MC Digital Blog

AutoMastery Google Forms Add-on AutoMastery  is a new Google Forms Add-on that was created by  Mary Ellen West , a technology coordinator from Georgia. This add-on allows you to automatically differentiate assignments for students based on the score they receive on a Google Forms quiz. As the teacher, you will set a mastery score and a beginner level score. Students who score at or above mastery will receive a link to an extension activity. Students who score at or below the beginner level will receive an assignment that is designed to fit their needs and help them build the necessary skills to move to the progression level. Students who score above beginner but below mastery will receive an assignment that is designed to bring them up to the mastery level. All assignments will be sent to the students through an automated email. When you go to install the AutoMastery add-on, you will more than likely see a warning message that says the app has not been approved by Google and...

Common Sense Media recently shared a great article for teachers to introduce 1:1 devices within their instruction. Check it out: 6 Tips for the Paperless Pioneer: Making the Most of Your Chromebooks 1. Begin with low-stakes activities. - Create a few low-stakes, content-light activities designed to get students used to the routines of the Google for Education platform. Teacher example: Paper-pencil scavenger hunt, which required students to navigate through a teacher website, the school website, and Google Classroom , in order to find and record various information. Students gained experience with functions like posting comments, accessing online resources, and checking their grades without having to worry about digesting difficult content. Moreover, the fact that the actual assignment was still completed on paper and turned into the bin on my desk at the end of the period allowed reluctant students a smoother transition into the paperless world.  2. Teach to no more than four st...

It is a good practice to frequently change your password in your google account.  Here are the steps to change your password: Step 1: From your Gmail account - access your “My Account” settings. Step 2: Once in your settings click on Personal Info and privacy to find these settings: Step 3: Using the Personal Info section find your password and sign in method, it will tell you when you last changed your password. Step 4: Once you click on your password area - you will be prompted to verify your current password and then select a new password as shown. Click “Change Password” to save.

You can now add images to your answer choices in Google Forms. Doing that allows you to have students select an image as the response to a question. You can also combine images and text in your Google Forms answer choices. It also allows you to select answer key, point value, and feedback!  Check out this video for step by step instructions:  Insert Images as Answer Choices  

To use the new feature, open a Google Form and click on the settings cog in the top right corner: Click on the "Quizzes" tab and slide the indicator to make this Form a Quiz: You then have a few options, such as when you want to release quiz grades and if students can see missed questions, correct answers, and point values. Click on "Save". You should now see an "Answer Key" on the bottom corner of each question. Click on it to set the correct answer and point value for each question. I love that you can add answer feedback to give students resources and explanations instantly! One you have selected a correct answer for each question, share your Google Form in Google Classroom or share the link with your students. Once you have at least one response, Google Forms creates an insights report for your quiz. You can see your average, median, and range of responses. Google Forms also highlights your frequentl...

Check out this video of Google Slides Q&A in Action: (Click here to view the video) The Slides Q&A feature works on desktop computers, chromebooks, and Apple/Android mobile devices. To launch the Q&A feature, open any Google Slide presentation and click the down arrow next to the present button: The presenter view box will open, this is where you can start the Q&A session and see questions as they pop-up: This is a wonderful new feature to make your presentations interactive!

Google Classroom released a new feature that allows you to schedule posts in advance for your classroom. This is an excellent feature that allows you to work ahead of your students and schedule posts to appear when you want students to see them. To use the new feature, open Google Classroom and create a new post: Click on the blue down arrow button to see the post options. Click on "Schedule" and choose the date and time you want the post to appear. Your scheduled posts will be saved at the top of your classroom stream. Here is a recap of what this looks like in action:

We had a lot of fun at our Digital Lunch, Laugh, & Learn Day at CHHS provided by the JCS Digital Learning Team!  We explored the Greenscreen using the Do Ink App, Google Virtual Reality Glasses, Anatomy 4D, Elements 4D, Robotics using Play-doh, circuit board, and a clipboard to play Mario and the piano, and created mix music on the Chromebooks using YOU. DJ  

F lubaroo is one of my all-time favorite Google Sheets Add-ons. It allows your quizzes created using Google Forms to be graded automatically. To use autograding in Flubaroo you still have to set an answer key and grade at least one submission before autograding will work within Google Sheets. Here is my shortcut version: Google classroom simply hosts links to the resources that you want the students to access.  All you need to do to make this work is..... 1. Create the quiz in Forms. 2. Open a Google Sheet -> Go to Add Ons -> Get Add Ons -> Install FLUBAROO 3. Take the quiz you made in Forms and get all of the answers correct . 4. Open the sheet that has the answers for the quiz. Go to Add ons -> Flubaroo -> Advanced -> Enable Autograde. Select your answers as the Key (Just like if you were using a scantron) 5. in Google Classroom, create an assignment and add the link to the form with the quiz by viewing the the Quiz in LIVE Mode and copy...

