I’m a “fixer.” When I see something that could be better, I want to help make it better. In some respects, this was a good trait to have as a high school English teacher. When my students’ essays were out of shape, I just saw potential. I was quick with my PaperMate Flair pen (every English teacher has their favorite marking tool) and used it liberally.

Of course, my students didn’t always appreciate all that ink. In fact, sometimes they took it personally. That wasn’t my intention, and yet, it happened. Why?

This past summer, I was reading Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning: Building Expressways to Success by Andratesha Fritzgerald, and I came across a concept called the 5:1 ratio. Basically, the idea boils down to this:

“Whomever intends to build trust (the teacher, coach, principal) needs to have five positive or neutral interactions with another person for every one corrective piece of feedback” (Aguilar, 2017).

There are many possible reasons that students were less than appreciative of my corrections, but the 5:1 ratio provides a compelling lens through which to view this problem. I was providing a lot of corrective feedback in the English classroom, and my ratio of positive interactions was often just off.

In the months since reading about the 5:1 ratio, I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Here are three reasons why I love it:

1. It’s Simple

It’s tempting to think that positive interactions are a given and that any good teacher would be meeting the 5:1 ratio. At least in my case, I know for a fact that I wasn’t. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I was a bad teacher — just one working in a high-stress environment where the priority was achievement. I suspect this might be the case for some other educators, too.

As an example, I might have made five corrective comments and five positive comments on any given student’s essay. It seemed reasonable at the time, but that was a 1:1 ratio. Looking back, knowledge of the 5:1 ratio would have encouraged me to get back to the necessary center of creating an abundance of intentionally positive interactions, in commenting on students’ work and everywhere else in my classroom. 

I love how simple this is.  It’s clear and easy to understand, and to me, it feels intuitive and true. 

Of course, just because it’s simple does not necessarily mean it’s easy (if it were, I wouldn’t be writing this blog post!). Really, though, that’s something I love about the 5:1 ratio, too. To implement it, I will have to reflect on my own practices and make some changes. But I’m certain that it will be worth it because, for me, it’s a fundamental reframing of what’s truly important in education.

2. It Encourages Reflection

This blog post by Elena Aguilar links to the following chart, which I find really helpful when thinking through the 5:1 ratio:

The chart is aimed at instructional coaches, but I find it really helpful from the perspective of a teacher, too. When I look at it, my mind immediately jumps back to the students in my classroom.

I’m certain that I was meeting the 5:1 ratio for some students in my classroom, but not all of them, and not all of the time.

I would say that I approached each day in the classroom with an intention to be positive and kind. I think I met that goal on most days. But I ended up meeting that goal generally — I didn’t think about it from the experience and perspective of every single individual student.

Looking at a visual representation of my students and specific interactions with them would have let me see where I was specifically meeting my intention and where I was falling short.

I love that the sheet also includes students’ race and gender (I would name the column “Gender Identity” instead of “Male/Female”). I’d like to think that my ratio of positive interactions was consistent with regards to students’ identities. Another intention of mine was to teach with equity in mind, after all. Looking at this sheet reveals to me, though, that I was not as mindful or specific about this as I could have been and should have been. Now that I recognize this, the “fixer” in me sees a lot of potential to improve my practice.

3. It Inspires a Plan

Once I know better, I want to do better. The 5:1 ratio inspires me to make a concrete plan to do better the next time I have the privilege of teaching students in the classroom.

If you’re interested in deepening your practice with the 5:1 ratio, my team and I created a free template to help you get started. This template includes a variety of resources — including the ones already mentioned in this article — along with space for reflection. It also includes a few additional strategies that I’d like to try for myself:

• Dialogue journals, which provide a space to converse and connect with every single student on a regular basis. I would love to establish conversations that I come back to every week or every two weeks. This would definitely be a place to create a routine that guarantees positive interactions, and it would also help me to get to know my students even better.
• Delayed grading, which makes it possible to simply provide observations as comments for students (keeping interactions positive or neutral) and let the students correct themselves. Besides helping to maintain the 5:1 ratio, this also makes the grading process more meaningful for students because it encourages them to take ownership.
• Greeting every student personally, every day, which can build trust, increase student engagement, and lower teacher stress. When I was in the classroom, it was a challenge to make this happen every day. In the future, I’d like to slow down and make this a priority, even if that means that part of my preparation for the next class hour happens after the bell rings.

