Socrative Evaluation Using Communication Rubric

Socrative isn't technically a "communication tool", but I'm calling it that because it enables fast communication of student understanding.  Teachers can create a question in literally one minute, students can answer on their devices.  Socrative provides both instant feedback in visual format on the class screen, as well as reports for the teacher on student achievement.  I love the option to do a "space race," where rockets race across the screen as students answer.  Teachers and class members can see how many students still need to answer.  Results can be formated so that names are not shown so that students with incorrect answers are not publicly shamed.  Teachers will still be able to see student-specific results in their records.  Teachers can draw from shared questions, or contribute to the bank of questions from which others can draw.  I love that questions can be written and saved ahead of time, or, for teachers who like to go with the flow of discussion, can be written quickly on the spot during class.

**Rubric created in collaboration with Tricia Bursey and James Hoisington.  Evaluation of Socrative using the rubric is my own thinking.

Edmodo Review Using Communication Rubric

Edmodo is a classroom workflow program that was created by two teachers.  This tool came onto the scene before Google Classroom, and was much like Facebook at its birth.  It has advanced to be an impressive way to manage assignments.  It does allow for teachers to archive assignments to access again in the future.  Google Classroom allows teachers to attach documents which have of course been saved in a Google Drive, so on that feature, both tools are tied.  Edmodo makes it easy to create "alumni" groups when a year ends so that students can keep in touch with each other, which is a fun option.  Teachers have power to moderate what gets posted.  One nice feature is the ability to create small groups WITHIN a classroom rather than creating multiple classes to assign more personalized content.  One area where Edmodo trumps Google Classroom is the fact that it has a standards-aligned question bank from which teachers can choose questions, create a quiz, and therefore take a snapshot of where students stand on a specific common core standard.


**Rubric created in collaboration with Tricia Bursey and James Hoisington.  Evaluation of Edmodo using the rubric is my own thinking.

Google Classroom Evaluation Using Communication Rubric

Google Classroom is one of the best ways to manage classroom communication and workflow that I have seen.  First of all, it is FREE!  Second of all, it does almost everything teachers need it to do, aside from provide the content to be taught.  I loved that I could set up "classes" for small groups or individual students so that I could easily personalize learning.  At the same time, I could set up a class for my entire class for general assignments.  Now, I think there is a feature that lets the teacher select who the assignment should go to, which eliminates the extra step of setting up individual classes.  Teachers can assign work, collect work, see how many students have turned in an assignment in real time, and ALL of this can be done without lugging a bag full of papers home to grade.  Assignments can be given right in Classroom with no attached "worksheets", or "worksheets" in the form of Google Docs can be attached for students to respond on.  There is a classroom conversation stream so that members can converse and answer their own questions without needing the teacher.  Links to web content, YouTube videos, and documents can be posted and assigned.  I appreciated that for younger grades, I could show a code that students could use to join since I couldn't invite them by email since they didn't have it.  I know there are classroom workflow systems that provide the content, but I love that this is free, AND I love that I can assign whatever I please.

**Rubric created in collaboration with Tricia Bursey and James Hoisington.  Evaluation of Google Classroom using the rubric is my own thinking.

Google Blogger Evaluation Using Communication Tool Rubric

Google Blogger comes with the normal benefits of anything Google- great archives and searchability. I like Blogger because I don't need to think about another host.  I'm always logged into Google, and therefore can always access my blog without any extra work or sign-ins.  However, at the same time, I don't feel like Blogger goes out of it's way to be ultra-snazzy or amazing.  It's format seems kind of dry, but it does gets the job done.  It is good to keep in mind that if Google decides to be done with Blogger, they could pull it offline and you'd lose what you'd written.  (I think the odds are minimal, and you'd be given a warning in advance.)  I do like that Google invests a lot of time in being accessible in a plethora of languages (over 100 and counting) and countries, and on any device.

**Rubric created in collaboration with Tricia Bursey and James Hoisington.  Evaluation of Twitter using the rubric is my own thinking.

