Once a teacher has examined what they want to teach their students (learning outcomes, as explained at MIT's Teaching & Learning Laboratory),
in accordance with the Standards at the State and National level, as
well as the requirements of their educational institution, the important
concept is how they will teach this. The how aspect is reflected in the
development of the development and enhancement of the instructor's
lesson plan. Lesson design and development is important in that
this encompasses the academic content, teaching goals and methods, and
assessments for learning. This is the meat and potatoes of your dinner!
Even a basic search on the Google search engine can assist in the
location of lesson planning tools and implementation ranging from simple
to complex. [insert examples here]. It is very important to vary the
methods of presenting information in the classroom, and this is also
part of the lesson design and development. With such varied types of
learners, differing types of access to technology, and roadblocks to
success, as teachers we must remember that our approach, too, must be
varied. Maloy (2014, pp. 76-77) suggests doing this, also, through the
various means below:
Secondly, the concept of student performance rubrics is a very important step in the process of teaching and learning. As Maloy points out in the book Transforming Learning with New Technologies,
2014, a rubric gives students a clear idea of the evaluation and
grading of their assignments and projects, and specific details on how
to achieve or complete a learning level or grade. Such rubrics can also
assist teachers in the evaluation of student performance uniformly.
However, as we know, a poorly designed or executed rubric does a poor
job, and does not yield the same benefits as one that students can
review prior to a project or activity, and is well designed.
A well created rubric can be a pre-submission tool that can add to the teacher's instruction regarding the assignment, giving the student more detailed requirements to obtain the grade they would like to. Students can check their work against the expectations and criteria clearly laid out in the rubric to make sure their work meets the criteria for their desired grade. Similarly, after the submission of the assignment, a student performance rubric can assist a student in seeing the areas they are strongest in a given assignment, as well as the areas that need improvement. This can facilitate discussion with their professors, other students, and be a catalyst for change or the reduction of performance-based anxiety. Rubrics can be drafted and provided in multiple forms such as tables, charts, etc.The key to drafting a good rubric is in making sure the expectations and content are concrete and specific, that points are indicated clearly by section of expectation, along with a key that defines their values individually and as whole. After all, you don't want to be one of these:
In Professor Coleman's class on Technology in
Education, we future teachers approached rubrics in a number of ways,
reviewing examples, as well as trying our hand at our own to understand
the difficulty and importance of a rubric from a teacher's standpoint.
This is important, but the importance to the student must not be
forgotten along the way - we need to remember not only the rubric, but
personalized feedback, which is important. Rubistar, a free
rubric-generator supported by the U.S. Department of Education, offers a
number of general rubrics, which one can personalize, or a place to make on their own,
accessing and editing them from anywhere there is internet access and
compatible browsers (of course, registration is necessary). I have not
tried Rubistar yet, but did not find it too difficult to make my own in
Microsoft Office. Still, minutes and moments count when we are teachers,
with the increasing demands of legislators, administrations, students,
their parents, and even our own expectations!