Ultimately, the 5:1 ratio has completely changed my thinking about interactions in the classroom. It all started with a question about grading. After all, part of our jobs as teachers is to provide corrective feedback to help students grow. The 5:1 ratio helps to ensure that students can receive this feedback effectively. More importantly, however, it can help us be intentional about creating a classroom environment that centers our humanity.

Recap: Systemic vs. Individual Problems and Solutions

In the first Time for Teachers blog, the distinction between systemic and individual problems and solutions was made. Systemic problems require organization- or system-wide approaches that impact a broader group and address biases and/or system limitations. The second blog in this series explains how agile meetings and pulse surveys can streamline meetings and keep track of teachers’ concerns, issues, and needs.

This third blog post will discuss the importance of self-assessment in addressing individual problems and solutions teachers face. This is not to say the onus of addressing challenges should fall squarely on the shoulders of individual teachers. Rather, teachers need a community of practice and support to help them identify solutions for problems they might face individually.

Power of Self-Assessment

Just as students have individualized needs, teachers do, too. Although there may be common problems and issues that teachers face in their everyday work, not all teachers feel the same way about them. In the world of mindfulness, there is often an emphasis on individual introspection and reflection.

The same approach could be applied for teachers facing a schedule and to-do list that is daunting and overwhelming. There are many apps or programs out there that teachers can use to track workflows, tasks, and responsibilities, but using pencil and paper may feel more manageable and actually be more efficient.

Using a single sheet of paper, a teacher could do a quick self-assessment of tasks they like, challenging tasks they face, possible tasks to eliminate, and focus areas to reflect on individually and with colleagues. 

To start, one should draw two lines on the piece of paper to create four equally shaped rectangles. Each step of this self-assessment is illustrated below. Please note that the number of bullet points provided is for illustrative purposes only (there can be more or fewer bullets depending on what a teacher self-identifies).

In the upper left rectangle, one should write “Tasks I Like” and provide a bulleted list of the everyday tasks they enjoy and like to do. These tasks are the ideal things that a teacher would get to focus most of their time on. 

In the upper right rectangle, one should write “Challenging Tasks” and provide a bulleted list of the everyday tasks that might take up a lot of time and energy compared to others. One should underline the top one to three tasks that take the most time to complete. Before moving to the bottom of half of the page, one should put a star next to any tasks that overlap in the “Tasks I Like” and the “Challenging Tasks” list. 

In the lower-left rectangle, one should write “Non-Essential Tasks” and provide a bulleted list of the everyday tasks that are not essential or not necessary to meet job requirements. One should compare the items listed under unnecessary tasks and challenging tasks. Any overlapping items should be circled. 

Finally, in the lower right rectangle, one should write “Focus Areas” and provide a bulleted list with three subheadings: (1) Focus and Enjoy (all of the starred items from the top half of the page), (2) Eliminate to Save Time (all of the circled items from the unnecessary task list), and (3) Talk about with Others (the underlined items from the challenging tasks list). 

Teachers are encouraged to save their self-assessments in order to redo and compare them on a regular basis, perhaps once per semester or quarter, to see what changes over time. By taking 15-20 minutes to do an inventory like this, teachers can get an overview of what they like to do and strategic areas to focus on individually.

They can also target areas to talk with colleagues about using the physical document created. Colleagues could even share their self-assessments and seek advice on how to tackle challenging and time-consuming tasks.

Individual Enactment through a Community of Support

By going through a self-assessment inventory, teachers can prioritize their time to focus on what they like to do and what needs to be done. In any self-assessment, it is important for teachers to think about what could be discussed with a colleague. Discussing a list with a colleague, mentor, or administrator, will make identifying solutions more collaborative which can feel less overwhelming and isolating.

More independent teachers can certainly take initiative on their own but teachers are likely to feel more empowered to find innovative solutions when they work with a close colleague within a community of practice. 

If it is challenging for teachers to collaborate with others in their immediate work environment, they could consider joining communities such as The Resilient Educator and Digital Promise’s EdCamp offering in-person and remote opportunities to meet with other teachers across the country to share experiences, effective practices, and possible solutions to particular problems.

Similar to the adage that it takes a village to raise children, it also takes a village for teachers to face and overcome the challenges of having limited time and resources at their disposal.

