6 REASONS TO USE GOOGLE SHEETS
Collaboration, Google, Google Apps, instructional technology, Share

6 Reasons You Should Be Using Google Sheets Instead Of Excel

Mendi Benigni

I have always said that if I could only have two applications on my computer it would be Photoshop and Microsoft Excel. With those two applications I can do almost everything I need to do in a day. Lately, however, my eye has drawn to Google Sheets, and I have to say, I love it.

Now some of you may be saying, “Why do I care? I don’t teach accounting.” Well you don’t have to teach accounting to use spreadsheets in your teaching. They are great for collecting text-based information, running statistics and doing calculations, and graphing and analyzing text or data. So now that you are ready to use spreadsheets in your classroom, here are 6 reasons why you should use Google Sheets instead of Excel.

Reason 1: Collaboration

Unlike Excel, Google Sheets is collaborative. All CofC students already have Google accounts so it’s very easy to share a spreadsheet with them or for them to share with one another. When collaboratively editing a sheet each student can see the exact cell that is currently selected all other users, to prevent overwriting. There is also a built-in chat function so students can communicate online while collaborating on a Sheet.

Reason 2: Revision history

Revision History ScreenshotHow many times have you heard, “Student X didn’t contribute anything to the project.” Now you can see exactly who contributed what and when using the Revision History. The built-in revision history gives you a timeline of all changes and additions to the spreadsheet, who made each one and when they made it. Just go to File > Revision History to see this record. The best part? This is all automatically recorded. While you can track revisions in Excel, it’s a more manual process and in the end, still leads to multiple versions and things being overwritten.

 

 

 

 

Reason 3: Sharing

Google Sheets are easy to share. Because they are already online, Sheets can be shared to OAKS or a website, using a link. These links can be set to allow the users to only view the sheet or to edit it. This is particularly handy if you want to post a spreadsheet in OAKS. Just go to Content and select New > Create a Link and paste in the shared link to your Sheet, making the file easy for the students to locate and easy to work on collaboratively as a class. This is something that can’t be done with Excel (Note: I believe this feature is available in Office 365).

Reason 4: The power of Google

From Alice Keeler, “Because of its tight integration with Google, Sheets can import all kinds of data from other Google services and the web at large. You can translate the contents of a cell using the function GOOGLETRANSLATE(), or you can fetch current or historical securities info from Google Finance with the function GOOGLEFINANCE(). And with Sheets IMPORTFEED and IMPORTDATA functions, you can pull information from the internet directly into your spreadsheet.” (Teacher Tech)

Reason 5: Google Forms

When paired with Google Forms it’s an easy way to collect data. Google Forms, also part of Google Drive (a.k.a. G-suite), allows for quick and easy form creation that professors and students can use to collect data. These forms can be completed by anyone, on campus or off, with or without a Google Account, and the data is dumped right into a Google Sheet. This can be used to replace an audience response system in your class, to check for understanding, to conduct peer evaluation, to collect lab data, etc. Once the data is in the spreadsheet, students can work with the data online or export the Sheet to Excel in order to take advantage of Excel’s more powerful functions and data analysis tools.

Reason 6: Explore with Graphs

explore screenshotSheets has a super cool EXPLORE icon in the lower right corner of every spreadsheet. This offers a quick overview of the data in chart format. You can view the entire sheet or just specific rows or columns. It’s a fast way to get a first look at the trends in your data before moving on to your own analysis. Just click on the icon and Google does the rest. Don’t worry, if this doesn’t provide enough analysis you can always create your own graphs, pivot tables, and calculations.  Excel doesn’t have this feature that I can find.

 

 

These are just my top 6 reasons to use Google Sheets. I have a ton more. So, can I do everything I did in Excel in Google Sheets? No, I can’t. Excel’s statistical analysis features and functions are still more powerful and probably always will be, but that’s not really what I use spreadsheets for much anymore. Most of the features I used in Excel, like shifting cells, can be done via a Google Add-on, which is a little extension that you can load to increase Sheet’s functionality. Given that, there’s very little need for me to go back to Excel.

Still not sold?

Check out Alicekeeler.com. Alice Keeler is a Google Sheets guru and she always has some amazing cool tricks that you can do with spreadsheets in the classroom. She has written some Add-ons for Sheets that allows you do have more control and automate some processes. Teacher Education folks, you will love her as all of her examples are from her classroom experience.  Check out this one:

Have everyone contribute to their own tab – Give students their own and collaborate. This add-on takes your class roster and automatically creates a spreadsheet tab customized for each student in your class. It can even copy a template to each tab. What a great timesaver!

