Foundations is off to a healthy and inspiring start.

The course introduces students to Web 2.0 Foundations (learning and technological environments) through the experiential based pedagogy of networked and mobile learning. Web 2.0 Foundations utilizes a blended learning design to create a virtual and face to face community that promotes ubiquitous learning for WHS students.

According to Colis and Moonen (2001), "blended learning is a hybrid of traditional face-to-face and online learning so that instruction occurs both in the classroom and online, and where the online component becomes a natural extension of traditional classroom learning." [1]  Blended Learning is an essential step toward readying young people for 21st century living.  As a learner, seeing the school classroom as a part or the learning process and not the whole is vital for success today. Likewise, Young people have the world at there fingertips and are using it:

The worlds reality illuminates the fact that old models are not working or preparing students.  What conversations should K-12 Educators have with Universities....




How educators facilitate and find confluence with the world and adapt or bypass current educational systems will determine in many ways the relevance of the teaching profession and schools.  Colis and Moonen, Bonk and Graham (2006) [2] , Jacobs (2010) [3] agree that embracing blended learning is essential for 21 century learners and is a solid step forward for educators.  According to the 2010 Horizon Report [4] (one of the most respected K-12 indices of research back learning trends):

Technology is increasingly a means for empowering students, a method for communication and socializing, and a ubiquitous, transparent part of their lives. Technology is impacting all of our lives, and especially the lives of students, in new and expanding ways. Once seen as an isolating influence, technology is now recognized as a primary way to stay in touch and take control of one’s own learning. Multisensory, ubiquitous, and interdisciplinary, technology is integrated into nearly everything we do. It gives students a public voice and a means to reach beyond the classroom for interaction and exploration.

We have the tools at WHS to move in the direction of prescient change without that change feeling radical.  Blended learning starts with empowerment. Learners take control of their learning through participation in scaffolded online and classroom communities. The first step toward learner self determination comes through expectation and assistance in weaving a world of learning with your students by creating a community both public and semi-public that is with learners twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.  Using a learning management systems (LMS) creates a link between face to face and virtual learning worlds without exposing the teacher or learners to the wilds of the public for core learning community interface.

Web 2.0 Foundations is using Canvas as an LMS platform.  Canvas weaves with Google Apps and provides a "cloud based" solution for moving your class into the 21st century.  Your content becomes fluid, your teaching opened to the wealth of resources on the internet and your communication/pedegogy amplified in a space that an overwhelming majority of students find comfort in navigating.

Posts dealing with Blended Learning will be "labeled" with blended learning canvas, lms and pd at the end of the post so you can easily find the series as more posts come in on other topics.

Thank you for your vision.  Please comment and start a conversation below!

Welcome Web 2.0 Foundation Participants

Excellent work getting here from your email message.  This blog post will set the scene for the course before you and act as a guide in finding one of your course online learning environments called OpenClass.  OpenClass is the hybrid Learning Management System we will use for Web 2.0 Foundations.  The course is a blended learning experience that will happen as much online as in the classroom so be prepared for something different.

When preparing for a blended course there are a few things you need to know.

1. You will not be given a paper copy of anything the whole term.
2. All you need to know for the course: schedules, readings, discussions, Q and A and your creation will be online 24/7.  Face to Face class time will be used for seminar style discussions about topics discussed online and in media, mobile learning experiences, group project work, and occasionally tech tool tutorials. 
3. You will be expected to experiment with and use online tech tools regularly for distinct purposes. DO get used to this.  I understand who you are as a networked generation and know well what you can and can't generally do in online spaces.  I will ask you to employ all the power you have as tech natives to shape your own experience in the course.  Not to fret, I will be along as teacher, mentor and guide the whole way and look forward to your creativity and hard work. 
4. You will find much freedom in this course for fun and following your passions in learning and life.  Take advantage of this time by taking the time to do your best.  Your commitment will pay off.

 Open Class Tutorial 1:

Prelude:

Bookmark the site you are reading this on. This is the Official Course Blog and navigation center for most things Web 2.0 foundations.

OpenClass

You can get to OpenClass through your Google Apps dashboard or via direct link on this site.

There is a tab on the Course Blog for our class note this and bookmark it. Sure, there is another log-in to OpenClass on the course page also.

After you navigate using the Open Class link log into the Google Apps for Education side! See images below

 After doing this you will be taken to the WHS Google Apps Log-In page.  Enter your Username and PW there and you will be taken to YOUR OpenClass "Dashboard".  After looking around see images below, click on your course: Web 2.0 Foundations- #1317

From there explore OpenClass and start on week one activities after reading the welcome message.  Its all there....and its a good idea to get a head start! See you all face to face tomorrow.