Final Thoughts

To help teachers feel satisfied with their work, they need to be given opportunities to assess what they like about teaching and how to address the individual problems they might be facing. If teachers find it difficult to carve out time to do a self-assessment, time could be dedicated for them to do so in a meeting or workshop that is already planned.

Having teachers conduct straightforward self-assessments together also builds trust. By giving teachers the chance to identify individual issues and connect them with possible solutions and resources within the systems and networks they work with, they will likely feel more empowered and supported.  

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Christa Green, Kristen DeBruler, and Tracy Gieseking from the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute for their contributions and advice in writing this blog post.

Recap: Systemic vs. Individual Problems and Solutions

In the first Time for Teachers blog, a distinction was made between systemic and individual problems and solutions. Systemic problems require organization- or system-wide approaches that impact a broader group and address biases and/or system limitations.

Systemic solutions often need significant coordination among many people after carefully considering modification(s) to policies and procedures. Individual solutions involve people taking personal responsibility for locating resources to address the problems they face in their immediate environment.

This blog post will discuss two possible systemic solutions that can help all educators save time while addressing needs to serve students and communities: agile meetings and short pulse surveys.

The Power of Short, Focused Agile Meetings

A common joke in the workplace is that a required meeting could have been an email. Although meetings provide an opportunity for staff or teams to check in and touch base, having an excessive number of meetings, holding meetings for meetings’ sake, or holding meetings without focus can be frustrating and feel like an inefficient use of time for everyone involved.

Given that meetings are a significant time commitment for teachers that pull them from their tight schedule, how can meetings be scheduled and organized more effectively? One solution is to implement what is called agile meetings.

Coming from the world of software development, agile is a framework that emphasizes close collaboration, clear communication, transparent expectations, and thoughtful efficiency–all of which will help an organization meet strategic goals and impact stakeholders positively.

Although schools aren’t composed of teams of software developers in Silicon Valley, the principles of agile meetings can be applied in schools to avoid ineffective aspects of meetings that can sap up valuable time and resources for teachers.

In short, agile meetings should have a clear purpose, be as short as possible, and include only the necessary and relevant team members for a given topic or issue. This means that meetings should have a concise and focused agenda, be very limited in time (e.g., 15 or 20 minutes), and have a targeted invitation list. 

Organizing agile meetings may require some advanced work or reading on the part of attendees (e.g., the part of the meeting that could have been an email should be sent in advance). If an all-staff meeting is required, having a focused meeting in terms of scope and time can still be implemented. Drawing from the advice of a communications efficacy firm, Table 1 provides a summary of what to do in order to run agile meetings.

Table 1. Recommendations on how to run agile meetings that are more focused and efficient (adapted from a blog by Status Hero).

In the end, a systemic solution for a school to help everyone maximize the time available to them during the day is to develop a set of agile meeting rules to which everyone agrees to adhere. By instituting an agile meeting framework, a school will naturally develop a culture of mutual respect for each other’s time that focuses on the most essential goal of everyone involved–serving the needs of students, families, and communities.

Insights from Short, Focused Pulse Surveys

A recent survey of teachers about their job satisfaction has revealed that their perspectives and ideas are not always taken into consideration as much as they would like. In order to identify and address any systemic problems or solutions found in classrooms, it is necessary to include teachers.

However, given that teachers’ time is limited, holding long meetings or in-depth focus groups may not be the best route to go. One way to overcome this obstacle is to have teachers complete short surveys capturing their “pulse” about targeted topics about their work. Some common online survey platforms that are easy to access and use include Google Forms and SurveyMonkey.

Just like agile meetings call for short, targeted meetings only involving those who are needed, pulse surveys should also be agile. Surveys should be clear and limited in length. This requires questions to be short and concise (with closed-ended questions being preferred).

For example, if you were trying to capture teachers’ self-assessments of their social and emotional learning, you could provide the following statements that teachers evaluate on a Likert scale (e.g., Strong disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly agree):

• I can identify my social and emotional needs.
• I pursue self-care.
• I show compassion toward myself.
• I ask for help when I need it.
• I can achieve work-life balance.
• I have ways to minimize my stress and anxiety.
• I feel I can express my emotions with trusted adults/colleagues.

By capturing teachers’ self-assessments based on these statements, administrators, lead teachers, and mentors can take appropriate action to design training or provide resources to help teachers with their social and emotional learning.

