Last Day of Class

On November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn blogging, classroom observations, coding, edtech, image editing, video conferencingLeave a comment

Today is my last day of EDCI 336: Technology Innovation in Education.

Today we are:

Programming with Scratch
Learning about Multi-Access Learning
Controlling a Video Conference Robot

Scratch:

First, we got to play around with scratch. Scratch is a free computer programming application that allows people to create a wide variety of interactive media projects. Some ways in which we discussed using scratch in an educational capacity is through the use of programming fun games, story telling, math & geometry, and physics (ballistic arcs). Specifically, scratch can allow us to learn about x and y coordinates, math operations, logic, and design.

Scratch is great as it is a way for students to engage in purposeful play. For instance, during my school observations I have noticed that a grade four class is working on their typing skills. Perhaps they could utilize scratch to create interactive stories. This is a way to incorporate digital and critical literacy in a fun way into the classroom.

scratch2 scratch_game

Multi-Access Learning:

Distributed Learning Prompt #1

Distributed learning is an instructional model that allows teachers, students, and content to be located in different locations. Using distributed learning can be extremely useful for students who have anxiety or live far away. Although sides is a valuable program it may lead to exclusionary practices as students are being taken away from their classroom and classmates. Incorporating distributed learning into the classroom allows students to learn outside of the classroom but still form meaningful connections with the teacher and their peers. Using different modalities allows for student differentiation. This is important as each student learns differently.

Face to face or online courses? Blended?

Multi-access–> bringing the learning to the learner. Modality is becoming personalized not categorized. In multi-access there are various layers. Learning can occur online, through video conferencing, and face-to-face.

TIE Lab at UVic works toward this multi-access learning.

Cyber Proxy: Can allow a student at home to be on campus via teleprescence. This is an embodied perspective.

Experimenting with the beam robot TIE:

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Verdict: I want one. This thing is so much fun to watch & drive.

The perfect ending to a great class.

Webinar: Journey to a Grade Free Classroom

On November 24, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn blogging, tech inquiry, video conferencing, video editingLeave a comment

I only have 12 days left until I am off for winter break. With that in mind, this will probably be the last summary of a webinar that I provide for you. Because this is my last opportunity to collect information for you about FreshGrade I want to summarize a webinar that will incorporate new information into my own (and therefore your own) understanding.

So what webinar have I chosen? Journey to a Grade Free Classroom by Cari Wilson.

Wilsoncwilson@wvschools.ca
@kayakcari

Why have I chosen it? I am extremely interested in no grades. Further, I believe that at some point during my own teaching career we will have moved towards a no grades policy.

Lets dive into the webinar facts:

Wilson works in Vancouver helping students and teachers implement technology and innovation into the classroom. This webinar describes her journey to a grade free classroom using FreshGrade.

Wilson is a seventh grade teacher and became tired of sending her students to high school with the view that they were a C- student, a B student, etc. Wilson thought that something should be done about letter grades and applied for (and obtained) an innovation grant that would allow her to explore the question, “will replacing letter grades with learning descriptors result in increased student self image and better understanding of personal strengths and weaknesses as students head off to high school?”

56 out of 60 students participated in the first year of this pilot project. The letter grades normally used were replaced with descriptors, “exceeding, fully meeting, minimally meeting, and not yet meeting.” During the second year of the pilot program she started using FreshGrade more with students as a way for them to self reflect and assess themselves. In the third year of this program things started to really take off as the school decided to incorporate this no grades policy from grades 4-7. New descriptors were created, “beginning, developing, acquiring, and exceeding.” Five years into the program things have been successful and the newest descriptors include, “beginning, developing, applying and extending.’ (*Very growth mindset*)

Wilson recommends going grade less and states that you must be bold (take baby steps), be clear (what do you want to get out of this), and be reflective.

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I really liked this video as it gave me hope that one day all schools will be removing grades. This is something that I believe is really important as grades don’t always properly reflect our students learning. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn anything new about FreshGrade in this webinar. As stated previously, FreshGrade was only briefly mentioned with regard to its usefulness for students abilities to reflect and assess themselves online.