Accessibility, iPad, Mobile, TLT

App recommendation: Prizmo – Scanning, OCR and Speech

Laura Plotts

What is ?  Take a photo of a document then Prizmo converts it to text and then allows you to hear it read aloud or save/export as a searchable PDF.

Price: $ 9.99

Platform: iOS also for Mac supporting OS X 10.10 or higher for $49.99

Android users – see the following site for a list of Android apps that are similar to Prizmo: http://appcrawlr.com/app/related/1113421 

More Information:

http://www.creaceed.com/iprizmo

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/prizmo-scanning-ocr-speech/id366791896?mt=8 

User review of Prizmo http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/saltzman/2013/08/27/prizmo-app-documents/2709095/

 

Dear TLT
Dear TLT

Dear TLT: What Happens to a Student’s Work in OAKS if She Drops and Later Re-Enrolls?

Chris Meshanko

Dear TLT,

Two weeks ago, a student dropped one of my courses, and as expected, she was removed from my OAKS course–including all of her Dropbox submissions. Yesterday, I was notified that she would be re-enrolling in my course. Were her work and grades permanently deleted or will they be restored when she is re-enrolled in my OAKS course? Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

Professor Ross Geller
Paleontology

Dear Professor Geller,

This is a great question! OAKS archives all students’ work and grades, even if they drop or withdraw, so in a situation like yours, both will be fully restored.

Please contact your instructional technologist, if you have additional questions or concerns, and check out our upcoming training sessions at http://tlt.eventbrite.com.

Best regards,

TLT

Have a question for Dear TLT?  

Submit the following form to see it featured on our blog: http://goo.gl/n1N2tq. And, don’t worry, we’ll change your name to a fictional professor in our response!

Professor Geller is from what 90’s television series? The first faculty member to email tlt@cofc.edu, with the correct answer, will receive a TLT (BPA-free) water bottle!

Incorporating frequent quizzing encourages students to practice memory retrieval, which results in deeper, long-term learning.
Assessment, Best Practices, Small Teaching Tip, Teaching Advice

Small Teaching Tip #6: The Benefits of Frequent Quizzing

Jessica Smith

In a previous post, I discussed the important role memory retrieval plays in learning.  To briefly review: each time we recall a piece of information, we strengthen the neural pathways that move the information from our long-term memories to our working memories.  So the more times we retrieve the information, the more deeply we learn it.  This is known as the “testing effect.”

There are numerous ways to encourage students to practice memory retrieval, but one of the best strategies is frequent quizzing.

Tips for Frequent Quizzing

While quizzing is an effective method to practice memory retrieval, not all quizzes are created equal.  There are a few empirically-tested stipulations that must be considered:

  • First, make the quizzes count towards the course grade.  While we would love our students to complete quizzes simply for the joy of learning, most require extra incentive.  That being said, the quizzes should be relatively low-stakes.  The purpose of these quizzes is to practice retrieval, not to have an anxiety attack each week.
  • Second, avoid the pop quiz.  Pop quizzes are only effective at intimidating students into coming to class.  For most students, they do not encourage actual learning.  But quizzes that students know about in advance do.  Rest assured, these assessments do not need to be lengthy or require labor-intensive grading (there are countless instructional technologies that can help facilitate this process).
  • Third, design quizzes to be at least partially cumulative.  This requires students to reach back to concepts covered earlier in the term, developing deeper understanding and more complex mental models.  Remember: greater retrieval efforts equal greater learning (note the emphasis on the word effort).
  • Fourth, include question types that will be similar to what students can expect on exams.  This allows students to familiarize themselves with those formats so the exam is a test of knowledge instead of exam-taking ability.
  • Finally, occasionally assign quizzes that students complete before they learn new material.  This may seem strange, but a pre-quiz encourages students to consult their previous knowledge to help them grapple with new ideas.

If you don’t have enough class time to devote to frequent quizzes, consider using online quizzes through OAKS.  Most textbook publishers provide gigantic test banks that provide more than enough questions to create multiple quizzes throughout the semester. These banks are designed to be quickly imported into OAKS and quizzes can be automatically-graded, making quiz creation and administration simple.  But to ensure students are practicing retrieval, restrict the time limit so they don’t have the leeway to look up every answer in their notes or book (20-50 seconds per multiple choice question is advisable).