Also, surveys should only be sent to relevant parties, otherwise, data may be overwhelming and possibly not completely relevant. If a particular issue impacts only a certain subset of teachers, a short online survey could be developed and sent to them rather than the entire staff. 

Caution should be exercised, though, when designing and sending pulse surveys. If too many surveys are sent, not enough time is given to complete surveys, or careful thought isn’t put into who should complete a survey (i.e., one should make sure people don’t feel left out), pulse surveys can backfire. It is also recommended that a pulse survey takes the place of an existing time commitment to free up and not add to a teacher’s or administrator’s already full plate. 

Table 2 provides an overview of some advice about designing pulse surveys.

Table 2. An overview of some suggestions for designing pulse surveys.

When designed, distributed, and evaluated effectively, pulse surveys can provide targeted snapshots of what problems teachers face as well as ideas they might have on how to solve them. By regularly gauging and sharing teachers’ thoughts and experiences about targeted issues, communities of practice based on mutual understanding and problem-solving can form. Moreover, time-saving solutions can be identified to help find time for teachers.

Final Thoughts

There are only so many hours in a day. Teachers want to do as much as they can to support and inspire students. By implementing an agile culture that streamlines meetings, teachers can find ways to still connect with their colleagues and focus more time on tasks that they find meaningful to run effective classrooms. When everyone is on the same page about being mindful of how meetings are run, an environment of respectful efficiency is created. 

Additionally, when teachers are given opportunities to complete targeted surveys regularly about aspects of their job (but not too many!), problems and solutions can emerge that help keep the system of a school running smoothly. Teachers are also left with a sense of being listened to and cared for in their essential roles of educating our communities’ children.    

The next article in the Time for Teachers blog series will discuss individual problems and solutions and advice on working with teachers to optimize their time.

Stay up to date on future blogs in this series by signing up for email notifications!

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Christa Green, Kristen DeBruler, and Tracy Gieseking from the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute for their contributions and advice in writing this blog post.

As the 2020-21 school year begins, most students and teachers are experiencing a start to the school year that is like no other. Whether you find yourself starting the year with in-person instruction, using a hybrid model, or teaching completely online, communicating effectively with parents and students is an important part of a teacher’s job and something that you may find to be more challenging while teaching remotely. 

So as we transition back into teaching and learning this fall, we thought it might be helpful to revisit a few of the Learning Continuity webinars that we recorded earlier this spring. This webinar, in particular, will give you strategies that you can implement right away! 

In the webinar, “Tips and Tricks for Communicating with Parents and Students,” Stacey Schuh (Michigan Virtual’s director of professional learning), Alex Rogers (kindergarten teacher at Holt Public Schools), Sam Sicilia (English teacher at Waverly High School), and Kristin Koch (senior ASL instructor at Michigan Virtual) discuss several different topics related to communicating with students and parents. 

We hope you enjoy watching the webinar as Stacey, Alex, Sam, and Kristin explain and discuss the various resources and tips that they have in store for you, as well as what practices they find to be both effective and ineffective. 

We have outlined the topics and tips below as well as linked the resources for you to make the content easier to refer back to and use! Enjoy! 

Examples of means of communication

• Remind: allows you to text parents
• Google Voice: a great way to call families from your personal phone
• Zoom: video conferencing
• Old fashioned snail mail
• Email or phone call 
• Google Classroom

Tips for communication

• Consider including parents in email communications with students
• Stick with what means of communication you have already established
• Build upon what has already been used 
• Keep it simple and consistent
• Make sure students have opportunities to see you face-to-face

Lessons learned

• Be flexible and understanding
• Remember to connect with students on a personal level
• Try to simplify and/or minimize communication so as not to overwhelm parents
• Establish tools and strategies that work when learning is in the classroom or from home

Suggestions for educator support

• Keep it light and be consistent
• Make a daily schedule for yourself 
• Maintain connections with students
• Make sure students know you are there for them and available to answer any questions

Resources for communication

1. Voicethread
2. Loom
3. Google Meet
4. Remind
5. Google Classroom
6. Flipgrid

Whether your school is starting the year with in-person instruction, using a hybrid model, or teaching completely online, you will need to be flexible. You may even be asked to shift back and forth between different models of instruction throughout the school year. 