In conclusion,

Thank you for reading my posts about FreshGrade! I hope that they have been as informative for you as their creation has been for me. As you can imagine the ideas and information that I have collected pertaining to FreshGrade over the past 12 weeks has evolved. Because of this, I am going to make one last post summarizing my key findings on FreshGrade. It will be uploaded sometime in the next 12 days! So please check back with me if you would like a refresher on all things FreshGrade.

Thanks for the read.

Webinar: How to use FreshGrade in an ESL/ELL Classroom

On November 16, 2018November 24, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn assessment, blogging, image editing, social media, tech inquiry, twitter, video conferencing, video editingLeave a comment

This webinar was not quite the video that I thought it would be. I thought that it might be a webinar revolving around how to help non-english students through the use of FreshGrade but instead it is a webinar describing a teachers use of FreshGrade with her English students who are learning to speak French.

Nonetheless it still provided some good examples as to how FreshGrade can be helpful when learning a new language.

The person who ran this webinar is named Michelle Grenne (@MGreenehansen). She has been teaching French for the past 17 years, grades 9-12. Greene works at Stratford school which is famous for its theatre productions. She uses the hashtag #freshgradeL2 if you wish to discuss similar FreshGrade experiences over Twitter with her. She found FreshGrade through Twitter one day and decided to try it out for herself. Immediately she realized that the application has immense potential for helping students learn French. Basically, what she found was that FreshGrade promotes speaking in French through their recording option. This allows class discussions to take place online as students record themselves speaking French on the iPad throughout the class.

Some key points that were discusses included FreshGrades ability to:

Encourage shy students to speak
Challenge students to use vocabulary in new contexts. For instance, assessment tools can be created to mark students online discussions with regard to the amount of new vocabulary that they are using on the app
Motivate students to be more engaged in classroom activities as their assessments about class participation are shown on their portfolios
Build confidence in French by allowing students to see their progression over time
She likes how she can track student progress online as there is less paper used
It also helps her with exit slips as students can post their answers quickly to the application at the end of class. This allows her to see students proficiency in what they have learned on a particular day

Although the title this video is a tad misleading it does provide some helpful information pertaining to how the recording option of FreshGrades app can allow students to practice a second language more comfortably. With that being said, I think that FreshGrade can be an extremely useful tool for middle school French (6-8).

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Webinar: Introduction to FreshGrade for Parents

On November 16, 2018November 24, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn assessment, blogging, image editing, social media, tech inquiry, video conferencing, video editingLeave a comment

A customer care representative for FreshGrade ran this webinar. Of course, the beginning hook was ” FreshGrade communicates student learning giving parents a window into their students classroom. Parents can download FreshGrade on any IOS or android device or web browser using their home or a public computer.” (I feel like I could recite what FreshGrade is to you now that I have heard the same sentences over and over again.)

There was a short audio clip that was presented from a parent using FreshGrade. Described below is her response:

Her son was in grade five when they started using FreshGrade and it is has been truly impactful to use. It is a window into the classroom through videos, pictures, and comments that has made her understand what her child is doing and made her better able to support her child at home. Further, it is the highlight of her day when she gets notifications about her son.

Some other facts presented throughout the webinar:

Notifications and emails will let you know when your child’s portfolio is updated.
Can get access to all of your childrens accounts at the same time.
You have the option to email the teacher, look at the portfolio, view portfolio history, look at report cards, view any invites, and view announcements.
You can download any photos added to FreshGrade.

I wont walk you through how to create an account as I did that with the student webinar but I have uploaded photos with easy to follow steps.

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As you can tell this was a shorter webinar. It would be useful for a parent to watch that is new to FreshGrade. If you have already read my other blogs with regard to FreshGrade then you probably didn’t learn anything particularly new and exciting but nonetheless now we know that this webinar is exclusively for NEW FreshGrade parent users.

Webinar: Introduction to FreshGrade for Students

On November 8, 2018November 24, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn assessment, blogging, GAFE, image editing, social media, tech inquiry, video conferencing, video editingLeave a comment

The webinar “Introduction to FreshGrade for Students” is exactly what you would expect, “an introduction to FreshGrade for students.” Here is a quick summary of what the webinar discussed. Because this webinar is only twenty minutes long I am going to summarize it perfectly for you.

