Doctopus: An Awesome Google Add-On for Educators

My new favorite tool in the classroom is Doctopus. It is a google add-on that allows you to create and control assignments in google Drive and share them with your students.

Once you have the add on, you use google sheets to create a class roster with all of your student's names and email addresses. The roster can be updated at any time, so when new students are added to your class it is an easy fix.

When you create your first assignment Doctopus give you a few options, should the assignment be individual, for a group of select students to edit, or for the whole class to edit. This way you can choose how you want students to collaborate. It even has the option if you choose individual to have the assignment be all the same or differentiated, to allow for students who require differentiated instruction. It also allows for you to choose if students can view other student work.

Once you have chosen how your assignment should be shared, you then choose the assignment from your google doc folders. It can be docs, slides, or sheets. It can be a worksheet or presentation you have already created, or it can be blank.

Next, you have the option to create a folder where all of the student files will go, so you can access them all in one place for convenient grading.

Once you click "run copy and share," a copy will be sent to each student with the editing preferences you have already chosen. This is the best part, a folder has been added to each student's google drive just for your class. Any doctopus assignment you create will be placed in that folder. Students know exactly where to go to find assignments for your class. Each assignment also has a title with the student name, so no-names are no longer a problem.

As for making sure students turn their work in, since you are the owner of the document there is no need for them to "turn it in," it has already been shared with you. They just edit the document and leave it where it is. No more lost homework, or having left homework at school/home.

To ensure that students don't make edits after the assignment is due there is an "embargo to grade" option. This turns all of their documents to "view only" mode so they can no longer edit. Once you have graded the assignments, you can release them back to the students to make revisions. There is even a sister add-on called Goobric that allows you to attach a rubric made in google sheets, and will attach the completed rubric to the assignment for student viewing.

All teachers should check this out, it can really streamline homework, and facilitate group work, while adding ease of grading and cutting down on paper.

Reflection on Learning Unit 3

As our third learning unit, six types of creation tools had already been used, so it was a little more difficult to choose tools that felt really meaningful for the subject area I teach.
 I really enjoyed the infographic creator piktochart. It was easy to use and made a professional looking final product.
I also discovered a virtual model kit for modeling molecular structures. While it was not one of the suggested model creators, this one better fit with the content for a chemistry lesson. It requires a little getting used to to figure out how it works, but once you have some practice it will be great to use when there aren't enough physical models to use in class.

Reflection on Learning Unit 2

I was really excited about myhistro. I think the ability to create an interactive timeline is an interesting and engaging way to discuss events in history. Even as a chemistry teacher, I can have the students map out the different discoveries that lead to the current model of the atom. I already shared it with my coworkers and some of them are planning to use it in class as well.

I also enjoyed Explain Everything. The use of the interactive white board can be great for showing work for problems step-by-step, so students can go back and see where they may have made a mistake or if they need a little help remembering what comes next.

I found incorporating technology easier in this learning unit than the last.