Group items tagged

One administrative reaction to increasing computer use in the classroom is to try and lock down the computers tighter. There's something to this, in terms of protecting a group resource - but it can also create a distracting challenge for students who just want their school iPad to work like their home one does. Sometimes trust and active supervision work better than technical lockdowns!

Lots of people at Kenyon use Word's Track Changes or Turnitin's GradeMark. This post talks about ways to attach verbal comments to a document. (This idea is used by some language profs, as a way to get students some listening practice at the same time they're working on a written project.)

A description of the author's process for grading with his iPad. The comments section includes some good alternatives, including Word's "Track Changes" feature, as well as a few suggestions of classroom strategies which improve students' receptiveness to paperless feedback.

Not only in science, but in all disciplines, we need to question the narratives about talent and moments of revelation and instead talk about hard, sustained work. How do you talk to students who are waiting, instead of working, for a subject to "click"?

Our discussions about writing often come around to whether students actually read (and internalize) the comments. Sometimes we hear about students not knowing how to turn on Track Changes or the GradeMark panel in Turnitin, so at the most basic level electronic comments do introduce friction for some students. What do you think of the research project proposed here - do students actually approach electronic feedback differently?

As we think increasingly about the use of screencasting software for laptops and desktops, we should also consider those small computers in everyone's pocket.