Week 4: How can I use tools “in the cloud” to easily manage and deliver feedback to my students?

How can I use tools "in the cloud" to easily manage and deliver feedback to my students?

This week I investigated one ‘cloud’ program in particular, which was Dropbox.  Oh how amazing this was!  I have several computers in which I work with throughout the day, including my personal computer, work computer and smart board computer.  Usually when I create presentations to use in class I may create it on a different computer and then have to save it to a memory stick, and transfer it to the other computer that I’m using at the time.  With Dropbox I don’t have to!  Using this program worked well for me the past week.

The idea of ‘clouds’ sounds like a very beneficial tool to use to transfer documents and feedback to students.  Unfortunately there is a significant amount of students whom of which do not have Internet (or even a computer for that matter) at home.  In addition to this, our Internet out here is very poor as well. 

Now although my thought immediately went to how using a ‘cloud’ program outside of school hours, I definitely know it’s not limited to that time period.   For instance, in my classroom when we are near the end of a writing project, I have student’s type up their product and have them save it onto a memory stick (in order to access it the next day).  With this use of dropbox, we will not have to do this anymore.  When students are ready to submit their work, they can just drag it to the program, and I can immediate get it to my computer. As a result, I am able to respond quickly to my students work without having to go through the extra stuff that I had to before.  How great this is!

            A tool that I was previously semi-familiar with is a tool called Google Docs.  I am part of a Curriculum Adjustment and Development group within my district and we often rely on Google Docs to transfer, edit and save documents for everyone within our group to see.  Using this program is very convenient, as it cuts out the middle man of emailing and saving the document somewhere on your computer, only to find out it was edited 10 minutes later, sent back to you and you have to resave it.  Using something like Google Docs allows for repeat edits, less use of hard drive and less hair pulling out.

            I can totally see how Google Docs can be used to help easily manage and delivery feedback to my students, although I do see this program as being a bit more difficult to train 3^rd graders to use as apposed to Dropbox.  But wait!  Google Docs you aren’t completely out of the picture to helping communication with my students!  I personally can use Google Docs to aid me in managing my student’s work and provide more frequent feedback. By saving documents onto Google docs, I can access anything my students and I have worked on at school at my home.  As a result I can grade work that I previously may now have been able to.  Google Docs could also be a useful program to use for communication with the parents of my students (provided they have a computer/internet at their how).  Although I definitely am not proficient in using these two ‘cloud’ programs, I am looking forward to improving my knowledge base over these continuing weeks. Hopefully as I work out the kinks I will be able to introduce these two programs into my classroom.  For the time being however, I will enjoy these two programs myself.  Good by USB memory stick!

Communication:

            I feel like this week has actually been very productive in terms of expanding my PLN.  Not only am I talking with a few individuals within this class, I’ve also started to expand my horizons in terms of emailing/Skyping with other teachers within my district.  The wiki that I am working on (3^rd grade) is finally getting some shape, which is a good thing.  Currently there are only 3 people working on it (including myself) therefore there is still a decent amount of stuff left to do.  This week, although not posted on my wiki as of yet, I’ve been working on lesson plans that could be used in a 3^rd grade classroom (I’ll post soon!).  I’ve also been monitoring twitter daily, and conversing when necessary or when I have questions.  Ultimately I feel much more comfortable in this class than I did in the beginning.