Mrs. Assim - Brandon Chang
Teacher: Mrs. Assim
Subject: Science
Technology Used: Weebly, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Hangouts, Doctopus, Paint, Snipping Tool
Description of Project:
After completing a presentation to the teachers at the beginning of the year, Mrs. Assim made three requests on her initial form. She asked for a revamping of her website, assistance to learn Google Docs, and help to implement Google Hangouts in biology classes. We first sat down to discuss these requests in detail.
Mrs. Assim thought her current website design was too outdated. She desired something more modern and aesthetically pleasing that functioned with greater reliability. The Google calendar on her former site did not appear in Internet Explorer and most of the text she created could not be hyper-linked. Additionally, Google sites did not give her enough storage space. She was forced to delete content from the beginning of the course previous years to upload more recent material. By switching to a new platform, Weebly, I found solutions to all of these issues and was able to fulfill her request to add a "contact me" form. Mrs. Assim's new site can be viewed here.
Most of the features are outlined in the video. (http://screencast.com/t/nnhYJez2d03G) Throughout the entire placement project, I focused my work around completing the final objective: to create a simple, yet elegant site that would help students access important educational resources.
The homepage currently has a Google Form asking students for their Google email addresses. I taught Mrs. Assim how to create and embed these so she can begin using Doctopus. This add-on allows students to access class documents from their personal Google Drive and provides storage space for other files that need to be on the site such as the course outline. By changing the site structure, I made the site easily navigable. Each grade taught by Mrs. Assim has their own page in the top bar, while being subdivided into units when you hover over them. The main page for each grade contains a Google Calendar synced with the school calendar, as well as the course outline and textbook information.
I continuously met with Mrs. Assim throughout this project to gauge her opinion on my work. She liked most of the designs and asked me to create different picture headers for each subpage. Once I knew she liked the basic layout, I began transferring over all the information from her old site, uploading 36 YouTube videos. I tested all the links and removed the ones that no longer worked.
After completing all of the aforementioned requests, we launched the website to one of her science classes. I performed a tour on the SMART Board and showed them different features. I briefly explained Doctopus and was fortunate to find out that every student had a Google account (Gmail). If they did not though, Mrs. Assim and I planned to show them how to make one.
At the bottom of this page you will see written instructions I created for Mrs. Assim to help her use Weebly and Doctopus.
Subject: Science
Technology Used: Weebly, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Hangouts, Doctopus, Paint, Snipping Tool
Description of Project:
After completing a presentation to the teachers at the beginning of the year, Mrs. Assim made three requests on her initial form. She asked for a revamping of her website, assistance to learn Google Docs, and help to implement Google Hangouts in biology classes. We first sat down to discuss these requests in detail.
Mrs. Assim thought her current website design was too outdated. She desired something more modern and aesthetically pleasing that functioned with greater reliability. The Google calendar on her former site did not appear in Internet Explorer and most of the text she created could not be hyper-linked. Additionally, Google sites did not give her enough storage space. She was forced to delete content from the beginning of the course previous years to upload more recent material. By switching to a new platform, Weebly, I found solutions to all of these issues and was able to fulfill her request to add a "contact me" form. Mrs. Assim's new site can be viewed here.
Most of the features are outlined in the video. (http://screencast.com/t/nnhYJez2d03G) Throughout the entire placement project, I focused my work around completing the final objective: to create a simple, yet elegant site that would help students access important educational resources.
The homepage currently has a Google Form asking students for their Google email addresses. I taught Mrs. Assim how to create and embed these so she can begin using Doctopus. This add-on allows students to access class documents from their personal Google Drive and provides storage space for other files that need to be on the site such as the course outline. By changing the site structure, I made the site easily navigable. Each grade taught by Mrs. Assim has their own page in the top bar, while being subdivided into units when you hover over them. The main page for each grade contains a Google Calendar synced with the school calendar, as well as the course outline and textbook information.
I continuously met with Mrs. Assim throughout this project to gauge her opinion on my work. She liked most of the designs and asked me to create different picture headers for each subpage. Once I knew she liked the basic layout, I began transferring over all the information from her old site, uploading 36 YouTube videos. I tested all the links and removed the ones that no longer worked.
After completing all of the aforementioned requests, we launched the website to one of her science classes. I performed a tour on the SMART Board and showed them different features. I briefly explained Doctopus and was fortunate to find out that every student had a Google account (Gmail). If they did not though, Mrs. Assim and I planned to show them how to make one.
At the bottom of this page you will see written instructions I created for Mrs. Assim to help her use Weebly and Doctopus.
Uses in Other Classes/Subject Areas:
Weebly: This is a website platform. Any department teacher can use this to post their course information, class handouts, lessons, homework, video resources, etc. Weebly is very user friendly since all elements are incorporated through a drag and drop basis. Teachers can get a free account with their TDSB email addresses and many of the normal limitations are removed. For example, if I try to make a free account with my email I can only create 5 pages.
