Waffle Bytes

When adding material in Google Classroom, many people do not know that you are able to add that item to multiple Classrooms when you are creating it!   IN CLASSWORK: To add an item, such as an assignment or material, to multiple classes, when you are creating it look to the menu options on the right side under where it says "For" -  Click on that dropdown.  You will see a list of all your Classrooms with a checkbox next to each.  Check all the courses you want the item to be in -  After you are done, it will switch to tell you how many classes the item is going to be created in -  IN THE STREAM: when adding an announcement click on the dropdown under "For" -  Check all the classes you want the announcement in, then proceed as normal. That's all there is to saving time by creating items in multiple classes at one time. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Technology Tidbits, brought to you by Melinda Waffle (Calhoun Intermediate School Dist...

While helping students be able to find assignments is important, helping them know your expectations for assignments is just as important. Using a naming convention for assignment titles can help with both. Where it says "Question" or "Title" it is a temptation to post your question or title of the activity.   Don't.   Instead, use that space instead to put a short name that helps IDENTIFY the item - for both you and your students.  Come up with a naming convention that works for you.  There are a couple examples below.  You may consider starting the name with a descriptor so students know what you expect to happen with the activity -    Another trick to make it even more visual is to use small icons -  Thank you for joining us for this episode of Technology Tidbits, brought to you by Melinda Waffle (Calhoun Intermediate School District), and CJ Walker and Du Bui (Jackson County Intermediate School District)

You will get an email notification when there is a new assignment in the course.  When there is a new assignment you may have to submit documents as attachments. When this occurs you are able to submit multiple files if needed. To do this use the steps below. Click on the “assignment” for the item you are submitting - In the new window, look for the following: Area where templates might be shared for you to fill out The paper clip icon and word Add - this is what you click to add your submission Area to add private comments - these only go to the course instructors MARK AS DONE button - this will notify the course instructors When you click on Add, select File - Click on Select files from your computer - Find the document you wish to add, click on it, then click Open - 1 - That document will be displayed as being ready to insert and 2 - you will have the ability to add other documents if you need to submit more than one. Once ...

Google Classroom does a great job of managing Google Docs you want to use with your students.  It creates templates & copies for you (as needed), it creates collaborative docs.  It allows you to have them tied to assignments so they can be "turned in" to you, and you can even return them to be edited and resubmitted.  So much better than how we used to do it using just Google Drive! One of the struggles early on with Classroom has been the information about files/assignments turned in by students.  Were the late?  If they edited them, what edits did they make? What work have they done and what is still not turned in? This has gotten a huge boost in some of the newest updates.  Here are some features you probably want to know about: View work for 1 student : if you click on a student's name in the class student list, you can see all their assignments and grades.  You can also see if an assignment was done late.  (You can click on the ...

Google just made a BIG jump in personalizing work for students in Classroom!  You can now assign a Question, Assignment or Announcement to as many or as few of your students as you want.  The first time you login and this feature is available to you, you will see the following message: When you create a new item, you will now see a dropdown that says All students - The first item is All Students.  This gives a quick way to either select OR deselect all your students - So, you can either uncheck the students you do not want to get the item, OR you can deselect all students and then check the students you want to get the item - Once you have the correct students with checks by their names, the dropdown will change to show how many students are going to get the item - That's it!  It works for all the items you can add in Classroom, too. Ironically, I just told a teacher yesterday that Classroom would not be the best tool to use in tracking studen...

From "Big Deal Media" - Just as motorists take driver’s education to learn how to recognize and react to road situations, digital-age students need a course in how to navigate precarious situations online, such as cyberbullying and copyright infringement. That’s what led ISTE to develop the Digital Driver’s License (DDL) project , a free and easy-to-navigate resource that schools or individuals can use to teach and measure digital citizenship proficiency .  DDL is both a platform and curriculum ... From ISTE DDL Site -  The idea of being a good digital citizen becomes more important as schools start to adopt 1:1 initiatives, get more comfortable with students bringing in their own technology and use various technology as a part of the learning process. Where does this get taught? Who teaches it? How do we keep track of all of this? How do we know what areas need addressing and/or follow up? The DDL project allows learners (wether they be students or teac...

What to do when you have graded a majority of assignments...but you know there will be a handful that will still be coming in?  Remembering to go check for those assignments can be bad enough, but repeatedly checking for them when nothing new is in there yet is even worse. Yet, if you get notified as ALL assignments are submitted you end up spamming your own inbox. Here's a little trick you can use to get notification ONLY on those late submissions for a particular assignment: Non video directions: Under the Assignment Description, check the box to Enable the Due Date for the assignment.  It will use the current server date and time Under Notifications, turn on notifications for late submissions

This past week a thread went through the K12 Google Apps listserv about using rubrics within Google.  One post shared how Kevin Bookhouser - an English teacher - uses them to grade his students essays. He has created a great video explaining how he does this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTrD_0KQbDE This method could be used for any rubric you wanted to use, so if you have been contemplating this I would check it out!

Moodle 2.4 was just released, with several updates that teachers might find useful.  Some of the latest features include: Ability to stream in outside calendars - my calendar of choice is my Google calendar for a variety of reasons; the ability to use this within a Moodle course instead of maintaining a separate calendar is a huge time-saver! Ability to view student submissions on the page I am grading and providing comments - in 2.3 this was broken; I'm glad to say the restored it so now I can be writing my comments in the same window where I am reading the student's assignment, allowing me to provide more specific feedback. Blind marking of assignments - teachers can now turn on blind marking of assignments so they do not see student names while grading, a great way to help ensure you are providing objective feedback and grades. Group assignments - if you use groups, you can now assign an activity to a specific group, even requiring all group members to have submit...