Finally, electronic grading software is an important time-saving and organizational tool which can sometimes even be integrated into other platforms and tools for learning in k-12 as well as secondary education facilities. Hand in hand with the student performance rubrics is electronic grading software. As Maloy (2014, pp. 76-78) indicates: "Lesson Design and Development refers to ALL of the ACTIVITIES that teachers do to create, teach, and evaluate lessons from students." This, they indicate, directly effects and encompasses the three elements of classroom instruction, namely, academic content, teaching goals/methods/procedures, and learning assessments. As students, ourselves, we can draw on our own experiences to evaluate our teachers. We evaluate, on a day-to-day basis, the assignments we receive, the information provided to us in terms of content, grading, and expectations. It is not always clear to us how much we rely on the electronic grading software that our teachers are using, often until we encounter a teacher who does not utilize it. For instance, Sally has two teachers that she considers "hard-hitting" but they are also the teachers that have the most passion for their subjects and have the most clear expectations. Maloy and his team seem to indicate that the negative consequences of electronic grading software are that everything cannot be graded on an academic letter-grade scale, using elementary students as a good example. However, this book, written in 2011 and revised in 2014, may not see the workarounds that I have seen my professors put into practice. For instance, in some types of assignments (in her case, some of the general homework assignments), we receive a participation grade which is tallied at the end of the semester. Instead of letter grades, Canvas allows us to receive check marks or no score, which will later be tallied into participation points. The teacher also may utilize her own, secondary, electronic grading app or software. I, and others focused on not only achievement but gleaning information from the course, have more of a dilemma in courses where the Professor does not utilize the electronic grading software element in Canvas. We can not see our grades. We receive paper tests and assignments back, and have to either meet with our Professor, or individually tally our assignments, hoping we have not misplaced anything. Rubrics are not generally available, and expectations are loose. Although not directly tied to the use - or lack thereof - of electronic grading software, electronic grading software mandates would prevent students from being in-the-dark, frustrated by a lack of awareness or expectations which one not only receives from grades but from electronic feedback, examples, etc. So, electronic grading software, together with online Lesson Planning such as Canvas allow both teachers and students to track and participate actively in their own teaching and learning. It appears to me, as a student that has bridged nearly three decades of learning from pre-information technology advancements and every day computers (yes, I'm dating myself ;^) through the widely available technological advances we have now, I believe the pros outweigh the cons for electronic grading software. The software tallies the grades, providing teachers more time to focus on development of coursework, authentic assessment opportunities, activities, and more! There are many facets of teaching, and grade-keeping and scoring are time-consuming. More-so, any person with even loose accounting knowledge would know that mistakes are easy to come by when one is tired, or heavily burdened, and small mistakes often become bigger issues: Imagine, for a moment, the student who receives a wrong grade, and whose parent contacts the school on the defensive, or the student who, when receiving a score meant for another student, thinks they are doing better or worse than they did! What changes in their learning strategies might they make, in response?
For instance, a student receiving an inaccurate good
grade (where they should've received a lower grade) may react or respond
by decreasing the time and effort they put into future assignments,
under the assumption that they grasp a concept better than they do. They
may also move onto another concept, building upon inaccurate
information to begin with. On the other side, a student who has worked
diligently and believed they understood the concept, receiving a bad
grade in error, may increase the pressure they put on themselves or
become frustrated by their lack of achievement, and give up.
Obviously, these are extreme examples, and can occur in online grades, as well, but generally, complex systems such as Canvas, can assist in teachers receiving the correct assignments for the right students, and grading them and giving them direct feedback in the same fluid session. Since the grades are not kept in an online, integrated electronic grading software system, the error may not be caught in-time and may have long-lasting consequences. So, electronic grading software as part of an integrated teacher/student platform, such as Canvas, may be the best solution to "plain Jane" software that only tallies from the numbers the teacher inputs, but both allow ongoing access to grades which facilitates evaluation and dialogue and can catch such errors more quickly than a hard-copy grade-book may. A major problem would be hardware or software failure, so a teacher should keep a back up copy or hard copy grade-book, just in case of technology failure.
In terms of software, there seems to be no shortage from electronic grading software options such as LearnBoost which seems to offer everything (open-source) from grades to seating charts, attendance and discipline - I particularly favor it because it offers "weighted grades", and privacy choices on which assignments and grades are open to whom. I wonder about security when dealing with electronic/online grading software. It seems that TrackMyGrades may have the best security around, but only because they are one of the few that even mentions it - it would seem this is a growing area in need of bolstered security for students, especially with the rising importance of continued secondary education and certifications. I did cursorily review a number of grading programs, but was aghast to find some of the mainstream teacher's sites didn't report on this for years. The one that helped me the most in reviewing these types of technology, indicated it is built by teachers for teachers, with no PAID advertisements seemed to have the most accurate information - the electronic grading software they listed seemed to ring true to their reports and were corroborated. The site, though in Canada, does not have the same format as here, but since they listed a number of other tools, I wanted to mention them here for your perusal, if so interested. The site does lack aesthetic flow but has excellent information and intent: Educational Technology and Mobile Learning for your perusal.
