Activity #8 - Polling and Data Gathering

POLLING - It was really easy to create a poll using PollEverywhere.  I like how there is the option to upload a visual image - that is a great adaptation for many of my students who have limited reading skills.  I'm not sure about using the texting option in my class, as most of my students don't have cell phones.  However, for the students who do have cell phones, it would be a fun learning tool for them to answer a poll question by having to text their answer (as texting is now an everyday, real life skill that I could teach to students in my program).

 GOOGLE FORMS - I've seen this used a lot (admin sending out informal polls to us) but never had a clue how they did it!  Now I know!  I played around with it a bit to figure out the different questions/response types.  I think this would be a tool to use in terms of organizational purposes - either within our department or PLC group.

It might also have application to individual students in terms of sending out a personalized survey to IEP team members to gain input for progress reporting or IEP meeting updates.  (We currently use an online program called TRAX/Tensigma for this, but this would be good for more personalization for an individual student).  For example, if I had Suzie's meeting coming up, I could create a form that was sort of a checklist...."What behaviors have you seen in the last week?", "How many days has Suzie been absent from your class?", "How many prompts did you need to get Suzie to put on her shoes?".  The questions/response types would depend on what I am asking and the student skills/needs.

Activity #7 - Cloud Computing

GOOGLE CALENDAR - First thing I played around with was the Google Calendar.  As a whole, I have seen the use of this cloud device increase more and more the past two or so years.  I would consider myself a passive user...I would have people's calendars listed that I needed to see for different purposes (the schedule of our Sped dean, general MVHS school calendars for field trips/meetings, school testing calendar) and would also receive the emails from other active users inviting me to things (reminders for department meetings, school emergency drills, etc. where I would simple click 'ok').  I had never set up any activities or added things for personal reminders.

I set up my calendar and added an fictitious IEP meeting for a date in August.  It was easier than I thought.  It was easy to input the emails of those who needed to be reminded.

I liked this as a meeting option.  However, in Student Plans (the Sped program we use for all due process paperwork) there is already an 'email' option that attaches the official meeting notice to necessary parties.  I'm not sure which I would use at this point....maybe both?  I like that an automatic/default reminder could be sent out to parties in the Google Calendar.

I'm also not confident that I would use the Google Calendar for all my activities...maybe I'm a little more old fashioned in this respect, but I still like the old paper yearly planners...I like going to Target in the summer (all school supplies are out now, sad!), getting my fresh planner, and writing in things to see.  I don't know if that will ever change for me!  Perhaps if I had a smartphone with my electronic calendar more readily available, I would be more apt to use Google Calendar to organize my work and life?!

GOOGLE DOCUMENT - Again, I would consider myself a very passive user of this cloud device.  I've seen more and more people using it to share documents via work, but had never created one myself.  I think I really never had the time to sit and play with it to learn it, and had no formal training so never really did anything with it.

After taking the time to play around with it, I found it quite easy and I am no longer intimidated by it.

I created a document that I shared with 2 co-workers centered on a calendar for our 4th hour activities.  In the past, we printed out a calendar, hand wrote in notes, and photo copied to share.  For this activity, I created a chart document and typed in things.  There is no need to photocopy and have paper copies of this, as we would all have access on our computers when shared.

REFLECTION - Overall, I think it was really useful for me to learn more about these cloud computing tools.  They are gaining more and more use in our workplace.  For "PROS", I see using them in a my personal work in terms of professional organization (calendar, meetings, collaborating with coworkers, creating documents to share as a department).  We are frequently creating things that need to be shared with people in our department and this is an easier way to do so.  For "CONS", I really can't think of ways this would directly impact my daily teaching or interaction with students.  Most, if not all, of my students don't have the computer knowledge or skills to work with documents or interact in such a manner.  I'm not sure how I this would be part of work directly with students...any thoughts?