Week 7 in Review

This week's focus was on assessment, organization, and Google technologies.

My previous class to this one focused strictly on curriculum design.  A big part of that design process is developing assessment.  With that said, the text provided information that was not new to me. However, the text did suggest a few ideas of how to use technology for assessment purposes.

The main suggestion was to use Google Forms for assessment.  Google Forms is great because the user can design a test that can have a variety of formats.  The user can do a multiple choice, checklist, text, essay, and other types of formats.  We also watched a video on how to create rubrics using Google Forms.  It's great.  In addition, there is an app called Flubaroo that can be used for quick grading.  It's very helpful!

In addition to technology that can be used for assessment, the text also dealt with potential technologies that educators can use to help themselves be more organized.  I was pleased to know that I use almost all of the technologies listed.  My school is a Google school, which means that we use Gmail, Drive, and Classroom.  I also use Dropbox, which is great to use for cloud storage.  We also use Dropbox with our state affiliation as they use it to upload our judges tapes.  During marching band, I use the blue tooth in my car to listen to judges tapes from my phone. It is very helpful.

I also use Charms as an organizational tool.  I learned about Charms at last year's Midwest Clinic in Chicago.  This program allows the user to keep track of classlists, finances, music library items, instrument inventory, along with many other features.  There is also a great tool for communicating with students and parents very quickly, either by email or by text messaging.  There is also a Charms app for smartphones that allows the user to do many of the same features as on a computer.  I highly recommend it!