So here are the key points from the webinar:

FreshGrade allows you to share your accomplishments or something that you are proud of with your parents while also being able to reflect on your learning.
Students can download FreshGrade on any IOS or android device as well as have access on a web browser to add or comment on their work.
An interview from a student using FreshGrade took place. This student discussed how FreshGrade makes her feel more confident in her work and allows her to talk with her teachers and parents about her work more easily. She also stated that she likes comments that tell her how to improve her work.
Each student will receive their own digital profile where teachers and students can share examples of their work. Teachers, students, and parents can comment on portfolio artifacts to encourage progress, celebrate success, and deepen learning.
Notifications and emails will let you know when your portfolio is updated.
When creating an account you can download FreshGrade from student.freshgrade.com, from the iTunes App Store, or from Google play.
Once you go to create your account you will need an access code that your teacher should provide for you. Once you have this code you can log into FreshGrade and then create your own login information that will replace your access code.
Once you have your student account set up you can see all FreshGrade elements on your portfolio. These include any comments that have been made, previous report cards, and classroom announcements. On the student portfolio page you can email teachers directly, upload work and/or make comments, add different classes into different portfolios, and view your portfolio history which allows you to see any previous years portfolios.
Voice to text was briefly mentioned as a tool for younger students to use to quickly upload comments to FreshGrade.

This webinar would be good for new students or parents to utilize as it briefly describes FreshGrade and shows what the application looks like. This webinar probably isn’t the most informative for someone who has already used FreshGrade or knows a bit about it.

Here is the link if you wish to watch it for yourself:

https://learning.freshgrade.com/courses/369157/lectures/5634829

Webinar: Expert Panel on Portfolios & Assessment

On November 7, 2018November 24, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn assessment, blogging, classroom observations, collaboration, curration, distributed learning, edcamp, image editing, multimedia, PLN, professional learning, social media, tech inquiry, video conferencing, video editingLeave a comment

The webinar “Expert panel on Portfolios & Assessment” discusses assessment, portfolios, and 21st-century learning with FreshGrade. Four presenters discuss their experience and ideas about FreshGrade.

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Kelli Vogstad is a vice principle who uses FreshGrade. Feel free to follow her blog —-> Kellivogstad.com

In this webinar Kelly discusses how to best document learning on FreshGrade. She states that the documentation must show growth over time, provide reflection, and bring in the core competencies. To make learning visible on FreshGrade we must include the curriculum activity and task, but move beyond the picture of the worksheet or test. Our pictures need to show growth and learning. Further, FreshGrade should have two prominent voices: student and parent. Students should be encouraged to document what they have learned, what they still need to work on, and their plans to move forward. Additionally, parents voices should be included but their comments should move beyond praise.

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Damian Cooper is an assessment consultant who works to make assessment relevant for students and less work for teachers. Currently he is working on validating the use of observation and conversation as assessment tools.

Damian discusses the importance of a curriculum that focuses on know, do, and understand. He states that there is often an over reliance on factual knowledge and that we need to move toward observing students skills, competencies, and conceptual understanding. One way in which we can observe these areas is through FreshGrade. FreshGrade allows students to record information which we can view as evidence of learning on smartphones and tablets. This type of learning and assessment challenges the traditional marking approach but can be more beneficial as it allows students to gather their own evidence.

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Wanny Hersey is a superintendent in Northern California.

Wanna discusses how FreshGrade is utilized to document student achievement and growth at her project based learning school. The school that she describes utilizes focused learning goals. According to her, these goals and certain 21st century skills can be hard to demonstrate in a traditionally academic sense. In her opinion, FreshGrade is able to capture the entire learning experience of the students. Students are able to post about their goals online, which relates to metacognition. This also promotes engagement and conversations. Some challenges that Wanna describes includes the amount of devices available for uploading. For instance, you may need to take time to create a system for uploading if you only have access to a small number of devices. You also need to take time to train parents, teachers, and students about what strong evidence looks like. Further, some of the benefits discussed include the ability to document skills such as, collaboration and critical thinking. Additionally, because many teachers can have access to different student portfolios collaboration between teachers is common, and teachers can use FreshGrade as proof of their own professional growth.

