Saturday, March 31, 2012

Submitting the WSQ online via Google Forms

This week I experimented with an "Online WSQ". This means that instead of students handwriting the answers to their WSQ after watching the video, they typed it in a Google Form that was embedded at the end of a playlist for the day.  (See sample below)

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Some observations:
1. Having the online WSQ allows me to see exactly when students complete their homework as it time stamps their submission.  I have 72 Math analysis students this year.  The first night I had them do it, I kept track of how many students submitted them in different time periods.

Tuesday night:
between 3pm-9pm - 12 students
between 9pm-10pm - 12 students
between 10pm-11pm - 7 students
leaving 41 students
11pm-midnight - 14 students
midnight-1am - 1 student
1am-5am - 5 students
5am-8am - 4 students
8am-class time (submitted during lunch or during another class) - 6 students
class time or after - 4 students
Never submitted - 6 students

Wednesday night:
between 3pm-9pm - 16 students
between 9pm-10pm - 7 students
between 10pm-11pm - 8 students
leaving 41 students again!
11pm-midnight - 15 students
midnight-1am - 5 students
1am-5am - 3 students
5am-8am - 4 students
8am-class time (submitted during lunch or during another class) - 5 students
class time or after - 3 students
Never submitted - 6 students

2.  Some students' responses are very short, brief, and not detailed.  This made me think - Is this how their real WSQs are and I just haven't seen them?  This opens my eyes to a lot, but I can't sit here every night and read them as they are submitted.  However, having them submit it online gives them the knowledge that I will be reading them in detail at some point and if they don't do a complete job they will have to do it again.  With the written WSQ, it is basically impossible for me to read through each student's writing every day in class - there just isn't enough time!  So, I think the online WSQ holds them a little more accountable for the quality of their reflection.

3.  I can give students the link to the spreadsheet once they complete it so they can view others responses and answers to their questions if I have time to type them in and answer them.  I do this by linking to the spreadsheet in the confirmation screen once students have submitted their WSQ. My question - Will this be a useful tool?  Is this a way we can facilitate conversation among students?  Right now, I just have students viewing the document (I can type answers in).  However, I could give the students editing rights and have them comment on their classmates questions or something.  Not sure on all this yet...

4. I created a Wordle Word Cloud with what my students wrote for the question "What was the trickiest part of this concept for you?".  I heard about Wordle from another flipped classroom teacher (sorry I can't remember who it was at this point, but thank you!).  I thought it was kind of neat to have the visual of the "most written" words, which could lead to discussion in class.
Wordle: Unit R Concept 1

5. In each of the playlists, I included a "Secret Question" or two for the students to answer.  In the example playlist above, there were two secret questions - one in a separate 20 second clip and then one I talked about at the end of a video. 

63/65
12%
-63/65
46%
33/65
12%
-33/65
00%
16/65
4365%
-16/65
00%
56/65
1624%
-56/65
12%
These are the two math problems I wanted them to work out on their own before class.  In reality, we don't really go over those problems in class even though I say we are going to because I often forget and just assume they will go over them with their classmates. (Most probably don't).  So, they all had to submit their answers to these questions in the online WSQ and I was able to get great feedback that looked like this.

As you can see, the immediate feedback and data is great for starting class off with and for group discussion.  Without this, many students will walk in and say "oh yeah I got it, it was easy".  However, now it is clear that only 65% of the students got SQ#1 right, and only 59% got SQ#2 correct.  So, now we have a starting point for each group to compare answers and discuss solutions.  


0
3959%
1
1523%
-1
1015%
In addition, I got these results in real-time throughout the evening if I decided to check the GoogleDocs form for the results.  I put the answers to the secret questions in the spreadsheet so when students received the link at the end of the survey, they could not only view their responses and their classmates responses, but they could see the right answers to the secret questions.



6. Class discussion ("5 minute WSQ") was just okay this week.  I feel like the kids struggled to hold as deep of a conversation as they have been having since they did not have their written WSQ in front of them.  I had the questions projected on the screen, but since they did not have their answers in front of them, they had to remember everything from memory.  Also, they could not add to what they wrote if they thought of something else after discussing it with their groups.  In addition, the questions they asked after the video didn't all get answered (normally they actually have to write down their answer in their notebook to ensure they asked it).

So... what to do?
  • I am going to continue to use the "playlist" on MentorMob, but NOT use Educreations. I would love to use YouTube, but I will probably have to end up using SchoolTube for the playlists because of students who view it at school.  I'm not sure if SchoolTube will have the same loading issues, but we'll see.  This also means I will have all the videos offline that students can still get on flash drive or watch on my non-internet computers if needed.  They just won't have the ease of the playlist.
  • I am going to continue to use an Online WSQ for at least a portion of the assignment.  If I now require some online, some handwritten, will that increase student workload?  They would be still doing the same amount, but now they would have to submit a portion online and a portion handwritten, which I am thinking my students will think is "so much more work".  What I am thinking is:
    • Online - "secret question" answers & "The part I understood the most is..."  & "the part I am still confused about is..."
    • Handwritten - 2-4 Guided summary questions + their own HOT question/answer
Student thoughts on the "Online WSQ" from this week
  • I actually prefer completing the WSQ online because less writing for me and its the same thing regardless since were just typing out our answers. The only thing I didn't like about the assignments from tues and wed is that they weren't up on youtube, and I'd rather watch them there.
  • The online WSQ was okay. I liked that I didn't have to write it out on paper and instead I could just type it out and submit it online. Also, doing the online WSQ is great because I was able to have the WSQ page and the concept videos open side by side so I could add some things to my WSQ when I heard it on the video (usually, I would be too busy taking notes in my SSS while watching the videos and I would have to wait until after the videos to write out my WSQ in my notebook). The "playlist" feature was a little bit confusing at first but I think I've got the hang of it. It was really helpful that the videos are all on the playlist in the steps so that I could easily go on to the next video. There were no technical difficulties for me while I was watching the videos or submitting the WSQ online.
  • I actually like the online WSQ b/c it makes us do it at home instead of at lunch before your class. But the entire lessons online the way you did it this week was a fail. 
  • I liked the idea of doing it online because that way i know what i need to answer and pay more attention to do. Because before I'd be doing the video i did my summary while listening and now i did everything right  after the videos.
  • I really liked the online WSQ. This is because I liked being able to do everything at once. The playlist feature was also very helpful because if it wasn't for that I would have to spend precious time scrolling and looking for the next video. Because I would watch the videos pretty late at night, I submitted the WSQ the next day during lunch. 
  • I did not like the "online WSQ" because I like the paper in front of me to discuss. Submitting the WSQ was easy because we just need to click the submit button.

2 comments:

  1. I am leaning toward using google docs as well with my classes. I currently have them take 2-column notes on my videos which they need to refer to during class and for studying for tests so the digitally-based google docs is probably not an option here. I do see however using google docs for reflections and jotting down understandings and wonderings. Keep up the good work!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Steve,
      Thanks for your comment. I agree that going all digitally based is a step I don't think I am ready to take either. I could see it working really well in a 1 to 1 school, but when students don't have access to their notes or reflections, it becomes much less of a useful tool.
      My students loved the ease of typing, and I loved knowing when things were submitted and being able to read and give immediate feedback, however, one of my favorite parts of class (the small group wsq discussion) was not very useful or beneficial when the students were talking off the top of their heads. We'll see :)

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