Tired of All the Grading....part 2, The Answer Pad

If you are just joining the 4:1 Tech Challenge, I am sharing about time saving grading solutions for the next three weeks. After reading about the resources available, I challenge you to choose one of the solutions and give it a try. Be sure to check out last week's post on ZipGrade. (Feel free to sign up over there on the right--you'll only get an email when a new post goes up.)

This week I'm sharing one of my favorite tools - The Answer Pad.

What it does: Automatic grading via digital answer sheets, analyzes results

NOTE: The Answer Pad is two tools in one - a digital grading system AND an interactive student response system. In this post I am only reviewing the grading system.

Tech level: High, each student needs a device - works for 1:1, BYOD, or shared carts

Commitment level: Low or none - you can just be friends, date a while, or commit!

• basic plan - free for teachers and offers a good bit - I’d probably be satisfied with this if I only used it for grading
• 30-day free upgrade
• like the upgrade? - pay $9.95/year (for the interactive response tool, I’d pay this, but I’ll review this at a later date)

Devices:

• teachers- browser based, work from the website
• students - use any device: a browser on a laptop/computer or an app on mobile devices

What it offers:

• create digital answer sheets to go with paper assessments for instant grading and analysis
• item analysis and detailed reports that are exportable
• code questions with standards, if required by your school
• variety of answer choices (multiple choice, yes/no, true/false, fill-in-blank, essay, coordinate grids and other math options)

Time to set up:

• less than ten minutes to create an account, choose the free upgrade, and upload my students via a .csv (Google Sheets) file
• can enter students manually, but it may bump set up time to about 15 minutes
• The Answer Pad has an option to let students self-register with a group name and group code you choose - super fast

What I did: Once my class was set up, I chose the library icon to create a new answer sheet. I quickly added six multiple choice questions and two essay questions. This took only 2-3 minutes. I attached a PDF so students could see the questions on their screen, but this is a paid option. You can just use your paper assessments.  I assigned the assessment to my class and got the test code to give my students. I had my students take the assessment. The multiple choice was graded immediately. I could even use Live Monitor to watch as they worked. I had to go to Reports, then Analysis, then  Item Analysis to score the free response essay questions (see next section for more info about this).

Why it’s a game changer:

• Obviously this saves loads of time. That is one of my goals--help teachers save time. The Answer Pad does that.
• One digital answer sheet can have a variety of question types so you are not restricted to only multiple choice (MC). Plus, when you choose to edit a MC question, you even have more options, like the ABCD, then FDGH choices some tests use.
• Grading essay questions is SUPER EASY because I can see every student’s answer at the same time. I don’t have to flip through papers or think about how I scored another student’s response for comparison. I can see all the answers at one time and just work my way down the screen assigning scores. I love this!!
• It provides item analysis and colored coded proficiency graphs. It gives results almost instantly to guide future instruction! Students can even see item by item results as soon as they finish the assessment. No more waiting to find out the grade.
• Results of each assessment can be exported to a .csv spreadsheet - AWESOME feature
• Students have space to show their work for every question. This is automatically saved and the teacher can see it.

What I learned that you should know BEFORE using:

• If you register students, they should choose “I Already Have an Account”  and use the Group Name, User Name, and Password you set up, otherwise they register themselves. “I Have a Connect Code” is for the interactive system.
• Click the little Answer Pad circle symbol in the top left corner to get back to the dashboard.
• You will only use the Groups, Library, and Reports icons. The other icons are for the interactive response tool.
• If you use the on screen PDF, be sure to tell students not to slide the box up too high or it gets stuck. I got it stuck and had to exit and resume the test. Thankfully it remembered where I left off.
• Click on the Proficiency pie graph to see a student-by-student list with proficiency levels - a great feature!

What are the cons (and possible solutions)?

• If you are very new to educational technology, it may take a little time to figure out the navigation. I am not afraid to just click on stuff and see what it does. If you are not that adventurous, click on +LEARN at the top right and The Answer Pad provides lots of resources to help you. Also, in the bottom right you can leave a message.
• The on-screen PDF is small if using a phone or iPad. If using mobile devices, you may want to have some printed tests available for students who get frustrated with the small reading space.

Bottom Line: If I still had a regular teaching position (see post from January 10 to find out why I don't), The Answer Pad would get a workout in my classroom, giving me time to get my own workout!

If you're in my area and are interested in using this resource or any others I share, and want some help setting it up, leave me a comment or find me on Google+.