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Karen Fadrum helps teachers understand how to utilize portfolios and assessment.

Karen mentioned that while using FreshGrade teachers need time and space, access to information, and a connection to the community. When shifting to using FreshGrade, teachers are learners and need to make FreshGrade work for them and their students. Some tools that can be utilized to support teachers includes: readily available technology, documentation tools for teachers and students, access to creative apps, and flexible learning spaces. Further, teachers should be given professional learning opportunities to share their FreshGrade experiences with each other.

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I won’t go over the q & a part of the video as it is twenty minutes long and I am ready for bed! But please watch the video for yourself! There is plenty of fabulous information located at the end of the video –> –> –> –> –> https://learning.freshgrade.com/courses/368996/lectures/5632299

Here is my cute certificate (extrinsic motivation at its finest)

Thanks for reading,

Another webinar summary will be uploaded on the weekend!

Webinar: FreshTips and Advanced Techniques

On November 4, 2018November 24, 2018 By michellecherylshieldsIn assessment, blogging, image editing, social media, tech inquiry, video conferencing, video editingLeave a comment

For some unknown reason right now I cant edit the spacing on this post. Especially with regard to the spacing between the text and photos. Because of this, the post doesn’t look as appealing as I would like it to be. Hopefully tomorrow the site will have fixed itself and I can fix the spacing issue. For now just try to enjoy the content..

This week I watched the webinar, “FreshTips and Advanced Techniques.” Specifically, this webinar shows you how to use custom assessment tools, weighted categories, custom objectives, objective management, and filtering on the app. One thing that I really like about this webinar is that it shows you each individual step through screencasting so that you can follow along yourself.

Custom Assessment Tools: Allows you to create your own assessment tools to meet the needs of your classroom. You can also weight these forms of assessment at a certain level.

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Once you have created your assessment tools you can start to create activities for your students to do. When adding an activity you can include a title, the date, a description, and a category. You can then assess students activities through their gradebook or through their profile.

45331532_469978903524032_1853893204202487808_n — See the title, date, description, and category options

Custom Objectives: Allows you to add objectives to your activities. You can create custom objectives or select some from a list provided to you located under subject area. The only thing to be careful about is that once you add an objective there is no way to edit it or delete it. Another option that you have is to create objectives first and then create activities that meet those objectives (objective management).

45384768_2196620257023283_965058380949356544_n — You can select objectives from a list provided to you located under subject area

Filtering: You can filter your gradebook and portfolios. Specifically, you can filter your gradebook by subjects, labels, and categories and your portfolios by data range, subject, category, label, private, and reports. These filters allow you to see specific information quickly, saving you time. You can access this information in the saved filters folder. This allows everything to be laid out quite nicely. Portfolio filtering is a new feature that only teachers have access too. Parents and students cannot do this yet, but in the future it may be added.

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After viewing this webinar everything started to come together for me. Looking at a blank FreshGrade account and reading FreshGrades website provided me with valuable information but actually seeing how things are created deepened my understanding of all of the features that the application has. I think that it will be extremely valuable for me to watch all of the webinars. Unfortunately, there are 25 of them! So hopefully I can get through them all in the next four weeks..

These webinars are extremely valuable for first time users. In fact, if you are going to use FreshGrade I would suggest that you watch all of them before you begin adding to the application yourself! Further, if you have time to watch the webinars while they are being webcasted you can ask questions to the presenter at the end of the tutorial.

On a side note, once you’re done a webinar you get a cute certificate & lets be honest, there is something about certificates that make us feel special.

45285531_501611846985937_603168546872098816_n

Here is a link to the “FreshTips and Advanced Techniques” webinar: https://learning.freshgrade.com/p/freshtips-and-advanced-techniques-webinar

All of the webinars are FREE so don’t be freaked out when you see the register now button.

Michelle Shields

Category: video conferencing

Last Day of Class

Webinar: Journey to a Grade Free Classroom