Another of the announcements that Google made today concerning Google Classroom featured the news that a gradebook, formerly in beta, is now available for all domains.
I've had access to the gradebook feature in Google Classroom since shortly after its launch. While convenient, it wasn't something that I got too excited about because all grades still had to be moved into the student information system used by the school. That problem is about to be solved as Google announced a new beta program that will allow domain administrators to integrate the Google Classroom gradebook with Infinite Campus and Capita SIMS.
Learn more about the Google Classroom gradebook integration with Infinite Campus and Capita SIMS and apply for the beta here.
Last year Google added a comment bank option to Google Classroom. That feature, demonstrated here, can save you a lot of time when giving your students feedback on their assignments. Today, Google announced another grading feature that teachers have wanted for years. That feature is the option to create and attached rubrics to assignments within Google Classroom.
Rubrics in Classroom is a beta feature for now. You have to apply to have the feature added to your account. Teachers and domain administrators can apply for the beta here. I applied for it. As I went through the short application it appeared that priority access may be given to teachers who can use the rubrics beta during the northern hemisphere's summer.
From Google's FAQ sheet about the beta and the support pages that have been created, it appears that you must create the rubric as part of an assignment. In other words, you can't create a rubric template and then attach it to multiple assignments. Students will be able to see the rubrics with they look at their assignments in Google Classroom. You can view the rubric while viewing a student's assignment. To give a grade you will select a score from each part of the rubric that you created. You can have up to ten criterion in your rubric with up to ten performance levels for each. I couldn't tell from the FAQ sheet or the support pages if it is possible to provide written comments along with checking-off scores in the rubric.
If you want to try to get beta access to the rubrics in Google Classroom feature, complete the application form that is available here.
Create a Rubric in Google Sheets
Don't forget that you can create a rubric that lets you email scores and comments to students through Google Sheets. Watch my video below to learn how to do that.
In advance of next week's ISTE conference, Kahoot has unveiled some new features that teachers have been asking for. Now when you create a Kahoot game you will have 25% more space to write your questions. You'll now be able to drag-and-drop your game questions into a new order. And, finally, Kahoot has added autosaving of your work in progress.
One of the features of Kahoot that I often show to people is the ability to duplicate public Kahoot games and customize those games for your students. Now Kahoot will make question suggestions based on the type of game you're creating and questions you've added. This is similar to the Google Forms feature that will suggest question types when you're writing a quiz.
One more Kahoot update that teachers should note is that you can now extend response timer for a question to four minutes. That's twice as long as the previous time limit.
Back in March Google launched "Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego?" for use in the web and mobile versions of Google Earth. Then in May a second Carmen Sandiego game was added to Google Earth. Today, Google added a third Carmen Sandiego game to Google Earth. Just like in the first two games, the new game has students interview witnesses and pursue clues around the globe.
Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? isn't the only game that you can find in the web, Android, and iOS versions of Google Earth. If you go into the Voyager mode in Google Earth you will find other games and quizzes to try. The quizzes are neat because when you answer a question correctly you automatically zoom to the Street View imagery of the location. Check it out in my video below.
Thanks to a Tweet from Mike Tholfsen this afternoon I learned about an exciting new feature that is coming soon to PowerPoint. That feature is called Presentation Coach. Presentation Coach is a rehearsal mode that you can use in PowerPoint (web version only, it appears) to get instant feedback on your presentation including your pacing, redundant use of words, and use of filler words and noises like "um" and "ah."
Presentation Coach will give you suggestions on how to replace filler words and how to alter your pacing. Presentation Coach will alert you if you're just reading from your slides instead of speaking from your memory. And when your rehearsal is completed Presentation Coach will give you a report about your presentation.
Applications for Education
Presentation Coach should be a PowerPoint feature that students and teachers will embrace when it rolls-out later this summer. Students will be able to practice and revise their presentations with the assistance of Presentation Coach as many times as they need to before speaking in front of their classes.
An updated presentation theme design tool is coming to PowerPoint later this summer too. You can read more about that update here.