Tired of All the Grading.... part 1, Zip Grade

Tired of carrying home stacks of papers to grade, or using all your planning period to grade, instead of plan? Over the next few weeks I'll cover some easy grading solutions. This week, we'll take a look at ZipGrade. (Oh! And remember to sign up on the right over there so you get an email for new posts!)

Quickly grade tests and quizzes with your phone or device.

• grade using a phone or tablet
• print free multiple choice answer sheets
• analyze and store assessment results
• tag assessment questions with standards (if your school requires this)

Tech level: Low, only the teacher needs a device

Commitment level: Low, you can date, and even go steady before you commit -- 100 free scans, then $1.99/2 months, $6.99/year. I would totally spend $6.99 (that’s a scone and latte trip at Panera) to get my tests/quizzes graded and analyzed so quickly.

Devices: iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Android (phone, tablet)

Time to set up: I started at the ZipGrade Cloud website. It took me less than ten minutes to create an account, upload my students as a .csv file, and assign classes. I already had my students in a spreadsheet (Google Sheets).You can enter students manually, but it may bump set up time to about 15 minutes. Then I downloaded the app to my handheld device.

What I did: Once my class was set up, I filled out some answer sheets using a pencil on some, a pen on others. I did a 20 question assessment using the 20 question answer sheet and a 25 question assessment using the 50 question answer sheet. I graded one set with my iPad and one set with my Android phone. Both worked fine. It took literally less than 30 seconds to grade 8 quizzes!! I’m not exaggerating. In fact. it took me MUCH longer to fill out ONE fake student sheet than it took for me to grade all EIGHT!!

Why it’s a game changer: Obviously this saves loads of time….time that is better used on instruction and planning. Saving time lessens stress….a less stressed teacher is one than can focus on what’s important and enjoy teaching (as well as a life outside of school--I’m talking about having time for a walk or a hobby).

But let’s talk about the item analysis. When grading papers by hand, item analysis meant going back through my assessments and making a list of tick marks by each question number, which was time consuming. ZipGrade is set up for quick and thorough item analysis, which means a teacher can know almost instantly if there is a standard than needs to be revisited, a student (or group) that needs more instruction, or simply a badly formed question. What all this means is that with this instant feedback on assessments, and easy item analysis that ZipGrade offers, assessment can be used for its intended purpose -- "to improve students’ learning and teachers’ teaching as both respond to the information it provides" (definition from Purposes of assessment).

What are the cons (and possible solutions)?

• It can only be used for multiple choice assessments, but let’s face it, multiple choice assessments are part of education. All the “big” assessments (ACT Aspire, ACT, SAT, etc.) use multiple choice so students might as well learn to tackle these types of questions. Plus, a well-written multiple choice question can challenge students to use problem solving and deductive reasoning skills.
• “The grading won’t actually be on the paper and I have to send those home to parents.” Well, you could write the grades on the answer sheets, and for those parents who really MUST see the marked paper (Is that a “helicopter” I hear, or just a “squeaky wheel”...), ZipGrade allows you to email a PDF. However, I’m a busy parent and I get those “take home folders” every Thursday. I flip through them, congratulate my kids on what they did well, sign the folder, chunk the papers I don’t have to return, and then get on with making dinner….somehow I think most parents are like me and don’t have time to analyze every paper that comes home….they just want to know the grade. Plus you scan it with the student standing there and immediately the student knows the results, too.
• On my iPad I can see both assessments I graded, but on my Android phone I can only see the assessment I graded with the phone. Not sure why, but I can see everything on the ZipGrade Cloud website, so it’s no big deal. I suggest using just one device to grade with.

What I learned that you should know BEFORE using:

• I could not scan from my lap in my living room recliner….I needed more light and a flat surface. Not a big deal. I just moved to the desk. I guess I can’t be too lazy!
• Once you set up your classes, you can print answer sheets with student names and ID numbers already filled out. I recommend using these. I have even heard of teachers laminating these and reusing, but I have not tried this myself.
• Use the answer sheets with student ID. It helps with data recording, but the ones without ID still work.
• Questions can have different values, so a challenging, fat question can be worth more than an easy, skinny question.
• I missed marked an answer on one of the answer keys. I realized it after scanning the student papers. NO PROBLEM! I edited the key, and BAM! ZipGrade quickly regraded every quiz I had already scanned. That’s awesome because when I was hand grading and realized I made a mistake (which I did, more than once), it meant I had to go back and fix every paper--writing an OK by all the mismarked problems then refiguring the grades. Talk about a headache….and messy papers. Not with ZipGrade!!