Google Calendar: Google Calendar is a very strong organizational tool. It can be used to give notice on important school events (i.e. university visits, religious holidays, and assemblies). This would be particularly useful for guidance since students moving onto post-secondary education need to be aware of the many workshops and presentations available to them.
Teachers can post assignment deadlines, test dates, and even homework. I would recommend that teachers use it so students can be prepared for class and take ownership for their own work progress. If a due date is posted in the calendar far in advance, they will be less likely to forget about it, especially because Google calendar can send you reminders before the event.
Google Drive/Doctopus: Google Drive and Doctopus are great for file sharing and editing documents. Students have to work on group research projects in almost every course. They can collaborate online in a Google Doc. This allows each member to view and create edits in the same document in real time opposed to emailing a Microsoft Word file back and forth. With a chat box available, communication is easy as well. This saves time around scheduling to meet at a specific location on a weekend.
English teachers can have students type out their essays online and then comment or grade them with a new feature called "Goobric". Goobric works in tandem with Doctopus. In mathematics, teachers can post worksheets for students to download. Alternatively, they can have students complete questions using Google Forms and then email them answers with Flubaroo. Flubaroo is a Google Sheet add-on that allows teachers to generate a questionnaire/quiz. Once a student completes it, the correct answers and their score is automatically emailed to them.
The music department can benefit as well. Ms. Scott usually includes a practice log in her courses for students to track their musical development. With Google Drive, she can see the revision history and add comments to every student's document. Lastly, Student Services could use Doctopus to distribute information/ files electronically. If all the students thinking about Guelph-Humber University for example sign up to be in a "class" folder, a guidance counselor can upload new information directly to their Google Drives.
Google Hangouts: This is not the best resource for specific, structured curriculum learning. However, there are advantages of using it as an instant messenger or for video conversations (an alternative to Skype). Google Hangouts can be easily synced to your Gmail contacts and imports them quickly. It is also multimedia functioning meaning that the user can type with text or a wide range of emoticons, send pictures, and send videos. Students may find this convenient to use on their smartphones or tablets to work on group projects like the AP economics simulation or the Gr. 10 science Climate Change Assignment.
Weebly: This is a website platform. Any department teacher can use this to post their course information, class handouts, lessons, homework, video resources, etc. Weebly is very user friendly since all elements are incorporated through a drag and drop basis. Teachers can get a free account with their TDSB email addresses and many of the normal limitations are removed. For example, if I try to make a free account with my email I can only create 5 pages.
Google Calendar: Google Calendar is a very strong organizational tool. It can be used to give notice on important school events (i.e. university visits, religious holidays, and assemblies). This would be particularly useful for guidance since students moving onto post-secondary education need to be aware of the many workshops and presentations available to them.
Teachers can post assignment deadlines, test dates, and even homework. I would recommend that teachers use it so students can be prepared for class and take ownership for their own work progress. If a due date is posted in the calendar far in advance, they will be less likely to forget about it, especially because Google calendar can send you reminders before the event.
Google Drive/Doctopus: Google Drive and Doctopus are great for file sharing and editing documents. Students have to work on group research projects in almost every course. They can collaborate online in a Google Doc. This allows each member to view and create edits in the same document in real time opposed to emailing a Microsoft Word file back and forth. With a chat box available, communication is easy as well. This saves time around scheduling to meet at a specific location on a weekend.
English teachers can have students type out their essays online and then comment or grade them with a new feature called "Goobric". Goobric works in tandem with Doctopus. In mathematics, teachers can post worksheets for students to download. Alternatively, they can have students complete questions using Google Forms and then email them answers with Flubaroo. Flubaroo is a Google Sheet add-on that allows teachers to generate a questionnaire/quiz. Once a student completes it, the correct answers and their score is automatically emailed to them.
The music department can benefit as well. Ms. Scott usually includes a practice log in her courses for students to track their musical development. With Google Drive, she can see the revision history and add comments to every student's document. Lastly, Student Services could use Doctopus to distribute information/ files electronically. If all the students thinking about Guelph-Humber University for example sign up to be in a "class" folder, a guidance counselor can upload new information directly to their Google Drives.
Google Hangouts: This is not the best resource for specific, structured curriculum learning. However, there are advantages of using it as an instant messenger or for video conversations (an alternative to Skype). Google Hangouts can be easily synced to your Gmail contacts and imports them quickly. It is also multimedia functioning meaning that the user can type with text or a wide range of emoticons, send pictures, and send videos. Students may find this convenient to use on their smartphones or tablets to work on group projects like the AP economics simulation or the Gr. 10 science Climate Change Assignment.
Weebly User Manual (Created by Brandon Chang for Mrs. Assim).pdf | |
File Size: | 2536 kb |
File Type: |
Doctopus Instructions (Created by Brandon Chang for Mrs. Assim).pdf | |
File Size: | 879 kb |
File Type: |