Digital Feedback via Google Classroom

​Because I am in the throes of end of semester grading, this will be a quick post, but this topic is very, deeply important to me, so I may have to come back to it later.

I know it is probably not practical to be tinkering and inventing while trying to close out a semester, but there is something about grading performance assessments that always triggers inspiration and invention for me. Do you experience that, too?

Some of the things I dislike about performance based instruction are the difficulty in (a) making time for my students to receive meaningful feedback; (b) giving them a task that allows them to reflect on that feedback; and (c) getting the grading done in a timely fashion so that both of those things can happen. That being said, I have been playing around with "assigning" assessments on Google Classroom, attaching a feedback document and posting my students' assessment feedback in their copies of the document that Google creates for them. 

Here are some templates to consider:

Interpersonal Speaking Feedback Form + Student Reflection
​Presentational Speaking Feedback Form + Student Reflection

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The Pros (so far)

• Quick assignment to students
• Provides students a permanent record of their feedback since I cannot allow them to keep their assessments due to test security reasons
• Faster to type than handwrite
• Form standardizes the type of feedback I give each student
• ​You can reuse posts from Google Classroom so you don't have to rebuild the assignment from scratch in the future
• You have an option to assign the grade digitally in GC if you want
• You also have a place for private comments in case you have more to say or your students want to discuss the assessment or feedback confidentially
• If parents have access to their students' GC accounts, they "can" see the feedback, too (possibly)
• Students & teachers can embed comments into the document
• ​You could also include your rubric if you want rather than the reflection piece
• A digital record of any student who was absent the day of the assessment with notifications to that student that they have missing work
  
• GC now allows you to organize posts & assignments by categories and sorts them by categories in the "Classwork" tab of classroom, so if you want all assessments can go together OR you can organize by unit
  

The Cons (so far)

• You have to get used to the digital workflow
• Sometimes you are in a time crunch and may not have time for this
• Making sure that students actually complete the reflection and turn in the digital assignment
• You cannot edit and sync the template if you discover you should have included another option after you have assigned it
• It takes a little time to perfect the type of feedback form you want to provide your students

Last Thoughts (for now)

So far, I am pretty excited about the potential here. I am still working out kinks and trying to figure out the best way to streamline my workflow for interpersonal speaking assessments since there are two students I am listening to at one time. I am convinced that a Google Drive Add On by Alice Keeler could solve that problem, but I don't have a solution yet. I'll keep you posted!

Happy coaching, grading and winding down to winter break, friends!