Providing frequent opportunities for retrieval will not only help your students remember important information, it will also open the door to higher levels of cognition.  I’ve shared one simple but powerful way to help your students learn that does not require an overwhelming amount of grading or extra preparation. Want more ideas?  Check out the rest of our Small Teaching Tips series!

References

Roediger, H. L., Agarwal, P. K., McDaniel, M. A., & McDermott, K. (2011). Test-enhanced learning in the classroom: Long-term improvements from quizzing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 17, 382-395.

Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). The power of testing memory: Basic research and implications for educational practice. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 181-210.

Leeming, F. C. (2002). The exam-a-day procedure improves performance in psychology classes. Teaching of Psychology, 29, 210-212.

Lyle, K. B., & Crawford, N. A. (2011). Retrieving essential material at the end of lectures improves performance on statistics exams. Teaching of Psychology, 38, 94-97.

Richland, L. E., Kornell, N., & Kao, L. S. (2009). The pretesting effect: Do unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance learning? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15, 243-257.

This post is part of a series which presents low risk, high reward teaching ideas, inspired by James Lang’s book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning.

Did you know?
Assessment

DID YOU KNOW…YOU CAN BLIND-GRADE QUIZ ESSAYS IN OAKS?

Mendi Benigni

DID YOU KNOW? BLIND GRADING IN OAKS

I just learned that the OAKS Quizzes tool allows you to grade short answer, essay, or long answer questions without knowing which student wrote them.  This blind grading feature is something that has evidently been around for awhile but is so nicely hidden most users wouldn’t even know to look for it and is a great way to help remove grading bias.

  1. To blind grade a quiz begin by clicking on Grade > Quizzes from the upper navigation.
  2. Next to the appropriate quiz click Grade from the dropdown arrow.
  3. Click the Questions tab
  4. Click Blind Marking
  5. Click on the first question to grade
  6. Read the response and type in a grade and feedback
  7. You can navigate between student responses using the arrows at the top
  8. When finished click Save  then repeat the process for any other questions.

Images of the above directions

 

Zoom conferencing
Classrooms, Collaboration, Conferencing, Presentation

#OneNewThing – Zoom Conferencing

Mendi Benigni

One New Thing from TLT
Zoom is an online conferencing tool, similar to WebEx or Go To Meeting, and allows you to host online, collaborative sessions.  The free version is full featured for up to 45 minutes of conferencing.

Video conferencing from your computer or mobile device

With the FREE version of Zoom users can:

  • hold unlimited 1 on 1 sessions
  • hold an unlimited number of sessions
  • have up to 50 participants per session
  • hold sessions only up to 40 minutes long (pro allows more)
  • host web or video conferences (desktop and mobile)
  • create breakout rooms for small group collaboration
  • share your, or participants, computer screens
  • annotate on shared screens
  • collaborate on a shared online whiteboard
  • record the session to share later
  • use user management with muting and hand raising
  • use either the computer microphone or telephone for audio

Need more?

  • 100 participants for $60/mo, 200 participants for $105/mo
  • Unlimited meeting time for $15/mo

Uses for Faculty & Students

There are many uses for such a tool in education, both online and face-to-face.

  • Hold online office hours: can use the screen sharing or the collaborative whiteboard to work together during the meeting.
  • Conduct interviews:  instead of Skype consider using Zoom.  This eliminates the sharing of Skype usernames and allows for screen sharing for easier discussion of materials.
  • Online paper or project review sessions: using the collaborative tools and screensharing you can work with students to review papers or projects together.
  • Online training and tutorials: use the screenshare to teach your students synchronously.
  • Study groups: students can use Zoom to conduct online study sessions when they can’t get together to study.
  • Group work: students can use Zoom to collaborate on group work.  They can bring up their Google doc or presentation and use the video chat to discuss the project while collaborating on the documents.

 

Get your Free Account now at zoom.us

Small Teaching Tip Number 5 focuses on using Google Docs and Slides to make in-class group work more productive and efficient.
Collaboration, Google, Google Apps, Productivity, Small Teaching Tip, Teaching Advice

Small Teaching Tip #5: Make Group Work More Efficient with Google Apps

Jessica Smith

Collaboration and project management are important skills for college students to learn.  Unfortunately, many students grumble about group work and faculty spend too much time managing logistics.  Wouldn’t it be nice if there were tools that could make in-class group work more efficient and productive?

