Make On-Line Portfolios Available to Parents - Secure and Easy

Wait!  Don't be afraid!  Trust me... this is so easy, I can't believe I haven't tried this until just now.

As teachers, we often want to collect samples of student work into a portfolio.  Traditionally, that means gathering some sort of folder-type organizer and occasionally selecting work to put into it so that we have something to share with the parents at interview time, or with an administrator or resource teacher, or even with the students themselves.

"Folders?" you ask.  "Sharing?"  So, we want a shared folder, right?

Exactly!

So, enter my good friend Google Drive (formerly known as Google Docs).  You have 30GB of storage there, where you can upload any kind of file.  You have the functionality to create and share folders.   That's all you need!

So, if you haven't already, check out my blog and accompanying video on using Google Drive.  It also explains how to share a document.  Folders are shared in exactly the same way.

So, very simply, here are the steps:

• Create a folder in your Google Drive for each student, and name it accordingly.  I create a master folder called "Student Portfolios", and then put the student folders inside it... one for Kelly, one for David, etc.  
• Collect email addresses from parents.  
• On each student's folder, right-click on it, select "share" and type (or paste) in the parent's email address to share the folder with them.  
• Check the box "can view", but I wouldn't allow them to have the "can edit" permission.  
• Click the checkbox to send them an email, and then click "Done." Now, anything you place into that folder is automatically shared with that student's parent!
• Now, you can photograph any written work along with the evaluations (rubrics, checklists, success criteria... whatever you think is relevant) and upload the photos to that folder.  Parents will have immediate access to the items you put in this folder from anywhere in the world!
• If your students are using Google Drive themselves, they can create a document and hand it in to you by sharing it with you.  You can then make a copy (right-click and "make a copy") and put that into their electronic on-line portfolio!

The students' work is privacy protected, as only the person who has access to the email address that was used to share it in the first place will have access to the folder!

Cameras in the classroom

There is much ongoing discussion about the use of cellphones in the classroom.  People reflexively dismiss the use of them with the ready retort of, "Why do kids need to phone people from class?"  Well, they don't, as a rule.  But when you consider the reality that many of us use our smart phones for a LOT more than just their phone features, it all starts to make sense.  In fact, I use my phone very rarely to make telephone calls.  Kids are using them for the same reasons we are - clock, reminders, calendar, flashlight, calculator, mail, social media, and quick, handy internet access.

One of the handiest things to consider the use of cellphones in the classroom for is the fact that they all have cameras.  In fact, there are very few now that won't even do video too.  Here are a few ideas for using cameras in the classroom:

• oral presentations for students to record instead of presenting them live.  If you don't like the first take, you can do another... and another... and another...  (IEP accommodations!)
• Be in two places at once!  Record your lesson and play the video, freeing you up to either monitor student progress, or even provide instruction in an alternate location.
• Recording and evaluating musical and drama performances.
• Documenting peer or teacher feedback.  Set it up to record, and get a chance to observe that group providing their peer feedback at some point later.
• Students can draw diagrams and make models to post to a blog, or they can even describe what the viewer is seeing in the format of a video.
• photographing the blackboard, paper notes, etc. for later recall.
• photographing student work for an electronic portfolio

These are just some more examples of some *very* simple things you can do to start integrating simple but authentic and useful technologies in your classroom.

Getting Started - Technology in the Classroom

If you remember one thing in your entire life about using technology in education, it is this... "Don't jump in with both feet and try to revolutionize your program in a day."  Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  Or, my personal favourite (can you spot the "Kids in the Hall" reference?) - "Snowflake becomes blizzard."  Haha.