Web 2.0 Foundations: A Course in Participatory Technology

"So the coin of the realm is not memorizing the facts and figures their going to need for the rest of their lives; the coin of the realm will be, do you know how to find, validate and leverage information; do you know how to analyze and synthesize that information; and can you problem solve, collaborate and communicate with it...." - Ken Kay [1]

Hello all,

Web 2.0 Foundations: A Course in Participatory Technology

An Opening Vignette:

Technology is a word we often confuse with computers, programs, and myriad gadgets only.  If you dig deeper I think you would agree that humans have utilized technology in very innovative ways since the Middle Paleolithic (or for those numbers folks out there c. 200,000 years ago+-).  Be it friction fire, basketmaking, agriculture, irrigation, warfare, in-door plumbing, radio's or iPads there has always been a human driving the social use of these tools.  Elders, leaders, wise people....yes teachers have always enabled and proliferated technology at the core of cultures.  We need to never loose site that the young people before us are entering a radically different world than the one we came from.  Though pockets of traditional life ways exist (and may proliferate in terms of localization of food and economies), the connections young people have to the world and what the world needs are fundamentally shifting the narrative of their futures. We need a learning design that helps young people prepare for a world without borders.   So how are we responding? In 2008, Pearson put together this short video to make a few suggestions:



"We have to develop a narrative that sustains 21st century learning."

The 21st century imperatives for learning deal with information.  Do we enable our students to find, validate, leverage, analyze, synthesize , problem solve and collaborate with information on a regular basis?  What does this look like? 

Web 2.0 Foundations is designed to be a participatory venture between our school, teachers, learners and the community that moves students into spaces of dynamic individualized learning with new technologies while also helping the whole faculty move toward creating spaces (mental, physical and online) that enable these 21st century learners.

Over the semester I will post my designs for Web 2.0 Foundations: setting up an Learning Management System and expectations for networked learning, designs for extensive networked research, mLearning (Mobile Learning), project based learning, 360 degree assessment and more.  You will also see and be asked to view and give feedback on  student research and online creation.  In the end, via a capstone project I will ask students to take an assignment (two....) from a teachers class and transform it using Web 2.0 Foundations.  This experience is meant to make learning at WHS ubiquitous for the participants of the course and our school community. I look forward to working with you all and look forward to your comments and support!  Before the course "officially" starts here are a few important organizational tips for following this process.

We will tag everything we create with the following:

web2.0found (Social Bookmarking, this blog (Called Labels), student blogs (Called Lables))
#web2.0found (Twitter Hashtag)
web2.0foundtools (for specific tech tools used in the experience)
web2.0foundreading (for specific readings and research findings we like)

More on how to follow this tag stream soon!

I look forward to participating with you all in network!

Coming soon:

Step one: can our students find a syllabus, schedule, updates, discussions and expectations in asynchronous spaces online?.....

Google In Education: A New and Open World for Learning

Please  view and download this document.  It is worth your time.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to an amazing Administration, Faculty and Staff.  I appreciate my welcome to WHS and look forward to an amazing new year with you all!

My gift to you is an eBook curated by Seth Godin called What Matters.  First released two years ago, this work deserves our attention.  The central focus is on big thoughts and small actions to transform ourselves and the world.

Directions: Click on the Image and the eBook will appear in Google Docs format. You will have the option to download when open.

Warm wishes,

Thomas

ePortfolio with Google Apps Series: Introduction

Google Apps ePortfolio Step-by-Step Process

In this post you will find a basic introduction to the ePortfolio process using Google Docs.  The hard work WHS has done in designing Portfolio assessment will have an easy and effective framework to use through this process.  This first post is the conventional view of ePortfolio development.  How we choose as a community to add to this process is up to us.  I will be offering a series of these posts with each step picked apart for training purposes.  In each of those posts I will give live examples from our ePortfolio Template for 2011-2012.

We all acknowledge that there are serious competing interests for our time this year.  That said, this is attainable! The hard work is done.... as a community you have aknowledged that Portfolio assessment is an integral part of learning at WHS.  Framing portfolios as ePortfolios takes accepting that 21st century skills are a cornerstone to our mission at WHS and some effort.  We are an amazing and versatile faculty and administration that has talents in technology that far surpass so many in Maine. Using this community, asking questions and supporting the young people we teach and learn with is second nature here.  I will work hard to support the progression to uniform digital ePortfolios with my all and am looking forward to it! 