So as we transition back into teaching and learning this fall, we thought it might be helpful to re-highlight a few of the Learning Continuity webinars that we recorded earlier this spring. This webinar in particular will give you strategies that you can implement right away! 

In the webinar, “You Can Do This! Transitioning to Remote Teaching & Learning,” Michigan Virtual staff members and former educators Anne Perez, Emily Sicilia, Andrea McKay, and Dr. Chris Harrington discuss several different topics and provide strategies that can help you get your school year started smoothly. They also offer many resources that may help to make the transition to remote teaching a little easier. 

We hope you enjoy watching the webinar as Anne, Emily, and Andrea explain and discuss the various resources and tips that they have in store for you, as well as what practices they find to be both effective and ineffective. 

We have outlined the topics and tips below and linked the resources for you to make the content easier to refer back to and use! Enjoy! 

Getting started

• Stick with what’s already familiar
• Simple is best
• Account for half the time as some things take longer than expected

Communicating with students and parents

• Be mindful of the frequency and volume of communications
• Maintain consistency with where to access updates
• Decide on a platform to use
• Make sure communications are purposeful and meaningful 

Finding and delivering content

• Use familiar tools or platforms to deliver content
• Consider time frame and pacing 
• Keep in mind the number of devices in each household

Building relationships

• Consider live check-ins
• Make use of regular videos or discussions
• Identify a place for community interaction
• Be mindful of academic and non-academic relationship building

Designing assessments

• Are there tools you already use? 
• Consider modifying assignments or projects
• Offer choice in task and demonstration

Key takeaways

• Start with the familiar
• Design with flexibility in mind
• Consider needs for communication
• Use the opportunity to build relationships

Resources

1. ReadWorks
2. RAZKids
3. Prodigy
4. IXL
5. Khan Academy
6. Newsela
7. #GoOpenMichigan
8. Michigan Virtual Free Content
9. Quizizz
10. Learning Continuity Page
11. Slide Deck as PDF

Introduction

As more and more schools are adopting the use of digital content to support their online and blended programs, the selection and implementation of an appropriate learning management system (LMS) is being elevated to top priority.

In the recently published report, LMS Selection and Implementation: Michigan Virtual Case Study, we investigated best practices associated with identifying and evaluating learning management systems that can meet the customized needs of schools and districts.   

In addition, we documented Michigan Virtual’s LMS evaluation, selection, and implementation process, which took place during the 2019-2020 school year. 

Below, we provide a glimpse into the key insights and recommendations that resulted from this work; however, make sure to read the report referenced above for a detailed account of the selection and implementation process.         

What factors should schools and districts consider? 

When considering the general features and characteristics that schools should look for when selecting and evaluating an LMS, organizations such as Canvas (2019), itsLearning (2019), Lambda Solutions (2019), Moodle (Gill, 2019), and the eLearning Industry (Pappas, 2014) indicate there are several factors that should be taken into consideration: 

• Alignment: Make sure to consider alignment to your district’s goals, now and in the future. 
• Total costs: Are there hidden costs or costs you will incur only down the road? 
• Reliability of the platform: Ask for evidence of uptime.
• Support: How much training and support will you get and at what cost? Will you have access to live support or be simply given an email address? 
• Simplicity: How easy is the platform to navigate? How intuitive is it for a new user? 
• References: What have other customers reported about the LMS? 
• Testing: Make sure that you have the ability to test and interact with the platform prior to committing to a purchase. 
• Reporting: Do the reports that can be generated give you the information you need? 

The LMS evaluation process can be time-consuming and challenging, so you may also want to consider using an LMS Evaluation Tool in order to more easily evaluate, record, and compare features across several LMSs. 

What are the key processes that schools and districts should follow?

Based on Michigan Virtual’s LMS selection and implementation process, these are the processes we followed and recommend. 

First steps

• Draft a statement of work (SOW) to help define your plan and ensure the successful execution of the project. 
• Assemble your team, which includes identifying team leads and making sure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined.
• Define and prioritize the general features and characteristics that you feel are most important to consider when evaluating each possible LMS solution. You may want to gather these solution requirements into an LMS requirements spreadsheet.
• Put together the request for proposal (RFP) which includes a list of important dates and deadlines, a detailed description of the request, the submission process and requirements, and the selection process to be used to determine the successful solution.