A final question I have is.. whether or not electronic grading software would fit into the program used by the district as more and more districts are coming online, and what the transparency levels would be for parents and students, as well as educators? TweenTeacher, on her blog, brings up some valid points (as do other teachers there) about the pros and cons of published electronic grading software. I would really like to see some of these types of things addressed more in depth in our study of new technologies as most teachers will have to deal with this subject - unless it is likely that all CCPS and beyond schools will require teachers to utilize their school programs to their administrator's preferences. I wonder what the pros and cons of that would be.
RESOURCES
Presentation software
Visual thinking software
Web-based diagram - and flowchart-making tools
Teacher-developed websites
Threaded discussion and e-mail
Podcasts, blogs, and wikis
Interactive software
WebQuests
Intelligent tutoring systems
Digital cameras and movie-making software
Assistive [and Adaptive] technologies
Visual thinking software
Web-based diagram - and flowchart-making tools
Teacher-developed websites
Threaded discussion and e-mail
Podcasts, blogs, and wikis
Interactive software
WebQuests
Intelligent tutoring systems
Digital cameras and movie-making software
Assistive [and Adaptive] technologies
Knowing
that it is best to stimulate higher-order thinking, we must make sure
to help the learner truly understand the concept/subject matter, and to
be not be limited to rote memory, but to be able to apply what they have
learned to the real world, evaluating and adopting concepts, as
necessary. Technology can help in this vein - from reviewing the plans
of others in your field and contacting peers and colleagues for insight,
to designing and planning your lessons online - there are tools for
varying aspects of your lesson design and development. In particular, websites offer tools, planners, and examples such as this example, courtesy of Discovery Education. The National Education Association provides a list of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education), including The 10 Best STEM Resources for lesson planning.
A well created rubric can be a pre-submission tool that can add to the teacher's instruction regarding the assignment, giving the student more detailed requirements to obtain the grade they would like to. Students can check their work against the expectations and criteria clearly laid out in the rubric to make sure their work meets the criteria for their desired grade. Similarly, after the submission of the assignment, a student performance rubric can assist a student in seeing the areas they are strongest in a given assignment, as well as the areas that need improvement. This can facilitate discussion with their professors, other students, and be a catalyst for change or the reduction of performance-based anxiety. Rubrics can be drafted and provided in multiple forms such as tables, charts, etc.The key to drafting a good rubric is in making sure the expectations and content are concrete and specific, that points are indicated clearly by section of expectation, along with a key that defines their values individually and as whole. After all, you don't want to be one of these:
 |
| Credit to Brett R. Fuller via www.stripgenerator.com |
Finally, electronic grading software is an important time-saving and organizational tool which can sometimes even be integrated into other platforms and tools for learning in k-12 as well as secondary education facilities. Hand in hand with the student performance rubrics is electronic grading software. As Maloy (2014, pp. 76-78) indicates: "Lesson Design and Development refers to ALL of the ACTIVITIES that teachers do to create, teach, and evaluate lessons from students." This, they indicate, directly effects and encompasses the three elements of classroom instruction, namely, academic content, teaching goals/methods/procedures, and learning assessments. As students, ourselves, we can draw on our own experiences to evaluate our teachers. We evaluate, on a day-to-day basis, the assignments we receive, the information provided to us in terms of content, grading, and expectations. It is not always clear to us how much we rely on the electronic grading software that our teachers are using, often until we encounter a teacher who does not utilize it. For instance, Sally has two teachers that she considers "hard-hitting" but they are also the teachers that have the most passion for their subjects and have the most clear expectations. Maloy and his team seem to indicate that the negative consequences of electronic grading software are that everything cannot be graded on an academic letter-grade scale, using elementary students as a good example. However, this book, written in 2011 and revised in 2014, may not see the workarounds that I have