Web 2.0 Tools: An Overview

I decided, as my final project, to create a mind map that incorporated many of the tools that we have had the opportunity to explore over the previous three sections of the course.

While clearly it is not all-encompassing, I feel like it is a good place for beginners and intermediate users to look.

http://www.mindmeister.com/487670558/web-2-0-tools-for-students

Shared Solutions: A Guide to Conflict

The Shared Solutions guide is meant to address conflicts that effect students with special education needs, however these strategies can be used in any situation in which conflict resolution is required in education, as well as any conflict that arises in a general sense.

There are several reasons for which conflict might happen, especially when discussing students with special education needs:

• If the information supplied is misunderstood, or insufficient information is provided for a given situation, then conflict may arise.
• If the message being conveyed is misinterpreted, or the tone/impression made when conveying the message is miscommunicated, then conflict may arise.
• As values and morals tend to be stable, people tend to be less likely to compromise with respect to their values, and conflict may arise.
• Cultural or personal differences in the way that conflict is approached may result in conflict.

From a teacher’s perspective, it is important to consider the pressure that arises on families when adapting to the special needs of their child. It is often difficult to acknowledge, and sometimes takes significant time to come to terms with their feelings. Ultimately, as an educator, understanding the experiences and feelings that parents may go through, and learning to be empathetic to student and parent needs can go a long way towards reducing and resolving conflict.

From a parent’s perspective, it is important to consider that the delivery of a special education program can be difficult for the classroom teacher. As a parent, understanding that educators have to balance many learning styles and interests, as well as delivery methods, within our classroom can also reduce conflict. It is necessary, as for educators with parents, that parents realize that the educator is using their professional judgment to the best of their ability on a regular basis in order to benefit the student.

In general, when dealing with conflict, Shares Solutions is meant to help educators recognize the signs of potential conflict and then manage conflict in a constructive and productive manner. In order to manage conflict, they suggest several strategies, the most important of which is active listening. Active listening requires the listener to feed back what they are hearing to the speaker to confirm what they have heard, and, moreso to confirm the understanding of both parties. Active listening requires listeners to restate, which shows that you are listening to what the speaker is saying. Paraphrasing, or summarizing, confirms the speaker’s feelings in context, which often helps both parties move on and pursue constructive solutions to the problem. Reframing gives the listener an opportunity to express what they feel the speaker truly wants. When spoken with neutral, non-confrontational language, reframing can lead to thinking about solutions to problems as well.

By being patient, active listeners, educators and parents can identify and respond to the possible needs of the participants (in this case, their special needs child), all while keeping in mind the student’s best interests.

Technology in Evaluation & Reporting

As with assessment, the purpose of evaluation and reporting, ultimately, is to improve student learning. New approaches, and new technologies, provide educators with new opportunities to benefit students. Consider the fundamental principles of assessment practices, as per Growing Success, which are that assessment, evaluation, and reporting:

·             Are fair, transparent and equitable

·             Support all students

·             Are carefully planned

·             Are clearly explained to students and parents

·             Are ongoing and varied, and provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning

·             Help students to become independent learners

I feel that currently, with the prevalence of technology that we as educators can access, there has been a measured improvement in the way that evaluation and reporting takes place.

By definition, evaluation is the process of judging the quality of student learning based on established criteria and then assigning a value to represent that quality. Evaluation often occurs at the end of a period of learning. In a previous post, I discussed the idea of an online portfolio, such as Evernote, which allows for students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways (multiple opportunities) and with a variety of mediums. This allows teachers to be fair to all students, and allows students to have multiple entry points into the same assessment criteria. Further, online portfolios like Evernote are useful because student marks can be inserted into Evernote Notebooks, which allows educators to provide comments and anecdotal notes, and also lets teachers keep all of their marks in one place which is useful when reporting. Consider, for example, a Student Success meeting regarding a student. You are asked to bring your notes on a student to a meeting, but to give the student success teacher and administrators a change to really look at these notes, you share the student’s Evernote Notebook in advance of the meeting. This allows teachers to arrive prepare to meet and discuss the student’s success, as well as what can be done to support the student.

The main pitfall that I can see for the use of technology with reporting and evaluation is privacy. Obviously, every board has their own assessment/evaluation policies, as well as their own privacy policy when it comes to student work/evaluation/reports. It is therefore necessary to consider these policies when it comes to storing any kind of student data in the cloud.

Audio & Video Assessment Tools

Throughout my teaching, I have had the opportunity to use a variety of web 2.0 tools that incorporate either audio or video into the course. Not only are these useful when providing learning opportunities from the students, but they also provide opportunities for assessment and evaluation.

