Alexandra's Reflection 9/16

My thoughts on how 1:1 technology is going:

• Google Classroom is great! It's super easy to disseminate assignments and for students to turn in work. I have two classes that happen at the same time -- regular calculus and an AP Calculus 2 group -- and Classroom makes it easier for them to be self-directed. I also used it when students didn't have the prerequisite knowledge I thought they did to post Khan Academy videos they could use to catch up (at their request).
• I have had some small issues with Classroom: 1) There is no way to format the directions you type in with an assignment, which makes them less clear than I'd like sometimes. (I sent Google a feature request about this.) 2) I had one student report that he doesn't get notifications from Classroom and needs to keep going back and checking his assignments manually. There may be others who are having this issue. 3) Some students who do their math & science work on paper have been taking pictures of their work & submitting it. I haven't figured out a good way to comment on those yet.
• I'm still working out when I want to allow students to have their computers open and when not. It's disconcerting to look out at a sea of laptop-backs and not know what anyone's actually doing on there. On the other hand, many students are finding it easier to take notes on their computers. Students have shared their digital notes on Classroom and Googled things in the middle of class when a question came up we didn't know the answer to.