Socrative - A Currently Free SRS Accessible From Any Device

Teachers in my district had been looking for a well-integrated student response system for checks-for-understanding. For those teachers who are at or nearing a 1:1 model, I did some research into some SRS models that might work for those technologically-advanced classrooms. Our district is Google Apps For Education deployed, so Google Forms immediately spoke to me. As evidenced in my homemade document camera, I think I have a propensity towards DIY; something that isn't always best to run with. While we could build and share a template database of CFU back-ends for use by district teachers, I don't think the end-result would be elegant enough for my tastes, nor intuitive enough for the majority of our teachers.

I came across costly options like Poll Everywhere, which admittedly does look like an amazing tool. I also saw plenty of reviews of hardware dependent SRS systems. We even have a couple Promethean clicker kits deployed in our district. I kept looking, hoping for something that could be accessed via wide variety of devices. We only have one 1:1 tablet classroom in our district, so something that worked through a web browser would be best. This brought me to Socrative. Below, I've bolded and detailed some of the features which make it a tool that teachers in my district are excited to start using.

I really liked that Socrative is accessible through so many different devices. If our district decides to expand its tablet coverage it will start with teacher devices. In the meantime, I really like that we can access Socrative through our numerous laptops, netbooks, and desktops. Clickers that support interactive whiteboards and tablet-based SRS's are fine, but the breadth of device support included within Socrative is powerful. Whether our teachers are managing the virtual classroom from a tablet or desktop/laptop functionality and access is maintained. Similarly, a student who has been issued a tablet could interact seamlessly with a classroom of students using laptops from a cart.

Another feature that stands out to me is something that Socrative doesn't have: individual student accounts. This might seem like a con, but I think that the ease with which a teacher can deploy Socrative is maintained by not including this feature. A teacher simply creates a virtual classroom which students join. Upon joining, a student gives there name. With robust procedures and appropriate behavior expectations, I think that students can be expected to reliably enter their actual name. Time spent modeling and maintaining these behavior expectations would be far less than time spent waiting for students to find their exact device or enter their exact log-in credentials. Further, there are no passwords for students to forget or new accounts to create when a student is added to a class.

Socrative offers a variety of graphs of student answers. As I said before, these graphs could be pre-made in a Google Forms template database. Again, efficiency and ease of use are paramount, and I think Socrative does a nice job of providing this data with minimal front-loading by the teacher.

Finally, I really enjoy that Socrative allow the teacher to choose whether or not to control the pace at which CFU questions are given to students. In my classroom, I often presented my quizzes and CFU questions via a document camera or projected .pdf file so that I could prevent students from rushing. In Socrative, the teacher can allow the next question to appear as soon as the student submits the previous one, or deploy the next question at a time of their choosing.

We're excited to get started with Socrative in my district. If you are able to put it to use in your classroom, leave some comments about your thoughts.

Google Calendar Annotated Presentation

I made this presentation for a professional development I gave in my district on using Google Calendar a few weeks ago. It's more of a how to, but presents some ideas for use throughout a district or just within a particular school or classroom. Some of the obvious ideas are holiday/event calendars and emergency delay/cancellation information.

I would love to see Google to see Google Calendar used for administrative observation cycles and academic coaching cycles. I've seen it used for managing a digital lesson-book, but only in a classroom by classroom basis. To see it done across a district would be pretty astounding. The efficiency that could be gained by not having to submit lesson plans, either via hard-copy or email, could be great. The observer could access context for the lesson, by navigating throughout a lesson calendar. Parents could also access the context of the unit when providing homework help.

Don't Throw Away Your Overhead Projector! Turn It Into A Document Camera.

If you're wishing for a document camera and have an overhead projected that is ready to be retired, you're only 30 minutes away from getting your wish.

At my previous school, in New Mexico we were able to purchase a handful of Elmo document cameras and detail them to some of our teachers' classrooms. Many teachers became interested in acquiring more of them as soon as possible.  In the meantime, we came up with a stand-in.

As is often the case, there were many overhead projectors throughout the school in various states of disrepair. Having a spare webcam, I did some research and came up with a cheap alternative to a document camera. If you already have a projector and laptop, then all you need is a decent webcam and an old overhead projector. Here's the plan:

Materials:

•  Mid-range webcam - I picked up a Logitech Quickcam Communicate STX at Goodwill for $20.
• This does determine the quality of your picture, but remember you don't need it to be full-featured device.  Microphones, face detection, etc, would be superfluous.   
• Laptop (with a video out)
• VLC Media Player
• Digital projector w/ video cable
• Overhead projector 
• Ensure that the projector is slated for the garbage or recycling as you will be dismantling part of it.
• Extras
• Zip ties
• Reading light