One of the video tools I’ve had the opportunity to use is EdPuzzle. EdPuzzle is an interactive video tool that allows instructors to create a custom assessment for the videos they assign to students to watch. EdPuzzle allows user to search from many content aggregators, including YouTube and Khan Academy, and then edit the video to include a variety of assessment questions. The nice thing about EdPuzzle is that you can use it to track student progress and learning throughout the videos – you know exactly what the student viewed and has answered, as well as how they have answered each of the assessment questions. Further, due to the interactions that take place between student and teacher, timely formative assessment and descriptive feedback can occur. Teachers can use these EdPuzzle videos to tailor the learning experience based on how students achieve.

I also recently discovered Audioboo, which is a free podcasting platform which allows students to create a ‘boo,’ which is a web podcast that can be easily uploaded to a variety of platforms, including Edmodo.  This could be provided as an option for students to “show what they know,” which can solidify student learning (AAL). As an example, I occasionally have my students demonstrate their knowledge of a particular concept in math. Sometimes, I have students create some type of digital presentation, but my auditory learners have trouble translating their ideas visually. I let them use Audioboo to demonstrate their knowledge in a different manner.

Clearly, the ways in which we can assess students, or have them self and peer assess, are changing. Rather than being stuck with pencil and paper, students now have a variety of ways in which they can express their knowledge, which can be useful for a variety of learners.

Growing Success: AFL and AAL

The Growing Success document is meant to update and clarify policy iin the educational system, as well as achieve fairness, transparency, equity, and consistency in terms of assessment and evaluation. The document supports the Ministry of Education’s three core principles for education, which are designed to provide for high achievement, gap reduction in achievement, and increased public confidence.

As this unit is related to assessment and evaluation, I decided to summarize the chapter which is about assessment AS learning, and assessment FOR learning. While I’m sure many of us have been drilled to death on the concept of AAL and AFL policies and strategies, it is something that is important If we strive for high levels of achievement.

Assessment for and as learning, in the policy, is defined as the process of gathering information that reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a subject or course. In other words, the primary purpose of AFL and AAL are to improve student learning. Teachers use a variety of assessment strategies in order to gather information about student learning.

Assessment AS Learning: Assessment as learning is the process of developing and supporting student knowledge. Students are engaged in this process, as they become responsible for their own learning. Teachers help students develop their abilities when it comes to being independent learners who are capable of self regulation – monitoring themselves and self-assessing regularly and frequently. Students use descriptive feedback from the teacher, as well as self and peer-reflections to set individualized learning goals. Assessment as learning focuses on the role of the student in learning.

  

Assessment FOR Learning: Assessment for learning is the process of gathering and interpreting evidence about student learning to determine where students are at and where they need to go. It is meant to help teachers plan with the end in mind, which is in turn beneficial to the students. The information gathered, throughout diagnostic and formative assessment, allows the teacher to provide feedback and adjust instruction according to their students. This information is gathered through a variety of manners, including observations, conversations, questioning, student conferences, group tasks and projects, and peer and self-assessments. Essentially, assessment for learning is a strategy that takes place during learning opportunities and serves to promote student improvement and provide students opportunities to focus their learning.

The appearance of a variety of web 2.0 tools can certainly change the way in which students and teachers gather, organize, and analyze student opportunities in assessment for and as learning.

Consider a student’s online portfolio, as an example. An online portfolio can be used to contain a collection of relevant resources and student work. This can help students share their best work with students or present it to the teacher for feedback. As well, teachers can use these portfolios to track individual student progress, and plan instruction based upon student need. The nice thing about the portfolio being digital is that every student can be tracked in the same manner, at the same time, simply with the use of the internet. Further, most sites for digital portfolios (Wikipedia, etc) allow for other students and the teacher to provide commentary, which means that constructive, descriptive feedback can be left to give the student opportunities to improve as a learner.

Another useful example of how web 2.0 impacts assessment is when we consider digital storytelling. A variety of programs (Explain Everything, Educreations, etc) can be used to have students show what they know. They can create brief videos to explain any concept using narration and annotation. This is useful because the videos are shared instantly and provide opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and also help other students learn something new.

Finally, web 2.0 impacts assessment when it comes to organizing and analyzing data. Evernote, as an example, can be used to collect a variety of student work quickly and efficiently. It can organize samples of writing, audio recordings, videos of student explanations, student and teacher reflections, as well as photos of products in the class and achievement information. This allows teachers to manage student data efficiently and effectively – no longer having to carry loads of books and assignments home because the student information is available on their iPad or computer. With all of this student data available so readily, it makes creating personal, individualised feedback and learning plans for our students much easier and convenient for the teacher.

Assessment & Evaluation Tools

Throughout my PD experiences, and through interactions with others in my school as well as students within my AQ educational technology courses, I have had the opportunity to examine and explore a variety of different web 2.0 tools. I have used several of the tools listed below, but also wish to dabble in a few of them too. I think that each of them has their own unique use when considering assessment and evaluation in the classroom!