I know as well as anyone how intimidating and how baffling various technologies can be.  I was a moderately hard-core computer nerd in high school (wrote a program where you could play Yahtzee against the computer... rolling dice, score cards, etc.), but circumstance saw me wander off and not use a computer at all throughout university.  Well, a lot happened between 1989 and 1995.  I was in teachers' college and had a single page assignment to submit.  I was sure it was due tomorrow, but no.... as it turns out, I had about three hours.  I figured that "everyone else is doing stuff on the computer.  I'm good with the computer.  I'll do that."  What an experience!  I had never seen Windows 95.  I had never seen Word Perfect.  I had no idea what reveal codes were.  Two hours later, and I came out further behind than I was when I went in.  I ran home and got out my manual typewriter (no, I'm NOT making this up!), bashed out the paper, and drove back to hand it in.  I went from hero to zero in five and a half years.  That experience in the computer lab was humbling to say the least!

But at the same time, this is important.  A student entering university has never known a world without Windows.  A student in grade 8 has never known a world before Windows XP.  A student in grade two has never known a world without the iPhone.  While older people sometimes have a hard time imagining what computers can do, our kids are often surprised about what computers CAN'T do.

Start with something simple - something that is pretty close to your comfort zone, that you will feel confident with, and that you know you can do.  Keep it simple.  Don't force it by using technology for technology's sake, but apply it to something real.  Consider the voice memos app found on virtually all iDevices.  It's dead easy to use (hey, they kid'll show ya!), and has some powerful and authentic applications to enhance your programming or assessment.

One step at a time, keep moving up... but keep moving.  You'll get there.

Using the iPad in the Classroom - Voice Memos

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the latest gadgetry that we overlook the power of the very simple things.  Let me present to you the "Voice Memos" app found on virtually any iDevice with a screen.  Some of you might remember "the old days" when we thought, "Gee, it would be nice to have a tape recorder, except the last time I wanted it, it was down at the other end in the building in the library, and when I got it, and finally found the blank cassette tape in the bottom of that one drawer, I found out the tape recorder didn't even work!  Argh!"

Enter "Voice Memos."  Whip the iDevice out of your pocket or your drawer, zoom along to the app, press record, and you're off!  No mussing about with blank tapes (oops.... I was sure that one was blank....), no looking for a place for students to work that is near an outlet, and no traipsing to the other end of the school to round it up.  Some considerations for this app:

• oral quizzes, reports for students to record instead of writing them down.  (IEP accommodations!)
• Be in two places at once!  Record your instructions and then send the students off to go listen to them and work in an alternate location.
• Documenting oral reading.  (DRA anyone?)
• Recording and evaluating musical performances.
• Documenting peer or teacher feedback.  Set it up to record, and listen back to that group providing their peer feedback at some point later.

Here is a neat thing I did with this app.  I recorded students playing recorder pieces while I accompanied them on the guitar.  I then brought those clips home, imported them into Cubase (a music editing/recording program), synced them to a click track, programmed some drums, recorded a bass guitar part and a couple of guitars, and shared the track with the kids on our class website as an mp3.  Parents, family and friends could all hear them "Rocking out with the band" from anywhere in the world.  Yay!

Create an On-line Survey with Google Forms

I have used Google forms for all sorts of different applications.  I have had students complete them as on-line quizzes (you can even get paid plugins that will mark them for you!), I have used them for having parents sign up for interview time slots, and for getting staff feedback on school issues.  In short, anything you can think of for you to conduct a survey on can be easily done in Google Forms.  Once the data is collected, it can be easily analyzed in charts, graphs, or within a spreadsheet.  My junior level students have created surveys and collected data as part of their Data Management unit in math.  My students last year got people responding to their surveys from as far away as Australia and Africa!  How's THAT for going beyond the walls of the classroom?  And hey... if your junior level students can do it, then so can you.  Give it a try!

LAN School Teacher

Lan School Teacher is a great tool for managing your computer lab instruction. You can monitor students, assist them remotely, or control/blank their screens, either as a whole class, or on a "select by student" basis. If you've never used it before, you'll watch this and start to wonder where this has been all your life.

Here is a simple how-to video that shows you how to use it.

Google Drive (aka Google Docs)

I'm a huge fan of this service from our Overlords at Google.  My students habitually use this to create and share documents among themselves, and then hand their work in electronically with me.  Students can also use the commenting features to do peer evaluations to provide feedback prior to revision.

Rather than blathering on about it, Please watch my video and you'll see it in action and how it works.