LMS selection

• Consider asking vendors to complete a Technical, Functional, System, and User Requirements spreadsheet with ratings and notes as well as a Cost Proposal Matrix indicating both non-recurring and recurring costs. 
• Complete your initial “sandbox” reviews of the LMS environment for each vendor. 
• Carefully analyze the proposals before awarding your preferred vendor the work. 

LMS implementation

• Create both an internal and external communication plan and develop related resources. 
• Coordinate with the LMS vendor to put training in place for teachers, administrators, instructional designers, and system administrators. 
• Prior to beginning any course development or course migration work, set-up and configure the LMS environment. 
• Begin the work of migrating your courses into your new LMS. Migration of Michigan Virtual’s approximately 250 courses proved to be a time-consuming and labor-intensive process.
• Consider piloting a limited number of courses in your new LMS environment to a select group of students. End of course surveys can provide very valuable feedback.

LMS launch

• Prior to the full launch of your new LMS, your courses will need to progress through the four-course content migration milestones: content staged, content built, testing complete, and master created. 
• Once the LMS launches, it will be important for your team to continue to dedicate time and effort towards fixing and updating the courses as it is expected that courses will continue to need attention, particularly during their initial offerings.

What challenges and opportunities exist within the process? 

Challenges

Timeline

One of the biggest challenges facing Michigan Virtual’s LMS implementation team was its tight timeline. Michigan Virtual began its work in October 2019, with a deadline for implementation by August 1, 2020. 

However, according to itsLearning (2019), the LMS selection process should ideally begin two years before full implementation and requires significant planning. While Michigan Virtual was successful and able to stick to their deadline, it was challenging and it is important to recognize that this process does not happen overnight. 

Expect the unexpected

Another challenge within the process was making sure to have the right people and processes in place to make decisions, to facilitate completion of the work, and to handle curveballs, like unexpected situations and challenges, as they arise. The Michigan Virtual LMS team had to be flexible and make many adjustments throughout their LMS journey. 

Opportunities

Increased competitive advantage

On the other hand, the LMS selection and implementation process afforded Michigan Virtual some opportunities, such as the ability to choose a solution that would help keep the organization competitive by offering an enhanced experience for their students and customers. 

Increased flexibility and efficiency

Desire 2 Learn (D2L)’s ability to configure a system in unique ways that Michigan Virtual needed was one of the major aspects that made their product and service stand out against other competitors who didn’t offer that flexibility. It also gave them increased efficiency, the opportunity to streamline some operations, and a more impactful/mutually beneficial partnership in transitioning from two LMS vendors to one. 

Final thoughts and recommendations

Whether you are considering implementing an LMS for the first time or transitioning to a new one, assembling a team that is well-organized and made up of talented, dedicated, and passionate people will make the work and the process possible. 

Take the time to discover what is most important to your school or organization as you begin the selection process. The right LMS could create increased efficiencies for your organization and provide exciting opportunities and a better experience for your students and customers. 

Additional resources

• LMS Selection and Implementation: Michigan Virtual Case Study: a more detailed account of the information and selection process described above, as well as a detailed account of Michigan Virtual’s LMS selection and implementation process. 
• Guide to Selecting an LMS for K-12: developed by a workgroup of classroom teachers, building administrators, and district-level leaders

References

Canvas. (2019). 13 Must-haves for Buying a K-12 Learning Management Platform. Instructure. https://www.instructure.com/canvas/sites/blog.canvaslms/files/2019-08/13_Must_Haves_Buyers_Guide_ep_R3.pdf

Gill, S. (2019). Top five factors to consider when choosing a learning platform. Moodle. https://moodle.com/news/top-five-factors-to-consider-when-choosing-a-learning-platform/

itsLearning. (2019). How to choose the best LMS for your district. https://itslearning.com/us/k-12/resources/how-to-choose-the-best-k12-lms/

Lambda Solutions. (2019). LMS consideration guide: How to get the LMS you need to meet your goals. https://www.lambdasolutions.net/resources/whitepapers-ebooks/lms-consideration-guide

Pappas, N. (2014). 11 tips for choosing the best learning management system (2018 Update). eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/11-tips-choosing-best-learning-management-system

About the Authors

Christa Green

Christa received her master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Kent State University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She taught middle school language arts and social studies for seven years before coming to work for Michigan Virtual in 2018. As a research specialist with the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, Christa enjoys using her passion for education, curriculum, research, and writing to share and shape best practices in online and blended learning with other educators within and beyond Michigan. 