If you are a visual learner, watch a this Sophia tutorial -- it’s less than nine minutes.

Notes if you are really interested:

• There is a way to use it as a rubric, but only with iOS right now. This is the most complicated item I’ve come across with ZipGrade, but the FAQ provides a great explanation.
• I was not sure what DF meant in the item analysis, but quickly found that it means Discriminant Factor on the FAQ page. If you are a real guru of assessment analysis you can find out more about Discriminant Factor.

If you are a researcher: I discovered a few other options, but ruled them out for these reasons: Quick Key - seems costly and a bit more complicated at first look; MasteryConnect - Only gives accounts to teachers working in K-12 schools and since I am not, I could not see what they offer. There is a free plan, so it may be worth looking into.

Bottom Line: Without a doubt, I would pay $6.99 for this service if I still had a classroom.

Confessions of an Educational Technology Assistant

Imagine standing at the edge of a jungle, tangled in the overhanging vines. You’re trudging through thick, gooey mud, burdened with a heavy pack, all while trying to admire and research the amazing beauty all around you.

That’s how I was feeling when I decided to leave the classroom. I didn’t want to leave teaching or learning, but I had to get away from the burdens and entanglements. My students, my school family, and the process of learning were the beauty, but I was bogged down and tangled up with paperwork, unhappy parents, and administrative duties. I could not take on one more thing, and technology became “one more thing.” I viewed it as one of those creeping vines reaching out to bind me up. It seemed that even the technology that was supposed to make my life easier, was actually filling up my extra time, making my life messy like a sheet full of words with no margin. I got (and still do) more emails in my inbox everyday than I ever got letters in my mailbox; by the time I got the formatting right and got my printer to work for that perfect handout, I realized I could have done it faster by hand (and, shhhh, sometimes I did…); when I finally had time to post grades, the internet would be down; and I could go on.

Don’t get me wrong. There was a time I was gung-ho about educational technology, and up to my last day I taught with my iPad and projector daily, and used videos and interactive games; but, (and here’s my dirty little secret) I had come to the point that I was done learning any new technology. I knew what worked for me and any time I tried to research, I just felt overwhelmed. When we had professional development on technology, it seemed like a fast paced couple of hours demonstrating all the recent apps for every possible subject that left me breathless. I walked away with a few sheets listing all the latest apps and websites thinking, “When will I ever have time to go through all these?” Technology was just one more thing I did not have time for.

Now imagine being picked up out of that mud and being dropped smack in the heart of that dark, menacing jungle, because that’s exactly what happened. I left the classroom but still needed to buy groceries. My search for a part time job landed me in the middle of that technology jungle as an educational technology assistant, tasked with researching educational technology and helping teachers implement it. I felt completely overwhelmed. My first day on the job, my coworkers were throwing around phrases like “we could Nearpod that,” or “I need to put that on my Symbaloo,” and “we could gamify that lesson.” Too ashamed to admit my ignorance, I began researching every strange word they said and getting them to show me what they were working on.  Talk about a learning curve, mine was huge. I quickly realized that I was indeed “behind the times.” But as I hacked my way through the jungle, I began to feel frustrated. It seemed everyday I would come across something that made me think, “If only I’d known about this a year ago! This would have made my life so much easier!” I was astounded to learn how much is out there, free for teachers to use; however, if the experience of most teachers is like mine, they just don’t have the time to discover those gems of technology.

All that led to the birth of this blog idea. What if I could share what I’m learning with teachers in a way that would not be overwhelming to them? What if I could help them lose some of the burden and give them some tools that free them up to focus on the beauty of teaching, rather than the difficulties? What if I could help great teachers be greater and stay in the classroom, inspiring and leading the next generation? Thus the idea of the 4:1 challenge.

My challenge for you is to do nothing at first. Yes, you read that correctly. Do nothing except read the weekly blog for four weeks. Each week I’ll tell you about a technology tool that I wish I had known about when I was in the classroom. Each month will highlight certain types of tools--tools for assessment/grading, tools for lesson planning, tools for organizing, etc. After reading about the three to four tools I recommend, I challenge you to choose one, just one that you think best fits your style of living and teaching, and try it out. I will try out each tool and tell you the pros and cons from the point of view of someone who’s been there. I will try to choose tools that work with multiple devices, iOS and Android, and will do my best to include tools for 1:1 classrooms, as well as classrooms with limited technology. I want to help as many as I can, so please share this blog--email it, facebook it, tweet it--whatever works for you.

Let’s start learning together!