Glossary: Primary Responsibility for ePortfolio Component 

All School (AS)

Teacher (T)

Student (S)

Advisor (A)

Steps for using GoogleApps throughout the Portfolio Development Process

1. (AS) Purpose. Decide on the purpose for the portfolio. What are you trying to show with this portfolio? Are there outcomes, goals, or standards that are being demonstrated with this portfolio? In this example, steps 2-4 represent an interative process, using a blog to provide formative feedback on student work on a regular basis.
   • Teachers, Admin and (eventually) Students: Set up templates for student work in GoogleDocs organized around outcomes, goals and standards?
   • Students: Customize a Google Sites page that will serve as the opening page/Introduction to the portfolio and to the portfolio developer (see Section 6 below). This page will include a section entitled, "All About Me."
   •  Students create a Google Sites Announcements page type, to use as a reflective journal (blog). Call the page "Journal" or "Blog." Create a first post that describes the purpose for developing this portfolio.
     OR: Students create a blog in Blogger (included under the GoogleApps domain)

2. ---

   (S) Collection/Classification. What artifacts will you include in your portfolio? How will you classify these entries?
   
   • Students: Create a digital archive of work Using GoogleDocs. Offline, this archive would be on a hard drive, flash drive, iPod or local area network server.
   • Students: (Optional) Use a simple table or GoogleDocs Spreadsheet to list the artifacts, and assign (classify) each one to the outcome/goal/standard that the artifact will demonstrate. Use the table to keep track of artifacts that might be stored on one of the many Web 2.0 sites that you could use to store your work. See Dr. Barrett’s portfolio for an example (Artifacts in GoogleDocs Spreadsheet).
     
     Students will: convert all attached artifacts into web-compatible formats (JPEG or PDF) so that the potential reader will not need to own the original software in order to read it (i.e., Microsoft Office, Publisher, Inspiration documents could easily be converted into PDF and attached to a blog entry, or link to GoogleDocs).
     Web 2.0 storage: Video files can be saved on one of the video sharing sites, and use the Hyperlink or Embed code to include in your blog entry. Word, Excel and PowerPoint files could be uploaded into GoogleDocs. Other free websites that allow you to store documents: SlideShare, Scribd. Most of these Web 2.0 sites use an email address as the log-in name, so it will be easy to remember.

3. ---

   (S, T, A)Reflection. Reflection is the heart and soul of a portfolio. Reflection provides the rationale for why these artifacts represent achievement of a particular outcome, goal or standard. Blog entries provide an opportunity for reflection "in the present tense" or "reflection in action."
   
   • Teachers: Provide students with resources to support their reflection activities. For each learning activity or artifact, what should be the focus of the students' reflections? (See Dr. Barrett's Google Site on Reflection for Learning)
   • Students: Write a blog entry (using Journal set up using GoogleSites Announcements page type, or in Blogger--Step #1 above) with a reflection on each learning activity or artifact (what is the context in which this artifact was developed? What did you learn?).
   • Students: Add your own classification using Tags
   • Students: Add appropriate artifacts (through hyperlinks) or as an attachment to the journal entry.
     
     Privacy Features: Students can limit who can read the Google Site through the More Actions ->Share this Site menu item.

4. ---

   (AS) Connection/Interaction/Dialogue/Feedback. This stage provides an opportunity for interaction and feedback on the work posted in the portfolio. This is where the power of Web 2.0 interactive tools becomes apparent.
   • Teachers and Peers:  Use the feedback features of Google Sites or GoogleDocs, such as comments, to provide feedback on the work posted in the ePortfolio/blog entries. Guidelines should be provided to support more effective feedback.
   • Teachers often provide exemplars for different levels of achievement, and provide a rubric for evaluation.
   • Students should be given the option of updating the work, based on the feedback and the rubric.
     
     REPEAT steps 3-4 for each learning activity or artifact.

5. ---

   Summative Reflection/Selection/Evaluation. At the end of a course (or program), students would write a reflection that looks back over the course (or program) and provides a meta-analysis of the learning experience as represented in the reflections stored in the blog/journal entries.
• Students: Review the blog/journal entries for that category, and write a last "retrospective reflection" about the learning represented in the artifacts, selecting one or two examples that best represent achievement. This self-assessment should be the first part of a page set up in Google Sites.
• Students:  Prepare a GoogleSites Page for each Outcome, Goal or Standard, and link to the selected "best" blog entries, writing a reflection on each page (by outcome/goal/standard) which should also have the artifact attached or linked.
• Teacher/Advisor: Provide feedback and/or evaluation of the selection of work and rationale, using a WHS rubric.

