As I said in a previous post, all the plans I'd made for teaching starting this week were ixnayed by an email that came from our district late last week. Weeks of planning and ideas, gone.
So I had to come up with a Plan B, and fast. So I started making instructional videos and posting them on YouTube. They're not going to win any Oscars for production value, but the math content is there. So now I'm making videos and holding class time. Making the videos and getting them posted to YouTube is a lengthy process, and then I have to add each video to a "playlist" so that all the videos from one course are together, and the videos from another course are together. Then I need to update my web site with the video links, and do so in enough time for students to watch the videos before our allotted class time.
It's not difficult, there's just no room for error at all. If I can't get the video uploaded, there's not much to be done. If I put the video on YouTube but forget to update my web site, then the students don't know they're supposed to watch it. Adding a video to a playlist isn't an intuitive process.
I probably need to make a checklist and follow it religiously each day.
And I still haven't figured out how to give a high-quality assessment under the given circumstances. Part of me says that no assessment is better than a crappy one that the kids can cheat on easily. Still haven't figured out the assessment angle after 4 weeks--because we teachers are given a smorgasbord of options, none of them great, and told to pick the one that works best for us. Well heck, I was supposed to figure out all these different software packages and evaluate them, in addition to planning instruction? As with our Student Information System, shouldn't a school district pick one platform and then have everyone use it? What they see as "empowering the teacher", I see as "passing off to the teacher the hard work of evaluating and making a decision".
It's clear my frustration is showing. Think I'll go for a walk, listen to an audiobook, and relax a bit.
6 comments:
I feel you on this one Darren. I teach math as well and am the school's tech coach. So I will tell you the same thing I told the staff. No matter what you try and do, the students will cheat. On top of that, your assessment will most likely be online for years.
We have found a way to see their screens during a test & then maybe watch them on Google Meet/Zoom, but we have been told to be lenient when students take tests and to be flexible.
Teachers have looked at alternative assessments. Give them a problem & have them explain it on Flipgrid. Set up one on one meetings and have them work out a problem or once again explain something. The good old portfolios could make a return and have the students make a digital website portfolio.
Unless your school is one to one, there is no realistic way to make sure they can't escape the environment.
Lots of stuff there. Sorry.
My issue with things like Flipgrid and one on one meetings is that they take FOREVER. If a student posts a 2 minute video and I have 150 students, that would take me 5 hours just to grade that. Last year I had 221 students so 7.5 hours just to grade it. No thanks.
I can't figure out what your issue is with Zoom. I would never post the link on my webpage, but it's clear you consider that your only option. So you don't have the option of emailing students for any given class?
Every night, I email kids the link and password for the next day. I don't require them to come to "office hours", but if they have trouble with the assigned packet (and most of them do), then log in and ask questions. I give them up to a week to finish a packet, and it takes quite some time to round up all the kids. So my top kids are often two assignments ahead of my laggers.
Quizzes: I do 7 kids at a time, and make them be visible on Zoom. (I could do more than 7, probably 10-12). Then I put a quiz on Classkick, and the kids do the quiz while I'm watching them. They can ask me questions on Zoom and if I need to, I can write on their classkick version to answer the question or demo. I am not flexible on this. I was originally going to let kids who show up to zoom meetings, ask questions, and do classwork to get a "credit" grade, but then our district went credit/no credit, which is idiotic. That means my credit standard has to be a lot higher.
None of this is easy, but I would never make videos. The kids watch the videos and then say "I don't get it". And I definitely see the kids learning.
Where do you get that I have an issue with Zoom?
Our students are not required to attend Zoom "classes". In fact, we're not allowed to include any sort of distance learning "attendance" in grading. There are plenty of kids I haven't seen and won't see for the rest of the year. As long as they turn in what assignments I give, they're good. But assessments? No, that's not so good in math.
My district did the opposite of yours. They initially went CRedit/NoCredit, which I could handle, but then when 7 parents (in a district of 40,000 students) complained to the school board, they reversed course and now we're supposed to give grades IF THE STUDENTS WANT US TO. But I can't require them to take tests/quizzes during Zoom meetings. It would be like handing out tests in class and then leaving the classroom for the rest of the period. I don't think I can legitimately give meaningful letter grades under these conditions.
I don't know what blogpost I read that made me think you were having trouble--sorry!
If you make the kids take the quiz online while you're watching, it will be difficult for them to cheat. Not impossible, but difficult.
I wish those parents would complain in my district!
I considered giving Zoom quizzes while I watch. The problem is that I am not allowed to require students to attend such meetings.
Also, I want/need to see *how* students arrived at their answers in math. Did they luck into the answer? Was their process mathematically valid, or not? I have yet to find an online program that will come close to letting me see *how* students arrived at their answer.
Multiple choice tells me nothing more than the student marked the right answer. It doesn't tell me if the students knows how to get the correct answer using a mathematically valid technique. This is why letter grades aren't going to work for me. Credit/NoCredit is the best I can do under these conditions.
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