Google Classroom Update: Themes and Shared with Me

A small update has hit Google Classroom this week.  They have added many more themes and patterns as options for your courses.  Also, you can not upload your own personal images to use as a theme!

You can read more about it on the official Google Apps for Education Blog.  But here's the main idea...



Also, Google just recently changed the "Incoming" area in their new Google Drive interface back to "Shared with me".  I guess it was confusing enough people that they needed to backtrack!

Sean Mullins | District Instructional Technology Coach

Diagram-azing Resource: LucidChart!

Lucidchart is a web-based diagramming program that allows students and teachers to create wonderfully detailed and complex diagrams.  What sort of “diagrams” are we talking about?  Here are a few examples of things that you can create in Lucidchart (these are templates that can be easily modified, or you could build similar diagrams from scratch).  They may take a moment to load; don’t worry, it’s worth it!

How do you access Lucidchart?

Lucidchart is an app that is connected directly to your Google Drive account.  To accomplish this, click on New > More > Connect More Apps.

You will be presented with a selection of apps to choose from.  You can use the search bar at the top to find Lucidpress and connect it to your Drive account.

Once connected, you can open a new Lucidpress file anytime by clicking on New > More > Lucidpress.

Examples

LucidPress: Newsletters, Flyers, Brochures, and more!

If you are looking for a web based alternative to Microsoft Publisher, look no further than the incredibly feature rich Lucidpress!  From magazine articles, flyers, and newsletters, to photo/video “books”, reports, and brochures, postcards and business cards; Lucidpress has you covered.  They also have beautiful templates that can be used when you want to focus less on the process and more on the content.

Take the one below for example.  This is embedded into the webpage (click on the pop-out icon in the lower right hand corner to get a more clear and immersive view of the flyer), but could also be viewed via a link.  Like this!  If you missed the little “shimmy” that the lettering on the right does, that indicates that you can scroll down on that side of the flyer.

To add Lucidchart to your Google Drive, follow the exact same steps outlined in the Lucidchart post.  Once you’re up and running, your Lucidpress files will be stored automatically in your Google Drive account.  You can also export PDF or image versions of your products to your Google Drive account.

This tool can have obvious uses for student projects, but I am equally interested to see what our teachers can create withe Lucidpress to supplement the variety of tasks that we do on a day to day basis.  How about a photobook about an activity that your class did that would be visible to parents?  Create a virtual flyer for an upcoming science fair and push the link out through Skyward Family Access?  I cannot way to see what you come up with!

Sean Mullins | District Instructional Technology Coach

Prepare for PARCC with Mastery Manager and Google

March 9th is right around the corner, and that means a fun, new assessment for our students (and us) to tackle.  In this post I am going to take a look at four different aspects of the PARCC assessment (General Layout, Passages and Ordering, and the Equation Editor, and Video/Audio Questions) and how we can use Mastery Manager and Google to help our students prepare.

General Layout

When your students arrive at their first question in the PARCC assessment, they will be presented with a screen that looks like this.  Here, a math example is being used, but the general layout features apply to any content question.

[caption id="attachment_2494" align="aligncenter" width="279"] Click to enlarge[/caption]

There are some key features of each question page in PARCC that are very similar to what you will find in Mastery Manager.

• The ability to flag a question for review (Green)


• The ability to remove answer options from view (Red)


• Moving forward and back with buttons


• Answer check-boxes of different shapes for different functions (Blue)

If we look at the PARCC version of this question next to a version of this question that I created in Mastery Manger, the similarities can be observed.

[caption id="attachment_2493" align="aligncenter" width="586"] Click to enlarge[/caption]

Additionally, because this is a math question, I pointed out that equations can be faithfully reproduced in Mastery Manager as well.

The more that students experience these general layout features through assessments with Mastery Manager, the easier the transition will be when it comes to the PARCC assessment.

Passages and Ordering Questions

Take a look at the following PARCC question:

It follows a typical PARCC question layout where a passage (on the left) is required reading for the question (on the right).  This happens to be a math question, but nearly all of the ELA questions follow this pattern as well.  To top it off, the question, in this instance, requires the students to correctly order the answer options by dragging and dropping them into place.

Now take a look at a comparison between this PARCC question and the same question recreated in Mastery Manager:

[caption id="attachment_2492" align="aligncenter" width="586"] Click to enlarge[/caption]

The same question with a near identical layout can be created using the passages feature and ordering question.  Simply create a passage with the required information and attach it to your question of choice to have them appear side by side, just like in the PARCC assessment.  The more that students experience these assessment formats with Mastery Manager, the easier the transition will be when it comes to the PARCC assessment.

The Equation Editor

One of the most often talked about tools available to students on the PARCC assessment is the equation editor.  It is simply not the most intuitive tool for students to use.  One option that math teachers have to provide their students with some experience using an equation editor that operates very similarly to the PARCC editor is through Google Docs.

As you can see, many of the same functions are present in the PARCC equation editor as well.

Though not a one-to-one comparison, experience using the Google equation editor can only help students familiarize themselves with the symbols, button presses, and number entry processes when they encounter them on the PARCC assessment.

Video and Audio Based Questions

The PARCC assessment includes video and audio questions for students to answer.



These can also be recreated in Mastery Manager using the video and audio upload functions that are available in all question types.  If they are added into passages as described above, you can also recreate the side by side layout that PARCC presents.  Note that video can be uploaded or embedded from outside sources.  If you choose to embed a video, keep in mind that students can not access all video sites (i.e. YouTube), and therefore the video embedded from such sites would not be visible to students.

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If you would like more information about any of these features in Mastery Manager or Google, please contact your district instructional technology coach!

Sean Mullins | District Instructional Technology Coach

New Question Types: Matching, Ordering, and Scribble

Let's be honest, not having a matching question option in Mastery Manger was silly.  Well, they have finally come through with not only matching, but two other new question types as well; ordering and scribble.  To add any of these new question types to your assessments, simply select the appropriate question type when creating new questions in an item bank.  Let's take a look at each of these and see what they offer.

Matching

[caption id="attachment_2480" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Click to enlarge[/caption]

The way that Mastery Manager handles a matching question is to arrange the options and their counterparts into two columns.  The column on the left allows for each option to be moved up or down in the list (identifiable by the arrows next to the option).  The column on the right is static.  In order to answer these questions, the student drags the items in the left column to match the correct order of the items in the right column.  Not exactly how most teachers think about matching questions, but it works all the same.  As you can see above, this process gets a bit more complicated if you want to add images to your matching options due to the image sizes creating a very long page.  It is more practical to use text in both columns.  Note that there is default help text that is added to the question to help remind students of what they are supposed to do to answer the question.

Ordering

[caption id="attachment_2481" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Click to enlarge[/caption]

The ordering question is similar to the matching style, only with one column instead of two.  Here, you simply create a list of items (images work as well) that need to be placed in a specific order.  The arrows indicate to students that these options can be moved up or down in the list.  Note that help text is provided automatically here as well.

Scribble

[caption id="attachment_2478" align="aligncenter" width="333"] Click to enlarge[/caption]

The last, and most novel question type that they added, is called scribble.  This is a performance event type question, which means that the answers will need to be graded by hand after students submit their work.  With this question, you provide your students a space to "scribble", or draw out their answers to questions.  Mastery Manager provides a few default options for what the scribble area looks like (notebook paper, graph paper, blank), or you can upload an image of your own.  This opens up many creative question opportunities, and I cannot wait to see what some of you come up with!  Note: Scribble appears to require HTML 5.  If the drawing feature is not working, have students switch to a different browser.  As of the publishing of this article, IE 11 and Firefox were working, and Chrome was not.

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If you would like any guidance on incorporating these questions into your classroom or common assessments, do not hesitate to contact your district instructional technology coach!

Sean Mullins | District Instructional Technology Coach

Have an Old Test...Upload and Use It!

You asked for it, they delivered.  In one of the coolest updates we have seen to Mastery Manager, teachers can now upload a PDF version of a test or quiz and have it displayed alongside their Answer-key assessment.  What does that look like?  Behold...



 

Using this feature gives you the flexibility to do two different things.  First, you can convert any old assessments that you have into PDF's (easy step by step guide found here) and upload them to Mastery Manager to use.  That beats retyping all of those questions and answers into the system by hand!  Second, if you do not feel that you need each question to exist on its own in a Mastery Manager item bank, you can create new assessments in Word, convert them to PDFs, and upload them for use as Mastery Manager assessments.

To upload a PDF to create a virtual online assessment:

1. Click the Choose File button under the PDF Document section from the Online Tab of your Answer-Key only assessment.


2. 


3. Browse for the PDF document on the computer.  Click the Save button.


4. 

For more detailed directions, sign into Mastery Manager and then click this link!

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If you need any assistance with this process, please contact your district instructional technology coach!

Sean Mullins | District Instructional Technology Coach

Mastery Manager Tutorial Videos

Hmmmm, how do I attach a rubric to my quiz?  Oh, and I see they have standards in here...what can I do with those?  Man, these reports are confusing.

Mastery Manager recently updated their "Help" menu to include a Video Tutorial Library.  This compliments the already wonderful User's Guide that they have in their Documentation section.

The videos that you will find here are narrated and simple to follow along with.  There are not a wide array yet, but hopefully more will be added soon.  The current offerings are:

• Assessments
  
  
  
  • Mastery Manager Tour
  
  
  • Getting Started with Mastery Manager
  
  
  • Adding Standards
  
  
  • Printing Performance Event Forms
  
  
  
  


• Online
  
  
  
  • Online Activation
  
  
  
  


• Item Bank


• Reports
  
  
  
  • Single Assessment Reports
  
  
  • Gradebook Paste
  
  
  
  


• Rubrics

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Here is a direct link to the page that you see above if you are interested in checking out any of these resources.

 

Sean Mullins | District Instructional Technology Coach