Steps

1. Remove the mirror and glass from the unit on the projectors throw arm.
• For my projector, all this meant was pushing in two clips and pulling the box apart. I had to remove two pieces of glass and the mirror which reflects the shadow being projected from the projector body. 
2. Place the webcam into the unit from which you just removed the glass.  You want the camera lens to face down at the projection surface. The rubber band in the photo is holding the cameras foot to its body.
3. Connect your webcam to your laptop and your laptop to your digital projector.
4. Install VLC Media Player, if you don't already have it.
5. You need to add a script to VLC to get it to pick up what you're looking at through the webcam.
• Download the script here
• Run the .exe 
6. Here's where it can get tricky. The script needs to be modified to pick up your webcam and find vlc on your machine. Here's how it's done:
• the script will have been installed on the c: drive. It will have created a folder on your c: drive called "doccam". Find that folder and open it.
• Within, you'll find three files.  The "document camera" with the nice icon gets moved to your desktop.  The "copy" file gets left alone. All adjustments are made to the "docccam" batch file.
• Edit "doccam" by right clicking it and clicking "edit".
• A text editor will open and you'll see the file's code.  Even if code gives you the chills, stay strong, it's very manageable.
• First, look at the fourth line and make sure that the filepath for VLC is typed correctly.  By default, it will look for VLC in c:\program files\VideoLAN\VLC.  In all likelihood  this is where your VLC is located.  On my current machine, I had to change "program files" to "program files (x86)".  If you don't know where the vlc.exe file is, you can check it by finding VLC media player in your start menu or on your desktop, right clicking it, and clicking properties.  The filepath should be displayed in the popup.  
• Next, continue along the fourth line to the next piece of text.  In this piece, you'll see the name of a webcam.  Right away, you might notice that the model name written is not the name of your webcam.  It is the name of the camera used by the person who wrote the script.  This needs to be changed to the name of your camera.  You can find your camera's name in several different ways, but the easiest is as follows:
• Open VLC media player
• Click the Media button
• Click "Open Capture Device"
• Under Device Selection, click on the button that reads "default".  
• You should have some options; "default", "none", and your webcam's name.
• Replace the camera name in the fourth line with the name of your camera, exactly as it is written.  If you follow the fourth line to its end, you'll find another instance where the camera name must be changed.  It needs to be changed in both places.  It is easy to miss the second one.
• Remember to save the file, leave it where it is, and move the "document camera" icon/shortcut to your desktop.
• If you did this correctly, then when you click on the icon/shortcut on your desktop, VLC should open and display what your camera is viewing.  Give yourself a pat on the back, you just modified a script.
7. Adjust the camera and throw arm on the overhead projector so that you get  a good view of the overhead projector's projection surface.  Place a piece of paper on the projection surface.  If you have a small reading light to clip on (as I have in the pictures), or the camera has a light, experiment with their use to see what looks best.
8. Finally, clone or extend your desktop as you would to display your computer via the digital projector. On your screen, you should see a full screen projection of what is on your overhead projector's projection surface.  Zip tie your cords and clean up.  If you have a desk or cart to keep this all on, that usually works best.  

Depending on your camera quality, you very well may have a setup that gives better picture quality than many low-end document cameras.  

A big thanks to the Fried Technology Blog for some inspiration and a link to the VLC script.  Fried also has links to plans for building a much more elegant document camera if you don't have an overhead projector.

Fried Technology - Bootleg Webcam

Rearview Mirror

Technology Integration Facilitator. These three words can be found on my business cards, door plate, and email signature. It's hefty, to be sure. At 26, I've mixed roles in technology, education, and business to move towards something approaching a specialization, and dare I say it, a career.

As a double major in history and business administration, technology and education probably would seem like two areas that would have been written off. After serving meals and cleaning rooms on a cruise ship and backpacking around Peru, I assumed the role of Assistant Manager of Technology for a Commerce Department Office. I'd like to thank a generally curious attitude, a willingness to dismantle devices I really couldn't afford to break, and a devotion to Microsoft Excel that bordered on obsessive (mostly the third one).

In a move which was almost eerily coincidental with a minor plot-line in season 6 of The Office, I left the Commerce Department to join Teach For America on the Navajo Reservation of New Mexico. My first year was spent teaching reading to fourth graders on a "broken" Smart-Board whose power cord I was able to repair and use to greatly increase my classroom's efficiency and my students' engagement.

During my second year, I assumed another lengthy title (pattern forming, perhaps), that of Data Coach, Reading and Math Interventionist, and Technology Assistant. Again, my love of spreadsheets (this time both with Google Apps and Excel) saw me creating trackers which aided our teachers in addressing the specific skill gaps of our students. Some of these gaps I addressed in my own intervention groups, allowing me to put my own trackers to the test. Matched up against NWEA Descartes ladders, we saw some astounding growth. As a Technology Assistant, I helped deploy Smartboards and Elmo document cameras. I learned to service copier/printers, and a little bit of server management. Our school was about 100 miles from the nearest city, so the Technology Director and I were forced to be adaptive and resourceful.

Returning to my yankee roots, I've now settled in Vermont where I am a TIF for the municipality of Barre. In this position, I'm able to focus on long-term professional development centered around technology in the classroom, our schools' response to student achievement data, and make recommendations for purchasing and technology implementation for our Technology/Trades school.

I've created this blog to share some of the decisions, devices, and distillations I've come across and made throughout my journey in technology integration. I'll attempt to reference many of the sites and people who inspire my work, in the hope that their great ideas can be better spread. As is the case in so many areas, great ideas, practices, and technologies are legion. With luck, this blog will help some great teachers become more efficient, more engaging, and more capable of spreading their exemplar techniques and talents. Our students deserve nothing less.