Inspiration
Inspiration #1
Over the summer, I was introduced to a new term/concept known as a #hyperdoc. You might say well isn’t a hyperdoc just a Google Document that has hyperdocs in it? Well, the answer is no. A hyperdoc is a document that has links to other artifacts, videos, articles, games, reviews, etc. Through these links students learn about a concept as well as share their own learning and thoughts with others. To learn more about #hyperdocs, and the work that Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis have done, click HERE. I decided to make an attempt with creating a Chromebook challenge hyperdoc (even though it leans more on the side of students mostly learning information and not sharing as much information).
Inspiration #2
I was inspired to produce a Chromebook challenge after hearing about how Lee’s Summit R-7 School District created a Chromebook challenge for their students. Their great resource can be found on their technology website HERE. What I like about what they accomplished is that depending on the grade level, different tasks/reminders were given to the students.
Designing the Challenge
Seeing as though this is our second year as a 1:1 Chromebook school, I thought it made sense to do something similar at the high school level however I tried to gamify it a bit. I tried to keep the design of the challenge in mind when creating it as I did not want students to just watch a video explaining everything. I also knew I wanted to make it interactive and include some teachers in the challenge to put a smile on students faces. I also wanted to make it as easy as possible to follow along.
BHS Chromebook challenge was created using a Google Drawing. You can find the actual file HERE. You will notice that there are 8 different tasks for students in advisory to complete.
- Chromebook Reminders
- Chromebook Printing
- Organizing Digital Life
- Self Management
- Chromebook Shortcuts
- Planning Your Days
- Google Classroom
- Chrome Settings
The advisor decides the order of the tasks that they complete as a whole group. Whatever the task, the advisor follows along with the bulleted list. Tasks could involve students:
- watching a video or two
- looking over instructions in a Google Slide
- playing a game
- providing feedback in a padlet wall
- organizing their own Google Drive
- personalizing their own Chrome preferences
Documenting Tasks
Once an advisory completes a task, the advisor clicks on the
master Google Spreadsheet link in the middle of the Google Drawing. This is where all advisors keep track of what has and has not been accomplished. The advisor finds their name and the turns the ‘red x’ to a ‘green check mark’.
When all 8 tasks have been completed, the advisory earns a Chromebook challenge badge. Gamifying things makes learning that much more fun.
As a side note, for every task an advisory completes, their name gets entered in for a free breakfast. There will be a winner for each grade level. Oh and the advisory has the entire month of September to complete the challenge.
Here is to learning while having fun at the same time…
On this eighth day of Google, we will focus on how students can participate in activities on their Chromebook while in ‘locked mode’. In particular, I want to focus on two different features: Locked mode with Google Forms and Desmos Calculator.
Craig M Sheil 