Sunday, May 25, 2014

Going 1:1 with Chromebooks

First off, thank you for all of the positive comments on my last post. As I said there, I don't usually post personal information, but it was somewhat pertinent to my reflection of the year. :) As a result, I felt very vulnerable when I hit "publish", so your comments on twitter and text were very appreciated!

This year, my school piloted a 1:1 program with our freshman academy using Chromebooks. Next year, we are going 1:1 from 9-12, which means we have some major revamping to do in terms of technology in the classroom. I'm really excited about the new challenges that the 1:1 initiative will bring, so I've spent some time researching how to best utilize them in my AP Stat class. We will be using Canvas as our LMS, which I know several of my friends use at other schools, but I'm looking more specific for statistics. Here's what I have so far...

Gathering Data from Students
One of the things that I'm REALLY excited about is the ability to have the students gather data and be able to share that data to the class. For example:



In the above example, I can ask students to go to a webpage, record their observations, then use the results to gauge how students are doing.

I also visualize seeing Google Forms utilized for exit tickets, short daily quizzes, etc. I used Flubaroo this year for my mock AP exam and it was pretty awesome. How else do you use Google Forms in the classroom?

Stat Software
I've also been on a hunt for Chrome-friendly web apps to use in my AP Stat class. The web-based stat software that I've used before is Java based, so that won't be something I can use with the Chromebooks. Here's what I've found so far:

  • Stat Crunch - this is a pretty cool software package, but it does cost about $5 per student. I haven't played with it much, but I think there may already be resources out there to use it in an AP Stat class.

  • plot.ly - I've just dabbled with this graphing software, but it looks like it could be useful (and free)

  • StatKey - anything that Robin Lock does is bound to be good! He's been my table leader at the AP reading in the past and he's a pretty great guy. I haven't played with StatKey too much, but that will change this summer!

  • Desmos - the MTBoS is pretty familiar with this one and it is more for algebra than stats, but still a cool piece of software :)

    Any other awesome apps out there? Please share!

    Other ideas
    If you have other ideas on how to utilize the technology, I'd love to hear it!
  • 1 comment:

    Andrew said...

    StatKey looks awesome! That's definitely going on my "to investigate" list.

    I've used Forms+Flubaroo a couple times to differentiate review days: the students start by taking a quiz on the form, then using the comment/email features of flubaroo I send a personalized set of practice links.

    It didn't work perfectly, but I think I can adapt the idea to work better with the AutoCrat add-on. It allows you to create a document based on entries in a spreadsheet, and send those documents via email.
    Related is Doctopus -- great for creating documents for each student or groups of students. Saves a lot of "Open this document and hit 'make a copy' so you can edit it".