The (Virtual) Nuts and Bolts
In our self-paced and grade-less classroom, the use of technology is essential. As we moved out of the theoretical, and into the concrete “how is this going to work?” We discovered that several attributes were necessary:
A good user experience. The students are accessing the online course materials every day, at home and in class. Since we are not guiding the students how to do each activity and submit it, the technology must be clear, easy to use, and aesthetically pleasing.
Ability to track student progress. As we guide students through the self-paced program, we must be able to track student progress both by the assignments they have completed and the progress they are making towards the essential learning outcomes. This means both a “standard gradebook” and a “learning mastery gradebook.”
Ability to “gate-keep” student progress. Students must be able to demonstrate proficiency for each unit before moving on, and the technology must block them until we are sure that they have mastered objectives before continuing on to the next.
Clear feedback. Students do not receive a grade for assignments submitted, but feedback in the form of SE2R. In this feedback cycle, students are constantly receiving, recording, and responding to feedback. The technology must allow for students to keep track of feedback, and resubmit their assignments in a way that is straightforward, and easy for use to see when they have submitted.
A focus on student ownership. As one of the goals of the self-paced and gradeless program is to increase student ownership of learning, the technology needs to support the student's’ responsibility to show their mastery, and accomplishments in the class.
In the end, we decided upon using Canvas and Google sites, Google forms, and Google drive.
Canvas is a learning management system, similar to schoology, that allows for much more customization.
By using Canvas, we are able to create a good user experience that shows clear requirements, allows for re-submission and visible feedback. Items are arranged in modules that have conditional formatting: i.e. in order to move on to stage 2, you must complete these items in stage 1. (More on this topic is in the “Sample Stage”) post.
Canvas also has a learning mastery gradebook for tracking student proficiencies in specific outcomes, and also a standard gradebook for monitoring student submissions. The gradebook can be hidden from students, so their focus is on the feedback they are receiving.
For more formal feedback (at the end of each marking period, for larger reflections, etc.) Google forms are used in conjunction with add-ons to produce personalized narrative documents. (More on this later in “Keeping Parents in the Loop”).
Google drive is used as a repository for documents that the students access and then can make a copy of for ease in editing and submitting.
Google sites is used for student portfolios, where they post all their work in Latin, their reflections, and keep a running log of their daily activities. It is also where they record feedback and demonstrate that they have addressed the feedback.