I have a possible solution for you!  Google Apps!

All CofC students and faculty have free access to Google Apps for Education using their College email address and password.

Here are two ways you can use Google Docs and Slides to make group work more efficient:

Share Templates

In-class group work is most effective if students are given clear instructions, including the goals of the activity and expectations for a deliverable.  Without purpose or guidelines, students will be less productive and more easily distracted.

One way to provide structure is to create an outline, template, or worksheet to guide students’ work.  If you create this handout in Google Docs, you can easily share it with students who can then type on the document as they work with their teams.

But, Jessica, wouldn’t that mean all students would be typing on the same document?

Yes, unless you make this tiny but powerful change to the document URL: delete the word “edit” from the end of the URL and replace it with the word “copy.”

Sharing clean copies of Google Docs with students

When students click on the URL you’ve shared with them, they will be asked to make a clean copy.  Now, each student or each group can work on their own document.

Ask your students to share their document with you so you can see what they’ve accomplished during class.  And if groups run out of time and need to finish outside of class, every group member can contribute from their own dorm room or apartment (because Google Drive is cloud-based).

Share a Slide Master

After students complete an in-class activity or assignment, do you ask groups to present their work to the rest of the class?  This form of debriefing or “reporting out” encourages students to work harder because they’ll have to stand in front of the room to present to their peers.  It also gives students much-needed opportunities to practice their public speaking skills, which are typically quite weak.

But if you ask students to create slides in Powerpoint, every student would have to email their file or save it to a thumb drive and then open it on the teacher station computer.  This requires too much precious class time.

Instead of using Powerpoint, create an empty slide show in Google Slides.  If you want students to design their own slides, simply create a presentation with blank slides (one slide per student or one slide per group, for example).  If you want students to include certain pieces of information on their slides, create a template.  You can then duplicate that template slide for as many students or groups that you have.

Next, give your students editing rights and share the URL with them (watch the animated GIF below).  Every student can now access that slide deck during class and work on their individual slides.   When it’s time to present to the class, you only have to open the one Google Slides presentation and the entire class’ work is right there!

Changing share settings for a Google Doc

We hope you found this week’s Small Teaching Tip helpful.  This post is part of a series which presents low risk, high reward teaching ideas, inspired by James Lang’s book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning.

apple watch
Checkout Equipment, Innovative Instruction, Presentation, Productivity

Apple Watch in the classroom?

Laura Plotts

I recently received an Apple Watch (Series 1) as a gift and given the nature of my job I was curious how Instructors might integrate this technology into their teaching and learning.  My personal use of the watch did not provide many connections to classroom use, so I looked to other Instructors for ideas.  Here are some of the ideas I came across and I hope that they may help you to decide if the watch is something you might try:

Wearable Teaching? College to Experiment With Apple Watch as Learning Tool

5 Ways to use the Apple Watch in your classroom

10 Very Good Apple Watch Apps for Teachers

And here are some articles about students using the Apple Watch

Can the Apple Watch Enhance Student Achievement?

Cheating in the time of the Apple Watch

 

For information about all versions of the Apple Watch, visit http://www.apple.com/watch/

TLT does have the original Apple Watch available for checkout if you would like to try a version of the watch out for yourself.  To checkout the watch, please complete the following form: https://www.smore.com/8u99j

Do have an Apple Watch? Share with us your ideas for using it in the classroom.

Best Practices, Pedagogy, Small Teaching Tip, Teaching Advice

Small Teaching Tip #4: Incorporate Active Learning into Your Lectures

ratcliffcr

Most faculty members have lectured to their students at some point in their careers. In traditional lectures, this means that the instructor speaks while students listen. While some lectures can be dynamic, engaging, and even entertaining, research has shown that student concentration typically drops after 10-15 minutes. With many questions during a traditional lecture being purely rhetorical, there are few opportunities for students to engage with the material or their instructor and classmates. What can you do to be sure that your students are engaged?

Try implementing low risk, high impact strategies such as interactive lecturing. Instead of a traditional hour-long lecture, break the content into several 10-15 minute “chunks.” In between each chunk, incorporate small, structured activities. This can be as simple as asking a question that requires student responses, encouraging students to participate in a brief think-pair-share exercise, or having students complete a one-minute paper. These active learning strategies will re-focus student attention as soon as concentration begins to drop while also giving you the opportunity to assess student comprehension throughout the lecture.