Kidblog Evaluation Using Communication Rubric

• One could use Google Translate to create or read posts in different languages, but there is not a built in feature for translating text, so I couldn't give Kidblog a 4 for that standard.
• Kidblog is VERY kid-friendly.  My third grade students used it without any issues.  I know kindergarten teachers who have used Kidblog, and with practice, young students are completely capable of posting independently.
• There is a limited amount of video and photos that can be added using the free version of Kidblog.  Once you pay, you have much more freedom.  My kids always loved to include videos and pictures of their spelling study methods, so we finally bit the bullet and bought the paid version.
• Kidblog continues to make improvements to their platform.  They strive for "privacy, process, audience, and moderation. *"  Moderation is particularly important to me because I want to be cautious about what gets posted.  My class often would pull up posts or comments that were being written and discuss how they could be improved, or why I hadn't cleared the comment to be posted.
• Teachers have the option to archive previous classes.  I love this option because I could then use the work of prior students as examples for the current class.

*https://kidblog.org/home/kidblogs-new-platform/

**Rubric created in collaboration with Tricia Bursey and James Hoisington.  Evaluation of Kidblog using the rubric is my own thinking.

WordPress Evaluation Using Communication Rubric

• WordPress content, unlike content you put on Google Blogger, is owned and controlled by you.  If Google decides to pull Google Blogger, all of the information will go with it.  With Wordpress, your content would remain.
• WordPress blogs (they can also host websites, or BOTH your blog and website together, but we're talking blogs specifically) are almost completely customizable*.  There are a plethora of different themes and layouts available through WordPress.  This made me happy because I feel like Google Sites is fairly limited on the layouts that you can choose.  Ample plugins available should you need further options.
• WordPress Dashboard has over 50 language options, but in the grand scheme of things, there are more languages to conquer, so I couldn't give Wordpress a 4 here.  Blogger can do over 100 languages and counting.
• *One big thing to remember is that Wordpress is free to a point, but there is a charge in order to access most of the amazing themes and options.  Therefore, for education, it may not be the best choice.

*Rubric created in collaboration with Tricia Bursey and James Hoisington.  Evaluation of Wordpress using the rubric is my own thinking.

Google Hangouts Evaluation Using Communication Rubric

"Google Hangouts" is one of my favorite features that Google has to offer.  You can send text messages, make phone calls, have video chats, or do live Hangouts on Air that are archived on YouTube.  Is there a method of online communication that they've left out? I can't think of one.  I use the Chat feature every day. Think of how awesome texting on your phone is- quick, back-and-forth conversations that take little or now time to write and send.  "G-Chat", as it is frequently called, is just the same, except the chat window shows up at the bottom right of your computer screen.  If you're in Gmail, the Chat feature is already turned on.  Check out this link to get started.  We as a tech team use G-Chat if we need a quick, short response from someone.  When notifications are turned on, that person hears a sound when a message comes through, and doesn't have to look through emails to find it.  This is useful when someone may be in a meeting or teaching a class, and wouldn't necessarily check email but may glance at a message that pops up.  To make things even more fun, you can use Bitmojis (For anyone NOT using these, you should be! They can bring fun to even the most mundane of messages.  We have a school secretary who will write entire messages with Bitmojis, and it is hilarious.)  One nice feature is that you can turn off the history of a chat once you don't really need to see it anymore.  This is nice if we've chatted about passwords or certain bits of information that folks don't need to see.  We can turn off history, and the conversation will NOT be archived.  Otherwise, I love that I CAN find conversations by using the search feature in Gmail. When I search for a keyword or phrase, like "pinging printers", gmail will bring up both emails and G-chats with that phrase.  Google is the master of search, so it makes sense that you should be able to search through your own content via multiple pathways.

Overall, Google has figured out how to facilitate easy conversation for FREE in ANY format (online chat, live video, phone call...).  Content is archived for future reference or can by viewed on YouTube if Hangouts on Air was used.  Communication is INSTANT and in REAL TIME.  This means that EVERY classroom has a FREE window to the world, to experts, to sister schools...  This means that an authentic audience is available for student work, bringing so much more meaning and motivation to everything they do.  Google's mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" definitely shines through in their Hangouts feature.

*Rubric created in collaboration with Tricia Bursey and James Hoisington.  Evaluation of Twitter using the rubric is my own thinking.