Kristen DeBruler

Dr. DeBruler is the Research Manager at Michigan Virtual. She has been in the field of K-12 online education for nearly a decade and joined Michigan Virtual in 2012. During that time, she conducted research on preparing K-12 online teachers and supporting K-12 students. Some of that work focused specifically on K-12 online teacher preparation, K-12 online learner demographics and success at several state virtual schools, and learning trajectories in K-12 online mathematics courses. Dr. DeBruler received her doctorate in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from Michigan State University and has experience teaching at the Master’s level, both face-to-face and online.

Why use Google Forms in the classroom?

Well, first off, it is free and is part of the Google Suite of Applications.

Not only can you utilize Google Forms as a teacher, but your students can as well. Your students can engage with data collection and view that data in multiple formats. 

Secondly, it is fairly easy to use, and all of your form responses can be found by simply clicking ”Responses,” allowing you to see data visually or in spreadsheet form. 

Have a formative quiz you want to administer and have it automatically graded with feedback?  

Google Forms can do that.  

Want to give the students a quick survey and get the results instantly?  

Forms can do that, too. 

Finally, Google forms is easy to share with others. All you have to do is simply share a link.

How should I use Google Forms?

To create a Google Form, visit your Google Drive and under the “More” section you will see “Form.” 

What you may not know is that if you hover your cursor over that “Form” area, you have the option to create a new form or pick from already created templates such as exit slips, assessments, and course evaluations. 

As previously mentioned, while Google Forms can be used to gather information, such as feedback from others, it can also be used as a self-grading quiz. 

Users have the option to choose what type of questions they would like to ask and can even send students to a different section of the form based on their answers. 

A fairly new addition to Google Forms also allows you to pull in questions from previously created forms. 

This means if you have created other Google Forms you can pull questions from those items. 

Another tip:

If you are using Google Forms to give a formative assessment, there is an option to use “Locked Mode” on Chromebooks. 

This way, respondents won’t be allowed to open tabs or other applications while taking this quiz. 

Note: this only works if you are using a district-managed Chromebook.

Want to know more about how you can use Google Forms? Check out the Google Help Center for more information. 

Using Google Forms in your classroom?  We would love to hear how you are utilizing this tool!

As an educator and a mom, I have had many opportunities to interact with the Harry Potter series.

It’s exciting to see how all of the different story elements come to life in the movies, including scenes in which the artwork quite literally comes alive.

Wouldn’t it be great if, just like at Hogwarts, you could create living images for your classroom? 

For example, posters that allowed students to interact with content or to even create their own content? 

Well, look no further because we have two interactive image tools that will bring your images to life, with very little lift!

Tool #1: Classtools.net’s Image Annotator

Classtools.net has a basic tool called Image Annotator you and your students can use. 

This image annotator only allows the addition of web links, but it would be great to use in conjunction with Google Docs or sharing websites for students to do research. 

This tool is very simple to use: upload an image and click on the picture where you would like your resource link to appear. 

Not only can you embed the photo into your own website, but you can also share using a link or QR Code.

Even better yet? It’s completely free to use.

Tool #2: Thinglink

Thinglink is not a new tool, but it has recently become very popular with teachers.  

This incredible little website and iPad app allow you to upload images and “tag” certain portions of that image to create an interactive image. 

This means, for example, that if students are learning about the water cycle, you can create a Thinglink they can interact with in order to learn about each portion of the cycle.  

You can add text, audio, video, and embed the image on your own blog or webpage. 

Check out some of these virtual field trips that have been created using this tool. 

It’s important to know that while teachers can create Thinglinks for free, there is a cost for student accounts, should you want your students to create their own.

Already using Image Annotator and Thinglink? We would love to hear how you are using these tools in your classroom!

Most teachers have sent home communication showcasing their students’ work in the classroom. 

For example, these communications might highlight a student showing leadership, compassion for others, hard work, or creativity.  

As a parent, I have found these notes buried at the bottom of my son or daughter’s backpack weeks later.  

This got me thinking about a Google add-on that I used years ago and had forgotten about:

Autocrat.

This add-on allows you to create a form where submissions can populate a Google Doc.

