Kaizena: The High Value Feedback Tool for Any Text.

Effective assessment and feedback in less time (for any subject)

Have you ever wished you could give up writing comments on word or google docs because it took too long? Perhaps felt like you were going to inflict RSI on yourself by clicking 'insert comment' for the umpteenth time for Script #14 on a 300 word essay?

I read about +Shelly Sanchez Terrell from one of the links on my Google Plus groups and found her slideshare on The Teachers' Survival Kit to Productivity Tools and Apps so useful! With a pile of writing to assess, I decided to try an online tool called Kaizena.

Kaizena is a site linked to your G Drive which allows you to give feedback on student work using voice and comments. It also allows you to insert links to resources or further reading. Sharing these comments with another teacher is also possible if you include him/her in your sharing options on the original document on G Drive.

If you think this sounds intimidating, it really isn't. Kaizena is easy to use once you allow it to access your microphone.

Screenshot of Kaizena in Action

Why would this change the way you give feedback?

• It gives you 3 options: Voice, Written Comment and Links to Resources.

With Kaizena, I have multiple feedback options, I can overlap comments or change highlight colours too (great if you have a code system for feedback.) Adding links is to resources is a simple 'copy and paste URL' job.

• It connects to G Drive - your library of student work

Now that all student work is on G Drive, it is easy to import folders and specific documents. This way, I can give feedback quickly without switching tabs. Also, it stores documents until I archive them (so I do this when a student hands me a second draft - brilliant for record keeping)

• It can be a storehouse of important resources

Every resource you link to work is stored on Kaizena until you wish to delete them. Why would you need to go searching again?

• It adds value to writing conferences

Sharing it prior to a writing conference means students can digest the feedback and get back to you with questions and comments of their own.
The times I have done the conventional writing conference, I have had my ESL students trying to read their work, listen to my comments and make mental notes. That's tough on any language learner.

• It gives a student a record of his/her progress

Work can be improved upon and new feedback added just by using the option 'Create New Version'. Fabtastic!

• It allows teachers flexibility in giving feedback - different learners and learner styles.

If students don't like reading comments and prefer recorded ones, hey! Kaizena might be the tool you are looking for to get students receptive to improving writing.

I'm sure there are many other options out there but for now, I think this works for me.

Padlet: The Accessible Virtual Post-It Wall

The Wall of Sound and Substance

Padlet is anything but a notepad. Formerly known as WallWisher, Padlet evolved from being an online pinboard where tributes and messages were displayed for friends and family to a tool for collaborative learning and assessment.

It is Graffiti made Good.

Why use Padlet?

I was introduced to Padlet by my tech savvy colleague, Vip Sharma, as a quick way of gathering feedback and initial ideas from a class. At first, I could not see why the same had to be digitised. After all, can't the same be achieved with a couple of post-its in different colours or an A3 sheet (preferably reused) and some felt pens?

Yes really! There is still a lot of merit in having students debate about the placement of ideas on paper or make decisions over classification or connect ideas spontaneously when brainstorming or charting a K-W-L or making a mindmap using coloured pens and paper.

The earliest tech was a chisel and a stone tablet after all... which brings me back to Padlet.

Vip finally showed me the merit in it - that students build on each other's ideas and having them displayed is motivating especially in language classes.

Also, Padlet walls can be a quick and effective option for putting all resources in one area for research or enquiry-based learning. I used this idea for my first Padlet wall for a reading lesson and combined these readings with a PMI (Plus-Minus-Interesting) for note taking instead of the usual pro-con debate structure.

It worked out very well with students dividing the task and being engaged in comparing their ideas and explaining their justification for their point system. We later developed this into a role-play forum (which I recorded using the Voice Recorder Pro app).

Future Projects with Padlet

The next time I use Padlet though, I'd like to explore linear texts and more HOT skills : chronological processes, Thinking Hats, class group writing and Point-Evidence-Elaboration or Question-Answer-Relate strategies for reading.

Also, I do think that it could be used as a personal or group target setting or feedback board. Posting writing samples or targets anonymously (using a QR code), other students could suggest strategies for improvement.

I might try this last one because it has not been done before and will share with you how it went.

Meanwhile, another contender for what Padlet does is the new kid on the wall - RealTimeBoard.
Looks exciting!

App Smashing: getting the right mash up for the right mesh.

Combining apps effectively to get your intended final result.

I first heard the term 'app smashing' from a colleague after he had attended an in-service training with Joe Dale, an educator and technology consultant. Looking it up, I found that the term referred to mixing or combining artifacts from different apps to make a final product.

Icon for Pic Collage

An example is my photo collage below of my recent trip to the beautiful isle of Penang, Malaysia. I mashed all of them in one photo using my favourite online site, www.collage.com and am planning to use this image in a Thinglink to chronicle my thoughts and impressions on each photo. You can also try the app Pic Collage for the same collage effect.

I was also considering adding a Soundcloud audio of an interview (120 minutes free) as one of the links to the image below.

Now that I have gained some confidence in app meshing, I am trying a new combination to get my students to make an Aurasma - a video explaining their creative choices for their poster.

Steps to make the poster.