seen my professors put into practice. For instance, in some types of assignments (in her case, some of the general homework assignments), we receive a participation grade which is tallied at the end of the semester. Instead of letter grades, Canvas allows us to receive check marks or no score, which will later be tallied into participation points. The teacher also may utilize her own, secondary, electronic grading app or software. I, and others focused on not only achievement but gleaning information from the course, have more of a dilemma in courses where the Professor does not utilize the electronic grading software element in Canvas. We can not see our grades. We receive paper tests and assignments back, and have to either meet with our Professor, or individually tally our assignments, hoping we have not misplaced anything. Rubrics are not generally available, and expectations are loose. Although not directly tied to the use - or lack thereof - of electronic grading software, electronic grading software mandates would prevent students from being in-the-dark, frustrated by a lack of awareness or expectations which one not only receives from grades but from electronic feedback, examples, etc. So, electronic grading software, together with online Lesson Planning such as Canvas allow both teachers and students to track and participate actively in their own teaching and learning. It appears to me, as a student that has bridged nearly three decades of learning from pre-information technology advancements and every day computers (yes, I'm dating myself ;^) through the widely available technological advances we have now, I believe the pros outweigh the cons for electronic grading software. The software tallies the grades, providing teachers more time to focus on development of coursework, authentic assessment opportunities, activities, and more! There are many facets of teaching, and grade-keeping and scoring are time-consuming. More-so, any person with even loose accounting knowledge would know that mistakes are easy to come by when one is tired, or heavily burdened, and small mistakes often become bigger issues: Imagine, for a moment, the student who receives a wrong grade, and whose parent contacts the school on the defensive, or the student who, when receiving a score meant for another student, thinks they are doing better or worse than they did! What changes in their learning strategies might they make, in response?
 |
| Picture courtesy of Atom Smasher |
Obviously, these are extreme examples, and can occur in online grades, as well, but generally, complex systems such as Canvas, can assist in teachers receiving the correct assignments for the right students, and grading them and giving them direct feedback in the same fluid session. Since the grades are not kept in an online, integrated electronic grading software system, the error may not be caught in-time and may have long-lasting consequences. So, electronic grading software as part of an integrated teacher/student platform, such as Canvas, may be the best solution to "plain Jane" software that only tallies from the numbers the teacher inputs, but both allow ongoing access to grades which facilitates evaluation and dialogue and can catch such errors more quickly than a hard-copy grade-book may. A major problem would be hardware or software failure, so a teacher should keep a back up copy or hard copy grade-book, just in case of technology failure.
In terms of software, there seems to be no shortage from electronic grading software options such as LearnBoost which seems to offer everything (open-source) from grades to seating charts, attendance and discipline - I particularly favor it because it offers "weighted grades", and privacy choices on which assignments and grades are open to whom. I wonder about security when dealing with electronic/online grading software. It seems that TrackMyGrades may have the best security around, but only because they are one of the few that even mentions it - it would seem this is a growing area in need of bolstered security for students, especially with the rising importance of continued secondary education and certifications. I did cursorily review a number of grading programs, but was aghast to find some of the mainstream teacher's sites didn't report on this for years. The one that helped me the most in reviewing these types of technology, indicated it is built by teachers for teachers, with no PAID advertisements seemed to have the most accurate information - the electronic grading software they listed seemed to ring true to their reports and were corroborated. The site, though in Canada, does not have the same format as here, but since they listed a number of other tools, I wanted to mention them here for your perusal, if so interested. The site does lack aesthetic flow but has excellent information and intent: Educational Technology and Mobile Learning for your perusal.