What kind of active learning strategies have you used to enhance your lectures? Please share your tips!

This post is part of a series which will present low risk, high reward teaching ideas. Inspired by James Lang’s book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, this series will inspire you to implement small but powerful changes to your teaching.

Innovative Instruction, Presentation, Teaching Advice, Tech Generation, TLT

Why should I flip my classroom?

leea5

    Flipping the classroom seems to be the newest buzzword in education, both in higher ed and in k12 but what are the benefits of this method and what exactly is a “flipped classroom”?   

Flipped Classroom

A flipped classroom is a reversal of the norm, where class time that is usually spent lecturing while students dutifully take notes, is used for a more hands on approach such as group work or problem solving.  All lectures or readings should be done before class, so that students have knowledge of the subject matter when they walk into class and can use the class time to delve deeper into the material.  Many professors suggest a short quiz or worksheet to be completed before coming to class to keep students on track and engaged in the process.

What are the benefits of this method?

    A great resource for these questions can be found in a book called “Flip Your Classroom” by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams.  In it they discuss several great reasons to flip your classroom.

      1. Flipping helps busy students

           Some students (especially in college) are juggling academics, extracurriculars and jobs.  Things come up and not all students are able to attend every class. Flipping the classroom allows them to stay caught up on the material and even work ahead if they know they will be out.

      2. Flipping helps struggling students

           Students that tend to struggle to learn a concept can pause the lecture, lookup any information they might not understand and then resume.  They are     also able to rewind as many times as needed until they fully understand the concept.

      3. Flipping helps students of all abilities excel

           Students that struggle will have more time to absorb the material and students that excel and get bored are able to investigate the material more fully.     They are able to learn things they may not have had time to learn in a regular setting classroom.

      4. Flipping increases student-teacher interaction

           Flipping allows professors to help their students in a more one-on-one or one-on-group capacity.  It gives time for small group lecturing to groups that   may need more help and gives time to move about the classroom conversing with each student.

       5. Flipping allows teachers to know their students better

           Instead of lecturing at the front of the classroom while a sea of eyes stares back at you, flipping your classroom allows you to take time to walk around     your class and get to know your students.  This gives them a connection to their learning.

      6. Flipping allows for real differentiation

          Not only do the students have control of the lecture and what parts they need repeated or what parts they can move through quicker, they also have the   ability to work at a higher level in class or work closely with their professor on harder concepts.

      7. Flipping changes classroom management

          While the professor stands at the front of the room lecturing, it is easy for students to be on their phones or looking at Facebook but in a flipped                 classroom they are engaged.  They are working on concepts, they are thinking deeper and they are taking their knowledge to the next level.

Flipping the classroom research

    One study (Deslauriers et al., 2011) found that students who participated in a flipped classroom vs. an interactive lecture classroom were much more engaged and did about 33% better on their final evaluation.  Both classes were given eleven weeks of interactive lecture and at the twelfth week one class was flipped.  The classes showed no difference in score or engagement in the first eleven weeks.

Another study by Fautch (2014) conducted on an organic chemistry 1 course found that students showed greater comprehension of the material and tended to improve their performance on exams.  Students also felt more knowledgeable and more comfortable with the course material.

    Weaver and Sturtevant (2015) conducted a three year study at Purdue University within their chemistry major and found that students in a flipped classroom, throughout their studies, scored significantly higher when compared to their previous scores in a traditional classroom setting.  The majority of students had positive feelings about the format of the classroom.

How do I flip my classroom

There are numerous benefits to flipping your classroom and it doesn’t have to be an abstract concept anymore.  Flipping your classroom allows students to take pride and ownership of their learning.  This method allows them to explore areas of the curriculum that they may not have had time to explore in a traditional classroom or master areas that they may have been weak in.  Check out any of TLT’s training sessions about flipping your classroom at tlt.eventbrite.com to get started!

 

Sources
DesLauriers L, Schelew E, and Wieman C (2011). Improved learning in a large-enrollment physics class. Science 332: 862-864.
Fautch, J. M. (2015). The flipped classroom for teaching organic chemistry in small classes: Is it effective? Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 16(1), 179-186.
Weaver, G. C., & Sturtevant, H. G. (2015). Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Flipped Format General Chemistry Course. J. Chem. Educ. Journal of Chemical Education, 92(9), 1437-1448