Glogster: Glogster allows for students to create an online digital poster that can include key points of learning, vocabulary, and personal reflections. It is useful for the end of a unit or semester to allow for a student to self-assess for the unit. Further, other students can interact with the poster creator by leaving comments. Peer assessment using Glogster (especially using strength/next step styled comments) becomes an effective ways for students to assess each other. Further, teachers can use the students digital posters to determine if any extra teacher intervention is necessary to ensure concept mastery.


Schoology: Schoology is an online learning management system similar to Edmodo. It allows users to create, manage, and share academic content. I like using Schoology as an assessment tool for a variety of reasons:

• Schoology has the ability to measure student mastery of learning objectives and standards, which lets teachers measure student learning over time
• Schoology has its own submission system (essentially, a Dropbox) which allows students to submit directly via their system
• Schoology also allows for annotation and marking of assessments directly through the Schoology interface, which is extremely convenient.

In general, Schoology allows teachers to see an ongoing picture of how students are progressing in their classes, and lets teachers determine whether content mastery has taken place.

NoteApp: This is a tool that I have presented previously, however I think that it is useful for peer-evaluation of students as well as descriptive feedback. Their motto is “Team Collaboration, Simplified.” They say simplified because, once a sticky note is shared, all students can participate and see changes in real time. This allows for collaboration in both a classroom setting as well as from home. Students can answer problems, and then provide anonymous descriptive feedback to others via sticky notes. I find this a neat program because sometimes students don't mind providing feedback, but would prefer to do so anonymously.

eClicker Presenter: eClicker presenter allows teachers to determine whether their audience (the students) are grasping a concept on the spot. The teacher can create and send questions to any device (good for BYOD classrooms) and determine if the message/concept is being received. eClicker allows for a variety of different question types, and provides instant reports on each session. You can use the results to track students over time, which is a good way to keep track of formative assessments in the classroom

iRubric: iRubric is an online tool used to create and score rubrics. Rubrics make success criteria more clear to both teachers and students. In turn, students will turn in better quality work, and feedback on the work is more objective and consistent. Specifically, iRubric offers rubric building tools, as well as the ability to search for pre-existing rubrics from other teachers. Further, it allows you to grade via the rubric right on the website. Rubrics can be adjusted per your grading scale, and you can even send a copy of the graded rubric to the students securely. I have used iRubric to find and create a variety of rubrics for my history class, and have found it to be invaluable.



Showbie: Showbie allows teachers to distribute assignments, instructions, and resources to students in a few taps (similar to Nearpod). As students submit work, their work is kept in a single location, which is convenient for educators. Teachers can then collect and review student work on their tablet. Showbie also has the ability to open documents from a variety of different apps and annotate directly on student work (as well as with voice notes). It is an excellent use of an web 2.0 tool and would be a benefit to anyone attempting the 'paperless classroom' route.

Here is an example of annotating a showbie file.

Google Sheets: The Google Docs suite is a pretty basic productivity suite. However, the ability to
create a google docs spreadsheet is an excellent way to do your classroom housekeeping via your phone or tablet. Using a google docs spreadsheet, you can document a variety of information

·         Done/Not Done – keep a checklist of assignment completion

·         Forms – keep track of whether permission forms/fees have been handed in or not

·         Parent Contact – keep track of communication with parents.

An example of how to set up a google checklist can be found here: http://glearningblog.blogspot.ca/2014/06/using-google-forms-to-enter-checklists.html

Once your spreadsheet is complete, you can post it publicly so students can self-track and parents can remain in the loop.

Explain Everything: I have had my students use Explain Everything to self/peer assess. An example could be having them create an Explain Everything movie that covers a specific concept. I had students create a video where they needed to explain a review concept in 60 seconds or less that other students would be able to follow logically. I then had other students watch the videos and peer assess the video - writing feedback/comments about the content.

Here is an example of formative assessment with Explain Everything. It involves student working on explaining a problem in math using integers to another student.

Evernote: Several teachers in my schoolboard have started using Evernote when considering assessment and evaluation. Evernote allows them to create notebooks for each individual student. Further, the PC/Mac versions of Evernote help keep data organized by course or subject. Evernote has several features that can be useful for teachers, including:

·         Collecting evidence by taking pictures

·         Importing previous photographs from the camera roll/saved images to record evidence

·         Recording anecdotal evidence and descriptive feedback on photos or in notebooks

·         Recording audio of the student communicating their understanding or a teacher giving audio feedback

·         Inviting parents and teachers using the Share feature to share notebooks with students, parents, and teachers

App-Smashing Formative Assessment: I found a neat version of an app-smash online for use with formative assessment. Students used a photo from their camera roll, created a collage in Piccollage, used Buddy Poke to create a video, and opened it all in Thinglink which created targeted hotspots for students to be able to see.

Here is an example which was created by an elementary school student in Hawaii and is about climate change.

The idea of the App-Smash is pretty neat, and as a whole - a pretty cool way to formatively assess students.