Local Participation in Computer Science Education Week

Many of our local schools participated in the Hour of Code as part of Computer Science Education Week. 

Here are a few stories about some of their experiences...

Cornwall Central School District:

Students in Cornwall High School visited the library on December 11th during study hall and/or lunch periods to work on the Code.org tutorial.  A team of teachers, administrators, and students worked together to organize their participation in this Worldwide event.

At the Middle School level, students were able to stay after school any day of the week to work with a teacher in the computer lab.  In the elementary schools, many of the 1st and 2nd grade teachers brought their students to the lab to work on the coding tutorials.  Their preparation and participation in these activities has opened the eyes of students, teachers, and administrators as to it's importance in the curriculum.

Florida Union Free School District:

Sixth grade students at S. S. Seward Institute participated in the "Hour of Code" on Thursday, December 18th. In this hour of code, sixth graders were privileged to have the opportunity to work with Senior Christopher Flanagan as part of his Independent Student Project (ISP). Christopher facilitated students alongside principal Michael Rhueame and 6th grade English teacher/ISP mentor Brian Slevin. To expand student coding knowledge, Christopher guided students via the website: http://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/ 

The site coupled with Christopher's direction enabled students to troubleshoot, problem solve, and create code that they could understand and follow. The Hour of Code was thoroughly enjoyed by all of the participants, adults and students.  Christopher is excited to plan another Hour of Code this school year for students to further explore the world of coding.


Goshen Central School District:
Goshen did Hour of Code with Scotchtown Avenue School, Goshen Intermediate School, and CJ Hooker Middle School.  At Goshen High School, coding is built into some of our technology course offerings through Mr. Fedor.  At Scotchtown Avenue School, Technology Teacher Michelle Girardi is introducing coding to K-2 students at a very basic level, and is considering developing further coding into the curriculum including possibility the board game Robot Turtles.  At GIS (grades 3-5), Technology Teaching Assistant Kendra Parchinski ran her classes through some coding programs, and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Sheboy acknowledged how hard students worked until they got it to go how they wanted to while fighting through many failed attempts.  The perseverance was commendable.  At the CJ Hooker Middle School (6-8), Science Teacher Laura Muller did a special "hour of code" course with interested students. 


Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District:

The Intermediate School from Highland Falls Fort Montgomery CSD celebrated their first day of Code on Tuesday, December 9, 2014.  Although poor weather conditions caused a two hour delay for their district, most sections were still able to work on code during their abbreviated schedule. 
Students used a variety of resources from Code.Org, Tynker, and Blockly.  Two classes were able to create virtual apps, then used a QR reader to download the apps onto their iPads.   Numerous 6th graders created their own Flappy Bird games and enjoyed customizing the backgrounds and scenery of their own versions of the game.  When they were finished, they could easily explain the coding process to friends who were struggling. Students learned it is acceptable to test a code and see if it works, and if not they could try again and again.  Many 4th Graders had the chance to ask their questions to code expert, Leandra Tejedor, daughter of Dr. Andrea Tejedor, via Google Hangout, and learned about her previous work with coding at Monroe-Woodbury, as well as her development of a new app called VidCode.   The School Board was invited to come work with the 6th Grade STEM Enrichment Program students and code together. 

Enlarged City School District of Middletown:

Several teachers from 3 of the Elementary buildings in Middletown jumped on board with their classes to participate in Computer Science Education Week.  Over 200 students in grades 2-5 completed an Hour of Code using websites such as Code.org, Tynker, and Khan Academy.  Many of their favorites included coding lessons from Angry Birds and Frozen, but they were also able to create their own games using the code they learned.   The teachers who participated this year hope to continue coding with their students for the remainder of the year, and say they will spread the word to other teachers about how great the experience has been for their students.  They are excited about how engaged the students were, and believe it taught them skills like logic and problem solving in a very authentic way.  Click here to view pictures of students participating in Middletown.

Minisink Valley Central School District:

Minisink focused their teaching of Code to both students and teachers in grades K-8.  While there were some technical problems with the code.org website the first day of Computer Science Education Week, December 8th, Minisink teachers moved their coding lessons to sites such as madewithcode.com and  tynker.com.  Minisink posted more detailed information about their experiences with the Hour of Code on their District Webpage. Click here to read more.

Washingtonville Central School District:

Carla Sansone's 5th grade class at Round Hill Elementary School participated in the Hour of Code using the Khan Academy website. They were able to create snowmen using the drag and drop feature. Students learned that while coding looks and feels different to how they normally learn, there is a lot of math involved.  While viewing the tutorials, students also learned that their snowman lived on a plane with an X and Y axis, similar to that taught in their math class. Coding with Ms. Sansone's class was a huge success!

Google Classroom - Can It Replace Your LMS?

Google Classroom has been around since September 2014 and has gotten a lot of attention for the tools it provides.  But will it replace your existing Learning Management System (LMS) or is it going to be just another tool that leaves you wanting more?  We have used Google Classroom extensively with a number of different school districts and are impressed with the way it works with assignments from your google drive.  There is nothing out there that we are aware of that manages sharing of Doc/Slides/Sheets/Drawings with students in such a fluid and comprehensive way.  Let's go over some of the highlights of why we think that everyone that is using Google Apps for Education should be using Classroom for managing your assignments that utilize Google Docs.

1. Make a Copy for Each Student - Google Classroom can automatically create copies of the Document/Presentation/Spreadsheet/Drawing that you are sharing with your students and share it with you, the teacher.  When the student clicks on the assignment, it automatically makes a copy of the document you shared with them, appends their name to it and gives the student edit rights and the teacher comment rights.
   
2. Create Google Docs for an assignment - Don't have a worksheet or template created? No problem.  Just create the assignment, include a description and due date.  When the student clicks on the assignment, they click the CREATE button and choose what type of Google doc they want to create.  A blank Document/Presentation/Spreadsheet/Drawing is created named with the name of the assignment, appended with the student's name and share with the teacher. 
   
3.  Use with any type of Document or Link - Along with Google Docs, Google classroom allows students to turn in any type of digital file via upload or a link.  This allows for flexibility in the types of products you require from your students.  
   
4. Turning in Assignments - When students turn in their assignments in classroom, the time it is turned in is logged and the student no longer has editing rights.  This is huge for teachers who want to maintain strict assignment deadlines and still use google docs.  Students can still un-submit and modify the document, but all their submissions are clearly documented and you don't need to dive into the documents revision history to see it.  

Overall, there is nothing better for managing Google Docs assignments.  However, Google Classroom is still in it's infancy and, either they need to add more features, or they need to make this API available to all other LMSs out there to allow them to work as seamlessly with Google Drive as Google Classroom does.  Here is where we find that Google Classroom is lacking:

• The stream - is just that, a stream of information and interactions with no organization to it except the option to look at all of your assignments in one place.  Three is no way to organize your content into units or weeks.  This is something that educators who are serious about online or blended learning will find Google Classroom is missing.
• No Calendar - with a robust calendar functionality in Google Apps, I would think it would be simple to add a class calendar to your Google Classroom that you can also edit and access from your calendar app.  For now, the only option you have is to attach a link in the resources section.
• No Quiz/Test Features - Google Forms are great for assessment, but for right now, all you can do to add one to your class is to attach it to an assignment as a shared link.  This is something that should be integrated into a class and even embedded on a page like you can in other LMSs that are out there.

There is hope for Google Classroom to mature into a fully functional LMS, but for right now it is a great tool for Google Drive based assignments and a simple tool for classroom interaction.  If you aren't currently using any kind of LMS and you share any documents with your students using Google Drive, then this is a great place to start.