I have the assignment Mr.Z, but the computer won't load the file!!

This year I started doing math presentation in my Algebra 1 Class. All of the students have a PC in class, and most have access outside of class to a computer. So I allowed my students to present their projects using what ever tool they thought would work the best for them. For the most part this worked out ok, but some students had issues with program compatibility.

Some students had various versions of M$ works or other programs and when then attempted to load them at school they did not work. Some groups had issues when they tried to merge a groups files together that information was lost.

I think I finally found a possible solution. docs.google.com. There is a great presentation at K12 Online conference 2007 on using google docs in the classroom. I have started to try this with some of my students and it has provided us with a great solution.

Students can now edit the same presentation at the same time from different locations. Their files are stored on the Internet so floppy disks getting erased, or USB keys getting lost are no longer an issue.

There are only a couple of downsides to worry about. If the Internet goes down or you don't have high speed access, you can't use google docs. It is not M$ office. It does not have ALL the features of a full M$ office suite, but for what is needed for classroom presentations, or reports it works well.

I plan on reporting back here if I find a feature that it is lacking that prevents us from using the tool. But for now it just works.

Why this blog?

I started this blog to discuss using technology in the high school math classroom. This is the first time I have a classroom that has one computer per student.

It is Day 18 and there have only been a couple of major technology failures. Having a backup lesson for when the technology fails is a must. But besides the failures their have been some good success's. My plan is to use this blog to share what has worked well and to look for ideas for ways to fix those things which were less than optimal.

Automating the problem of the day.
When students enter the classroom they have learned to log on to their computers to start their problem of the day (POD). I currently setup the problem of the day in moodle as a quiz. I have set it up so that the students' answers are checked after they submit an answer. They are allowed to go back and correct any problems that are incorrect. Their final score is based on the number correct minus a small penalty for any incorrect tries.

This has allowed students to get feedback quickly on how well they are doing. They are also able to keep trying until they get it correct. This has help to reinforce the students when they are getting the correct answers and allowed them to learn when they may be doing something incorrectly.

As they students complete the problem I am able to view all the students scores and the time they used to complete the problem. This has allowed me to adjust the start of my lesson based on how successful they were on the POD.

Overall I think this has been a very effective way to use the computers to provide more feedback and allow me, the teacher, to adjust based on the performance of EVERY student.

In the future I hope to also be able to use the same tool with exit and pacing questions. The only thing that is keeping me from doing this is the time required to setup all of the questions. I expect that as I get better at entering the questions that it should take less time.