Last Blog Post

This will be the last blog post. Once the final report is completed it will be posted and shared via this site.

For more, view the Center for Teaching and Learning’s Blog

Using Google Docs To Grade Essays

I rarely touch paper when I grade anymore. I typically will hand grade the first assignment (even scanning in papers if needed) because I think there’s something special about seeing handwriting on an essay. However, most other assessments are handled electronically.

I’ve used all types of learning management systems and they all require you to download documents (word, PPT, Excel) and then edit them on your machine. Well, I don’t trust students and their often virus-laced files and I’ve been looking for a workaround for a while.

Google Docs to the rescue! [View video on Google docs] . Google Docs allows you to manipulate Microsoft Office files on the web, making your grading portable.

More than that, you can even share the document with the student to continue the conversation on a paper in a collaborative manner.

So here’s my process:

1. Download the papers from the LMS. Every LMS I’ve encountered provides an option to download files and will typically give you a ZIP file with all of the documents.
2. Go to Google Docs and import the files [not sure how?] into a FOLDER. It’s important to keep the assignments grouped. Here’s what it looks like for me:
3. Then using Google’s Comment and Footnote features to edit the document.
4. Once complete, you have two options (I typically do the latter):
   • Share the document with the student by providing a URL which they can use to access it
   • 
   • Download the files, en masse, as individual PDF’s, and then upload each student’s graded essay back to the LMS. [this is also a good way to backup your Google Docs]
   •   
5. I know I probably left out a few steps, but I covered the BIGGIES. Make grading work for you. Google Docs to the rescue!

Teaching

What does a high quality online course look like?

An excellent site (from California State University) for assessing online learning. Check it out:

[taken from]

This site is designed to answer the question being asked: What does a high quality online course look like? It is our hope that instructors and instructional designers will use this site to learn more about the Rubric for Online Instruction, and be able to view examples of exemplary courses that instructors have done in implementing the different components of the rubric.

Teaching

The Advent Of Mobile Learning Technology

I think everyone knows about Slideshare, it’s usually my first stop before starting on a new presentation. The two spaces I am really excited in terms of education technology are mobile learning and virtual learning. Here’s a nice presentation via Slideshare on the former. ENJOY.The Advent Of Mobile Learning Technology

View more presentations from Upside Learning.

Focus on Faculty Newsletter

Each semester, the Center for Teaching and Learning puts out a newsletter. Below is the Spring 2010 version. Check it out!

View this document on Scribd

5 Strategies for Using Wikis in the Classroom: Engaging Students in Technology Projects that Support Learning

ducators are constantly seeking new strategies for using Wikis in the classroom. This is especially true for teachers who have formulated some ideas; however, they are still looking for additional ideas. Even teachers who have been using this technology for quite some time are on the lookout for new ideas. Regardless of being new to Wiki or a veteran, new strategies and techniques for engaging students are just around the corner.

Wikis are one of the easiest Web 2.0 applications on the Internet to use, no downloading of software required and works just like a word processing program. The use of this technological tool has grown tremendously in the past years with more than 180,000 in classroom use today (Wikispaces for Educators Website, June 2009). They are free for educators, advertisement free, and have controlled access to ensure student information remains private.

Read more at Suite101: 5 Strategies for Using Wikis in the Classroom: Engaging Students in Technology Projects that Support Learning http://teachingtechnology.suite101.com/article.cfm/5_strategies_for_using_wikis_in_the_classroom#ixzz0l2Zob9YX

5 Strategies for Using Wikis in the Classroom: Engaging Students in Technology Projects that Support Learni

Faculty Screencasts

During the Spring semester, faculty worked on their full 15 week blended learning course. At the end, they were asked to create short screencasts [here's an example of a screencast I made on aviary.com]describing the process. Here they are:

Nancy Shaw [Math]: http://www.screencast.com/t/Y2QzZDFlYmQt

John Coliton [Computer Applications]: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/~jcoliton/public_html/blog/finale/fellowshipFinale.html

Linda Fontaine [Computer Applications]: http://www.screencast.com/users/LindaFont/folders/ Jing/media/fd85e336-ef70-47ae-8844-202cffb2c3a8

Monique Alston-Davis [Nursing]: http://www.screencast.com/users/Prof.M/folders/Jing/media/58f5d6ea-ac93-4ed8-a128-d8080fbd566f
Karen Cumberbatch-Sullivan  [Nursing]: http://www.screencast.com/users/kjsully/ folders/Jing/media/39aacc3d-b780-4acb-9f26-6691749637da

Paul Lux [Philosophy] : http://www.screencast.com/t/ZjVhNzgx
Corinne Smith  [Nursing]: http://www.screencast.com/t/N2QyZWYxZT

Sarah Campbell [Spanish]: http://screencast.com/t/Y2FhMWFjMzUt

ENJOY AND LEAVE FEEDBACK!

You can also view their blogs at: blendmcctl.wordpress.com/

The Role(s) of Teachers in Hybrid Learning Environments

From http://synthesizingeducation.com/

Perhaps the biggest problem with advancing online education and people’s attitudes towards online education is a result of their prior knowledge. Please understand that online education of the past will be replaced with a form of hybrid learning that integrates the positives of the physical world and the virtual world. That’s why it is imperative that districts and educators who advocate this new model of schooling are crystal clear as to what it looks like and how it will be different from our traditional perception of “online education”.

MORE…

Teaching, technology

Online Tools for Educators — and a Diigo demo

I was asked by a faculty member to create a list of online tools [view as list or slideshow] I use in the classroom. It was hard because I go back and forth with some tools, like mindmeister, that didn’t make the list, versus mywebspiration, which did. Or for timelines, dipity versus timerime (not on the list).

Diigo can show your URL’s as a  list :

or as a slideshow:

The show will rotate through each site (every 10 seconds), or you can click on the site you like.

tech tools, tech tools

Technology of the Month — WIKIS

This month, the Learning Technology Committee at Montgomery College decided to select wiki’s as the technology of the month.

It was my unit’s turn (Center for Teaching and Learning) to take the lead so here’s a little video on wikis. The next post will be the flyer: