Transitioning From the Paper Classroom to the Digital Classroom

I am in the transition phase to a web2.0 classroom with my 5 classes. I am setting up a wiki and blog and I want to know how other classes out there look...
How do you transition grading - do you still do a lot of paper notes, worksheets, have students keep notebooks, paper labs, etc?
How do you assess? Do you still use traditional paper tests or have you transitioned this as well?
How do you grade? What percentage of grading goes to blog & wiki entries & how are these assessed?
Any advice or sharing would be great - its hard to set up a transition with so many questions...

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on May 27, 2009 at 2:13pm

Cara,

Congratulations on your progress. I did that some 20 years ago, and it was easy, even tho we were doing email progrects, and moos instead of wikis and blogs.

Let students transition away from taking gpaper notes. I think there is software out there that they can use instead. As a web user for more than 20 years, I still mke paper notes,, but with the new generation coming up on this medium, I would transition them to note files and print out. Notebooks can also be phased out, unless you want the kids to print out their notes, which is not a bad idea unless they can study online from home.

Begin to move your worksheets online. It will take some time. You may also want to scope out what exists online already and see where it can fit into your curriculum. If you need help making worksheets, let me know. I have done some and will be happy to get you going. You show know some JavaScript or know how to create in Flash. If not, you can work with Hot Potatoes til you are ready.

If the wikis are group projects, grade them the same way as you do traditional group projects. Be sure to let kids know in advance what you expect and how you will grade. A grading rubic is helpful.

Blogs are individual papers and should be graded as such.

Online quizzes and worksheets should be graded as you usually grade such assignment when on paper.

Be sure to develop a plan for searching, perhaps based on number of hits, or number of useful links found.

Good luck, and if I didn't answer all your question or if you have more, let me know.

Anne
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Permalink Reply by Cara Heitz on May 27, 2009 at 2:35pm

Hi Anne, Thanks for your great feedback!
As far as assessments, did you do a lot more non-traditional assessments - such as projects? Or did you still do a lot of traditional multiple choice/short answer testing?
I feel like I spend a lot of time prepping students for traditional tests at the end of each unit, and would rather mix in more creative, digital & authentic assessments?
Thanks again
Cara

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on May 27, 2009 at 2:48pm

Cara,

My final exam was totally on the computer. I printed out their work, and voila! No bad handwriting issues! I was teaching special ed: LD and EMR students in an English class. Vocabulary and sentence writing were all done on computer. I did very little traditional multiple choice testing because my students were not good at it. Hot Potatoes (free softwre you can download and make quizzes and tests), is easy to use. Sorry I don't have the URl for it. You will also find some tools on my WebTools page: http://www.educationalsynthesis.org/prof/index-WebTools.html .... Primary Access is a tool to help kids make reports that you would grade, probably from the print out, but perhaps online. I haven't looked into it that deeply. If you are working at elementary level, that Nifty Little Tool may be fun for awhile.

Speaking of Authentic Assessments, a friend collected some online ones. They are at http://www.educationalsynthesis.org/prof/ASSESS-ElecPortfolio.html ... They could be used too develop projects for assessment instead of multiple choice tests.

Anne

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Connolly on May 27, 2009 at 3:00pm

Cara,

At my school the teachers (I am the librarian) are working on integrating technology into their curriculum. How the teachers are doing this varies based on their objectives, comfort level, and time. The most important thing that we emphasize as we assist teachers with this transition is to make sure they are continually asking themselves, " how does this change help me reach/engage the kids." It has become evident in the last few years that it isn't about saying you use a tool, but how you are actually using the tool. Web 2.0 cannot be an add-on, but a main component of the curriculum.

With that said, when assessing students you can use various methods as long as the rubric is clear to the students. This Spring we had the 8th graders work on a capstone project in which they werer able to choose their final product - Visual Art, Movie, Formal Speech, etc. A rubric was created and posted on the project ning for each type of final product and how the process would be evaluated. Another fundamental component was the reflection piece. The great thing about this web 2.0 world is that the conversation is not longer between the student and the teacher but the entire class. Not sure if I answered your questions, but feel free to shoot me a message.

Here are a few examples:
Wikis- a few project based wikis we created for 6th graders to get them used to the structure and to start collaborating.
ex. Big Dig, Cultural Heritage Project, Movie Madness.

In addition, a handful of teachers are using the Ning Platform for projects and to house all of their different classes.
ex. BCDS Photo (includes information, assignments, tutorials, etc for every class she teaches), BCDS Senior Project Ning (seniors have a 4 week internship at the end of the year, this ning houses all their reflections and any other content they want to share).

We use other tools too such as flipcam, skype, voicethread, to help us connect to the students.

Best,
Kelley