Please note, your Google Chrome may not be pinned to your TASKBAR. In the event it is not, please take the following action to repin the icon once you have verified that Chrome has reinstalled successfully. Go to your START MENU (found in the lower left corner of your screen) > ALL PROGRAMS > Google Chrome > Google Chrome browser. Once Google Chrome opens, complete the action below:

Rally for Doodle 4 Google!  $30,000 in college scholarship and a $50,000 Google for Education grant for your school! It's as simple as drawing a sketch with the word "Google" in it and a 50 word doodle description! Check out the entry form by clicking HERE . Get your entries in before December 7, 2015 ! Check out the GoAnimate video Mrs. Rous and I directed to advertise for students featured on the October 30th Pirate TV episode , Corinth Holders High School-JCS Facebook page , The Hungry Bookshelf Blog , and the "Contests Wall" in the CHHS Media Center!  If you have trouble viewing the video, please click HERE . Share Events on The Cube

Google released new updates yesterday for Google Docs and Classroom. Google developers have been hard at work over the summer making Google even more useful for education. Please see the post below from the  Google blog  for all the details. Schoolwork, minus the work Writing papers is now a lot easier with the  Research  tool in  Docs for Android . You can search Google without leaving Docs, and once you find the quotes, facts or images you’re looking for, you can add them to your document with just a couple taps. That means less time switching between apps, and more time perfecting your thesis statement. With  Voice typing , you can record ideas or even compose an entire essay without touching your keyboard. To get started, activate Voice typing in the Tools menu when you're using  Docs  in Chrome. Then, when you’re on the go, just tap the microphone button on your phone’s keyboard and speak your mind. Voice typing is available in more th...

A Google Chrome update went out today, but you may have encountered an issue. If you can still access Chrome on your desktop or laptop (Chromebooks  ARE NOT   affected), no further action is necessary. If Chrome is not on your machine, you will see this error message when attempting to open Chrome: Please click “No” and SHUT DOWN (fully power down)  your computer. A RESTART will NOT resolve the issue-you must SHUT DOWN.  Afterwards, you may POWER ON your device and log in to ensure that Chrome was installed by launching it. If you still receive the error message, please submit an  IT DIRECT  ticket under IT Direct (note the #252107268; make sure you are on the IT tab at the top; submittal password is password). Please note, you may have the Chrome icon in your TASKBAR. Once you have verified Chrome has installed successfully in your Start Menu ( found in the lower left corner of your screen) > ALL PROGRAMS > Google Chrome > Google Chrome b...

  It’s time to clean up your drives!   Here are a few best practices and tools to help you. Student/Staff Drives: It is a good idea to backup all files on your school based drives! We need to delete all files on "shared" drives and save to a flash drive. Tech services will be updating and refreshing our drives, so make sure you have important documents saved! Google Takeout: Go to:  https://www.google.com/settings/takeout To create an archive of all files on up to 16 different Google products including Drive. This process is free and very simple to save on a flash drive. 

Provided by Pam Batchelor Google has just released Google Classroom to our domain and so far, it is showing to be a great learning management system that is simpler than Edmodo or Moodle and very user friendly. All JCS teachers can use Classroom to create an online space for your students to view class materials, complete assignments, and collaborate together.  If you have not seen this brief two minute overview of Classroom, take a look at it: To get started with Classroom, go to:  https://classroom.google.com The first time you visit the site, you may see a screen like this: Click on the "Go to Classroom" button. Once you are at the Classroom site, make sure the correct account is signed in (left side) and click on "Teacher" to request access to your account. Your account will then be verified as a teacher account within 24 hours. Once your account is verified, you will see this on the top right of your Classroom homepage: ...