For example, a teacher could fill out a form by selecting a list of characteristics a student has exhibited and automatically generate a letter through Autocrat.

This letter could be easily emailed or copied and pasted into a Remind message sent out to families. 

Not only can teachers use this for communication in their classrooms, but they could also use it to create missing library book lists or lesson plans by identifying different fields in Autocrat.

Autocrat can be a bit tricky, but we’ve included a video below explaining how it can be set up: 

Already using Autocrat? We would love to hear how you are using this tool.

Our students are constantly noticing injustices or experiencing inequities in their world.

Whether it’s institutionalized racism, sexism, or otherness created in everyday experiences or present in the media to which they are exposed, they are aware of the goodness and the ugliness in the world, and they are eager to shift the world for the better.

That’s why I was so excited when I learned about the concept of giving my students a “Genius Hour” (GH).

The idea here is pretty simple:

Just like big, innovative companies like Google allow employees to spend 20% of their time developing passion projects, many educators are now giving their students dedicated classroom time to developing passion projects of their own.

My hope with the implementation of Genius Hour in my sixth-grade integrated Language Arts and Social Studies class was that my students would have the opportunity to pursue their passions, cultivate their curiosities, and see their failure or potential dead ends turn into new ideas pushing their perseverance.

I also wanted to honor their feelings of not being heard or listened to by adults even though they had great ideas.

We paired Genius Hour with project-based learning (PBL), which allowed us to examine some of the injustices in our community, locally, and as a whole class. We made significant impacts on our school through PBL, but the kids also wanted to pursue things more globally, which pushed us in the direction of more personal PBL experiences in Genius Hour.

Through Genius Hour, students begin where they are.

One of the highlights of implementing GH is that it can be as simple as allowing a student who loves dogs the option to examine why dogs shake immediately following a bath or allowing a student who’s passionate about ocean life to dive deeper into environmental causes of the bleaching of coral reefs around the world.

I start by inviting students to think about their passions and what makes them curious by taking “wonder walks” around our school and our community and by watching clips from around the globe. Each of these wonderings is then pursued by students during an allocated portion of their week.

This one-hour (Genius Hour) is dedicated to very specific tasks, including:

• Coaching students on finding passion, seeking out information, utilizing google, finding reputable sources, aligning information, and finding multiple sources to verify information
• Pairing a mini-lesson with some research time
• Working to cite sources, paraphrase, quote texts, implement infographics, make sense of data, and balance information in written form with images
• Studying presentation methods and how we might engage an audience to share our findings

Fair Warning: there is an immense amount of struggle in implementing Genius Hour for both the facilitator as well as the students.

Knowing and embracing this struggle from the onset is crucial.

Here are two ways I manage it:

• We talk about mistakes. Mistakes that Worked by Charlotte Foltz Jones is a great text to examine ideas that come from unintentional discoveries.
• We examine picture books that help inspire thinking (Kobi Yamda’s What Do You Do With an Idea?, What do You Do With a Problem?, and What Do You Do With a Chance?).

For teachers, helping to facilitate the development of questions and helping to identify keywords that might help students find helpful resources can take several weeks.

Watching students arrive at dead ends, redirecting those students, and helping them to see the success in their perceived failure is so valuable but also takes time and patience.

There are so many tools and resources to help you get started Genius Hour and get students excited!

• We utilize the book The Crown on Your Head by Nancy Tillman to launch the school year and the idea of GH with the hope that students honor their crowns as forever changing as well as honoring the crowns of others (the uniqueness of others)
• Get practical implementation tools from Joy Kirr’s LiveBinder
• For help with pursuing passion and creating, watch Caine’s Arcade and the Cardboard Challenge Part I and Part II
• For Global Explorations and cultivating curiosity, consider using Project Explorer
• Read Angela Maier’s Classroom Habitudes

Utilizing GH accompanied by these tools were key to my students’ learning and successes.

Giving students voice and choice in my classroom and ultimately their world has proven to be extremely empowering. When they see that they can be change-makers, the relevance of school and their learning become so clear. GH has been a catalyst for projects that have spanned years, earned students grants and even developed into one student’s non-profit organization: Suitcases For Kids.

Math is reading, and science is writing. They need to understand history and social constructs to make sense of the world around them.

The most authentic and meaningful learning we can offer our students is to invite them to explore.