assignment, students can simply share access to the file with their teacher, who can write comments directly into the document. Since the student stills owns the file and can see it, there is no need to “pass it back.”
Students can also use Google Docs to work together while writing a lab report or creating group projects. All the students can edit the same document simultaneous from different computers – allowing for unprecedented authentic collaboration in group work.
With a single Google Docs account for their entire school career, students can easily build an impressive portfolio of their work. When computers are upgraded at school or at home, all of the files are still safely stored on servers spread across the country.
Tip #3: Use assessments in the cloud to track student performance
Many of our courses at Michigan Virtual School test students for mastery, giving them multiple attempts to master a concept and demonstrate their understanding. This is an excellent assessment technique,
but it is incredibly difficult to implement in a face-to-face classroom. How can students retake an assessment in class when others have already passed it and moved on? Students can access the following assessments in the cloud from anywhere at any time, trying again and again until they demonstrate mastery:
• Khan Academy (http://
khanacademy.org) has expanded its impressive video library to include math assessments that track student performance.
• WebAssign (http://webassign. com) is a subscription-based service, which can be tied to your class textbook. Especially geared for math and science classes, WebAssign allows teachers to create custom online assessments with problems directly from the book – the only difference is that each question has randomly generated numbers, so every student has their own unique answer.
• Thatquiz (http://thatquiz. org) is a wonderfully simple site where students can take practice assessments in math, geography, science, and foreign languages. Better still, teachers can enroll their classes for custom assignments and track individual student progress – all for free.
With these resources as a starting point, you will quickly discover new ways to bring your classroom even further into the cloud. Students and teachers will agree that school gets sunnier when it gets cloudier.
Andrew Vanden Heuvel is a teacher and course developer with Michigan Virtual School. In 2011, he was named one of five finalists for the National Online Teacher of the Year award. As the founder of AGL Initiatives, Andrews provides consulting services in STEM education for clients such as USA TODAY Education and NASA. Andrew lives in Grand Haven, MI. He can be reached at
avandenheuvel@mivu.org.
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Fall 2011
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