6. ---

   Presentation/Publishing. The portfolio developer decides what parts of the portfolio are to be made public.
   • Student: Create a set of pages that highlight the best components of the portfolio, linking to specific entries in the blog. Add the evidence (through hyperlinks to blog entries or artifacts) to the appropriate sub-pages in the portfolio.
   • Students: Customize your Introduction page, which should contain an overview of the portfolio. It serves as a “letter to the reader” and provides an explanation of the overall goals of the portfolio. Provide links to other pages developed in the portfolio. Advertise this Introduction page as the initial access point in your portfolio.
   • Students: Create a page with Future Learning Goals (reflection in the future tense).
   • Teacher: When used for summative assessment, submit final evaluation of portfolio (assessed using a quantitative analytic rubric or a holistic rubric).
   
   Adapted under Free and Cultural Works with attribution to: Dr. Helen Barrett

ePortfolio Series

One of the things that makes WHS amazing is the work done already to integrate Portfolio assessment into the school culture and curriculum.  The work towards shifting portfolio assessment to ePortfolio assessment is not that difficult once the hard part of integration is understood.  In the next series of posts I will outline the ePortfolio process using our Google Apps instance.

Most of our work ahead in ePortfolio development is based on the deep research of Helen Barrett.  Dr. Barrett's work on  ePortfolios span two decades and she has become the preeminent voice in using Google Apps for ePortfolio development.  Many of the frameworks used before my time and those that I have built since are rooted in Dr. Barrett's thought. I will credit her many times over our time of integration.

In the next series of posts, I will start to outline the Google Apps ePortfolio Framework we hope to employ here.  Some of the posts will be big picture and some proscriptive and I hope all will be useful As always, please ask questions via comment here, in email or stop by 107 any afternoon for a f2f discussion.  

ePortfolios: Visualizing Google Apps

Google Apps, ePortfolios, and imagination....
Via Helen Barrett

Welcome WHS 2011-2012

Hello all,

I continue to be inspired by WHS.  We are doing amazing work here and I look forward to whats ahead.   This blog uses Blogger which is available to everyone at WHS through our Google Apps account.  I will be giving tech updates here from this point forward so please do subscribe to the blog (via email see right hand column over the videos) to receive updates and announcements from the world of integration at WHS.  You can also add this blog to your Google Readers via RSS.  My goal is to post here about school wide technology and innovation topics (like ePortfolio's!), troubleshooting topics that stem from your questions and our work together, student project work, the Web 2.0 course and so much more. I hope this makes communication easier for everyone.

Updates and general housekeeping to date:


General (Label: general)

All systems are up and running as of Wednesday 5 October 2010.  Powerschool speeds and First Class additions are being addressed.

Website (Label: website)

Our website will be getting some major help soon! Prior to anything epic (and epic is needed:)), I will continue to find and change links to make things easier in the near term.  If you have a need for our current website feel free to email me.

I have also revamped some important sites that link from our homepage. The Parent laptop site (Now Parent and Student), along with the WHS Tech Resources websites have been updated, added to and changed to a more current and salient state for our activities and action this year. The pages within this Blog now contain this information on ePortfolios, PowerSchool, Google Apps, a Resource Library of software and online tools along with some video detailing media literacy and 21st century skills.  Please do visit each of these pages as they contain many new additions and I would like to hear your feedback on the media and resources now there.  Feel free to leave a comment or email!

Google Apps (Label: googleapps)

As I have mentioned I am an unabashed Google Apps adherent and will be encouraging you all to take greater advantage of this amazing resource we have. Please do take a look at the new tutorials I have embedded on the Tech Resources website and contact to me with Google questions of any kind.  As admin for our Google Apps instance I also encourage you to let me know if you need anything regarding your account.  I will give periodic Google Tools in Education tips and tricks, stay posted and please use Google Apps often.  The more you use them the easier they become.


ePortfolios (Label: eportfolio)

I am currently working on ePortfolio frameworks and look forward to your feedback soon.

My Schedule (Label: tcsmschedule)

I will be at WHS in the Tech Integrator capacity weekly this year.   I am working out both help desk request protocols (scheduling to see me for the routine and integration).  I am also excited about the possibility of working with the students in advisories on topics of integration, saftey and innovation.   More on this soon.


Morning seminars and "un-seminars" (Label: techseminars)

Next week: See the Integration Information Page