My head seems to be in the cloud these days. I guess it’s fitting to also discuss what tools are in the cloud that I can use to easily manage and deliver feedback to my students. I have begun using several of these tools lately, but I want to find more ways to use them effectively.
Dropbox is a tool I have used for some time. I think it is very handy for passing documents back and forth, and it is what I used before I started using googledocs. I’m talking maybe 5 years ago. I have not used it for students, but after watching the tutorial on it, I think it would make a great tool. What I’m more excited about using is Dropvox. I was meeting with my advisor yesterday, who’s husband teaches high school English, and she said that he used Dropvox to leave all the comments on his students papers now. This is a great idea, because giving feedback takes me the longest time when grading papers, even for 6th grade math students. I am going to look into this and find a way for our whole team to start using this.
Googledocs is something I have been using extensively for the past 3-4 years. I love the fact that no matter what computer I am on, I have access to my work. We started using it at our school two years ago for having students turn in work or get access to shared documents like group reports or projects.
At our school we also have a shared network that allows students to create any document, keynote, pages, powerpoint, iMovie, etc. and drop it into a teacher hand-in folder and the teacher has access to all of those from within the building. It is different from the cloud, as in I can’t access it at home, but it is very helpful in school for having students turn in work samples or projects.
Edmodo is something I am still playing around with. I have an edmodo site, but I have not gotten it up and running for my students yet. Students and I can access it from home or school or a coffee shop. I want to get this going to allow my students to earn badges. I think they will be more valuable than some imagine. Kids love earning rewards, and if the badges are visible by others, that would be even more incentive.
Lastly, I watched the tutorial on Evernote, and it looked really interesting, but it also looked a little more complicated to get set up. At this point in my schedule, I don’t think I have time to get that one going, although it did look very handy if you had it going. I may spend some time on that one this summer, but some of the others may take care of what I’m hoping to accomplish.
I like the idea of using the cloud tools for feedback. I think students will be much more inclined take the feedback more seriously when it is delivered this way. I am interested in using the Dropvox as well for verbal feedback, just need to get all my students set up. I have the same issue with not being able to access students work from home because it is just on the school’s server, Dropbox and Evernote would solve that problem nicely.