1. Make poster using Adobe Ideas.

2. Insert font or text using www.cooltext.com and saving the finished product as an image on camera roll.

3. Combining images and text on Adobe Ideas or Keynote.

Prep for the Aurasma video. (This is where I am at currently)

1. Prep images using Skitch. Each image will highlight one aspect of the poster such as slogan, image, symbol and colour. Students use Skitch to annotate on the image which is then saved to Camera roll.

2. Prep script for the iMovie using google docs.

3. Download VisioPrompt to read script off of.

4. Use Imovie to combine audio and images. To add text where necessary.

5. Upload to youtube and share to common faculty channel.

(It is easier to create a common channel for all student videos. This enables sharing across classes and motivates teachers to submit their final videos to the same channel- great for archiving)

Actual Aurasma

1. Create Overlay, which is the poster

2. Connect to youtube video and a common faculty Aurasma channel

Phew!

Looking forward to the actual finished product!

Below is the youtube video of the finished product which will be linked to Aurasma.

Educreations and Flipping the Classroom

Educreations for the Absent but Present Teacher

Every teacher who has ever been absent, or worried about not completing the syllabus or about whether their students 'get it' might want to start thinking about making a lesson bank accessible anywhere anytime.

Yes, it's heading that way ladies and gents. As schools make teachers accountable for grades or base your performance management on 'value added', there will be a growing need for educators to think about using the resources available as an ally.

Another excellent development which lends itself well to learning especially in the higher grades is the flipped lesson. An ideal lesson like this would be a 10-minute lecture, preferably with interactive features, questions and activities for independent learning which student do at home. They complete the lesson and note areas which need consolidation or clarification to bring to school for further discussion with the teacher.

In school, the teacher will have a range of differentiated activities, tasks, support and learning styles available to the student. Talk about choices!

Of course, this means added preparation on the part of the teacher and a commitment to working at home for the student. In time, when the culture of home prep is well and truly entrenched and learning is no longer limited to 'school time', we will see a major shift in education and pedagogy. But, small steps first.

Going back to Educreations.

I'm a great one for assigning projects, but when it came to my turn to talk into an I-pad for a flipped lesson (not really - it was done as I was absent and a Malay language cover lesson would be no good if the cover teacher did not speak it), it all seemed rather daunting and not just a tad silly. But, as they say, once you get your feet wet, you might as well just leap in.

So I did.

And with great results!

My students retained almost all the vocabulary and did their classwork - all while I was not there. Amazing. I emailed the lesson to our group Edmodo page and many felt that it was a resource that they could go back to again for review. My next assignment is to create a class page where I can archive my 'taped' lessons. That would be a lesson bank for students and as I add to it or teach the same class, students can have a variety of sources or learn at their own pace.

In class, there was enough time the next day to do all the exciting tasks planned and have a comfortable 5 minutes for a solid plenary. Very satisfying experience in all.

Just to make sure it wasn't a one off, I repeated the 'flip' with another class and had similar results.

Have I set myself more work to do? Perhaps. 20 minutes at the most for each  lesson but it may be well worth it next year if I use them again, even if I adapted my class activities.

My Year 10 ESL Educreations - never got used but will do next time.

Working with Educreations and I-movie

I am no stranger to making movies but I find that the process, rather than being a creative and haphazard one, is much improved when the success criteria are prescriptive and made clear to students.

In this lesson for my Year 9 Malay class, the culmination of the lesson was an interview with native speakers of Malay using a frame. Students were then required to incorporate vocabulary and structures into their own script for this movie.

I differentiated it by having a framework for the interview and script which students could adapt according to their proficiency levels. I also gave them the choice of either creating an itinerary or producing a movie. Some students opted for an Educreations option for their work.

At the end, the students were challenged and excited about their assignment as it was not 'public' as it were and they could experiment with the language.

My challenge now is to compile these videos and get them to present feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Paddling in the Ipad Pond

The not-so-new ipad has taken my teaching by the legs and turned it on its head - and as any yoga exponent will tell you, hand stands can ignite creativity and so it has been with the ipad in the classroom.

Looking at various apps can be a daunting affair with apps being invented and available for downloading and trying. It's wading through the various apps that is time-consuming and a chore. Teachers do not have time nor money, so the best apps are frequently the ones which are easy to use and wonderfully free of charge.

Week 1:
My top picks for the busy teacher are these apps which are guaranteed to work for the creative classroom.

Thinglink: The all-in-one place for different content.

Have you ever felt you wanted an app where you can add all the links to content sources in one place so your students can remain focused and directed? Also, would you like a youtube link which opens on the same page without your having another window open? I find this is best because students are often tempted to go off exploring links on the sidebar on a Youtube page. This way, the video plays on the actual thinglink image (beautiful!)

Anyways, I would like students to demonstrate their learning by

• creating their own images with links or with their own content such as video(to combine images in an attractive manner, they can try to collage it using Collage. Refer to the sample on the right for a model of the final product of this artifact.
• combining ideas in a collaborative group and produce content after research and discussion. I hope that through this they have synergy as a group and practice their learner skills of teamwork, independent learning and stretch their creativity.
• encouraging higher order thinking skills by posing hinge point questions which students can take in directions of their own choosing.
• sharing their unique perspectives of the world by combining different media and art and constructing their own learning.

Thinglink can be embedded into blogs or shared which makes it fantastic. Or try these many uses for it.