A final question I have is.. whether or not electronic grading software would fit into the program used by the district as more and more districts are coming online, and what the transparency levels would be for parents and students, as well as educators? TweenTeacher, on her blog, brings up some valid points (as do other teachers there) about the pros and cons of published electronic grading software. I would really like to see some of these types of things addressed more in depth in our study of new technologies as most teachers will have to deal with this subject - unless it is likely that all CCPS and beyond schools will require teachers to utilize their school programs to their administrator's preferences. I wonder what the pros and cons of that would be.
RESOURCES
6 Excellent Gradebook Tools for Teachers. (2012, November 1). Retrieved March 19, 2015, from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/11/6-excellent-gradebook-tools-for-teachers.html
Anne McKinney (Creator). 2011. Rubrics & The Secret to Grading (comic strip). Retrieved March 17, 2015 from http://introductiononlinepedagogy.pbworks.com/w/page/20123554/Rubrics.
Bad Grade Alert [image]. 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2015 from http://atom.smasher.org/error/?icon=Attention&style=xp&title=Bad+Grade+alert&text=All+your+grades+are+below+40!+What+will+you+use+to+correct+them%3F&b1=Intuition&b1g=x&b2=Scientist+Yoshi&b3=Brain&b3g=x
Brewster, J., & Demember, D. (2015, January 1). Lesson Plan Library. Retrieved March 17, 2015, from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/human-development.cfm
"CSLNet." CSLNet. California STEM Learning Network, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Kuri, H. (2015, March 19). ~ "Hear ye! Hear ye! All Shalt Use Thine Grading Software!" ~ | Padlet. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from http://padlet.com/wall/pec5y6wlinm2
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O'Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2014). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Marcus, D. (2012, July 24). Finally, Leveled books for Guided Reading strategy lessons at grades 3-5! Thank you, @pgprincipal ! Retrieved March 19, 2015, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/66726093@N02/7638310052/
Nast, P. (n.d.). The 10 Best STEM Resources. Retrieved March 17, 2015, from http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/stem-resources.html
RubiStar Home. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2015, from http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
Schools Need Learnboost. (2014, January 1). Retrieved March 19, 2015, from https://www.learnboost.com/schools/
Spanish, C. (2013, September 16). 39 Digital Tools Your World Language Classroom Should Have. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from http://blog.calicospanish.com/2013/09/16/39-digital-tools-your-world-language-classroom-should-have.html
Who?, A. (2010, February 24). FAIL. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/amboo213/4020584983/
Wolpert-Gawron, H. (2011, October 29). Heather Wolpert-Gawron » The Parent Portal: The Pros and Cons of Transparent Gradebooks. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from http://tweenteacher.com/2011/10/29/the-parent-portal-the-pros-and-cons-of-transparent-gradebooks/
Title
of work [Type of work]. (Year image was created). Retrieved Month Day,
Year, from: URL (address of website) - See more at:
http://www.landmark.edu/library/citation-guides/landmark-college-citation-guides/apa-citation-style-guide/#Images
Title
of work [Type of work]. (Year image was created). Retrieved Month Day,
Year, from: URL (address of website) - See more at:
http://www.landmark.edu/library/citation-guides/landmark-college-citation-guides/apa-citation-style-guide/#Images
You really explored the grading software in great depth and analysis! That is rare in that most districts now do provide the software required for teacher's use - and they also provide the requisites for use regarding timely updates, closing dates for report card printouts, etc. Most grading software purchased by districts is pretty sophisticated, but most teachers stick with the basics. In fact, many try to make it do something (i.e., weighting) without fully understanding how to and then are disappointed when the results don't 'add up' to what they thought the student should earn. Like rubrics, which can also be manipulated, such objective tools can be misused - especially without proper training.
ReplyDeleteLike your Padlet and good to see some attribution of photos in your resources (probably would have been efficient to do so within the Padlet since that is a site within itself). The Padlet tool is a great place for students to brainstorm ideas or post evaluative projects as well.