Organizing Data:
For this assignment I decided to utilize Google Spreadsheet. After many years of using Excel I found this tool to be very tedious and spare in resources. The changes that needed to be made took too much time because things needed to be done one column or row at a time. This to me makes for a very frustrating situation. The strengths of this tool is that I can easily share it with those needing to see it and multiple people can use the data. The collaborative aspects do allow for people to work together. Because it is a free program it is more widely accessible and because it is attached to FORMS could be used to create self-grading assessments.
Color coding the incorrect answers helped to see how many were wrong for each student and the whole class. Also color coding the groups made it easier to identify how/why the students were grouped together. There is also the option to see which students got the same answer(s) right or wrong and then regroup that way if need be.
This is where Google FORMS comes in. Because the data collected in FORMS is available in spreadsheet format, it is possible to collect many different types of data from value-based assessments to multiple choice or even paragraph written responses. This information can be quickly analyzed through spreadsheets to produce rapid feedback for students.
I found that many different formatting strategies were used when doing this assignment. It really makes you think about what all you can do. It also lets us know that were are all not cookie-cutter thinkers. There were many different ideas that I noticed that seemed to work however for me there were others that were filled with too much navigation. I may have just become accustomed with people wanting everything in one place. I think that there are things that we all will do to fit in the format of what teachers are asking for or what we are comfortable with and feel we can educate them on as well.
Activity 5.2
Student Data Chart
This spreadsheet was set up based on the idea that the teacher needed to be able to see which standards were well understood and where students may have fallen short with information. Based on the information that was provided from the spreadsheet it was noticeable that there are three standards that are at risk: M:02:GM:6.6 (S), M:03:FA:6.1 (S), M:01:NO:6.4 (S). These standards scored at 50% or below. The average score on the standards was a 7.2 and the average score for the students themselves was a 5.83. There are formulas input for this information that will change to reflect the new data that is input into the spreadsheet. This will allow for easier data viewing and upkeep.
There are other ways that this spreadsheet can help the teacher. There is a desire to make small groups of students to reteach some of the skills. This spreadsheet will help in that it can provide information for what students may be able to help with peer teaching. Sometimes students learn better from each other. This will offer a great opportunity for a teaching moment from the students and also give the teacher a chance to assist in all the groups one at a time. Doing this allows for students to be reviewing and consistently working with each other and asking questions rather than doing quiet work at their desk after the teacher is done with their group.
There are several programs that could offer help with some of these standards. As the Technology Integrator I would offer help to research some tools that I feel would be most beneficial. Just looking at one set of test scores does not offer all the information needed to be able to find the right or adequate tools. I would suggest taking the time to provide more testing information and look at the spreadsheet for self-reflection and see if there are any noticeable trends that the teacher could rework and try different teaching methods. Sometimes there are just a few students that need a little extra and maybe what it would take is a different teaching method or attention to their learning style. However, there are several tools that could be used not just to provide data about students but to provide better learning experiences for the students and be able to relate to real world situations/scenarios.
By navigation, I assume you mean too many pages (sheets)? But if I were to present this data to teachers, I would not present the raw data. That would be available if they wished to dig into it, but I would present the pages with the charts only, because it is easier to read a chart than a sheet full of numbers. A picture is worth a thousand words (or numbers in this case).
ReplyDeleteI could have put them on the same sheet also, and that's what I would do with the final publication. I was surprised that Google gave the option to put the chart on a separate page, as Excel does, but it formatted that page so nothing else could be added to it, a dedicated page, so to speak. So for the other graphs, I added another sheet. But if I went back and put all graphs in results on one sheet, would that look better? How's this?: http://bit.ly/19Ogfoy
The drawback I see to color coding the spreadsheet by hand is that if you were doing this for many more students, it would be a lot more tedious to complete. I used functions to have the cells coded using formatting, except for the list of students per standard, which was tedious enough for me :)
Oops, meant to add, the purpose for using functions (or formulas) is to automate the process and save you time consuming work of combing through the data by hand.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point about reflecting as the teacher. I was looking for this and everyone took the angle that the kids needed to relearn or be retaught, which is not wrong, but also does not provide for the fact that the teacher may be weak in a specific area and need assistance when teaching. Data can also provide areas for teachers to improve as well.
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