iLearn

Spotlight on Tech

by

Do you ever want to create a quick formative assessment? With E-Voting in iLearn, this is quick and easy. You don’t have to worry about creating accounts for students. You don’t have to worry about whether the site is FERPA compliant. You can post a QR code* or a link* for students to access the assessment (*Pro tip: QR codes and links can be reused).

E-Voting

Setting up e-Voting is simply a matter of going to your iLearn course and adding an activity called E-Voting.

On the next screen:

  • Add a “poll” name
  • Type your question
  • Type in possible answers (*optionally identify correct answers)
  • *Optionally: Add another question(s) and repeat the steps above
  • Save

Students can access the questions through a QR code or a web link. They do NOT need to sign in to iLearn. You “start” the poll when you are ready. Click on the QR code to expand it. If projected, the students can easily scan it. (Students can also log into iLearn and click on the link. Or, you can copy the URL and get it to the students – paste a link on a shared document, on your blog or email it).

*Note that student names are not associated with answers. iLearn has the ability to associate student names with assessments, but not with this module.

Pro tip: It is possible to create a “generic” question and answers. Then you can create questions “on the fly”. Just create a question that says, “Answer the question I just asked”. Then create answers of 1, 2, 3, 4. You will need to then tell the students what each answer stands for (1=”xxxx”, 2=”yyyyy, 3=”zzzzz”, 4=”I don’t know”).

Naturally, if you would like some assistance, please reach out to our Tech Coach or the Technology Department. We love to help with instruction.

Annotation Pilot

by
Annotation example

One of the skills that students need to learn is how to annotate. Not only do they need to learn how to annotate, but learning how to annotate in a digital age is important.

The Technology Department has joined an Annotation Pilot Project. This project brings the ability for all Dearborn teachers to empower students to learn annotation skills.

Teachers can now easily add the ability for students to annotate web pages or PDFs right through iLearn.

Teachers: if you’d like to try this with your students, please reach out to our Tech Coach or the Technology Department.

Choose iLearn

by
This is the login page of ilearn.
iLearn Sign in page

DESIGNED TO SAVE YOU TIME

Quit wasting time and get started using a tool that is designed for teaching and learning by people passionate about education!  iLearn is built for classroom activities. We now offer pdf and web page annotation, secured and shareable assessments, writing peer review workshops with rubrics, interactive H5P activities, and so much more!  

ONE CLICK LOGIN

Log in with your Google Account
Utilize Google Single Sign-on so that your students can access learning materials quickly.  

SECURE BROWSER APP

Stop cheating before it happens
The iLearn Secure Browser App prevents cheating by locking down Chromebooks. 

MISTAR GRADE EXPORT

Publish grades directly to MISTAR
Save time and be more efficient. Let iLearn grade your assessments and with the click of a button transfer grades to MISTAR.  

Choose iLearn – Flyer1Download

iLearn Sign-On

by

We’ve been working for quite a while on a special project. We are now ready to unveil that project.

We understand the struggle with signing into different places. We want to make this as easy as possible, AND as secure as possible. Those things are generally two different ends of the teeter-totter. That is, the easier something is to access, the less secure it is.

Kindergarteners face a special challenge. Since they are frequently still learning their letters and numbers, signing in to a computer securely can be a conundrum. We’ve developed badges to help that process out. That can get them signed into a Chromebook easily, but not iLearn.

We now have an answer.

Students (and Staff) can now sign in using Google. This reduces the load for elementary students. As it turns out, this is good for everyone. We were able to accomplish this while still protecting the security of our data.

Now, IF you are signed into Google, signing into iLearn only requires a button click – no more entering a user name and password. (We have also implemented this on MyPD.)

That’s right. If students are on a Chromebook, they are already signed in. So, when they click the Google button at the bottom of the login page, they will be automatically (and quickly) signed into iLearn.

This reduces the time it takes students to log into iLearn. Thus, students can even more quickly and efficient start working on Peer Editing Assignments, Recording A Reading to track their fluency, Creating their very own digital glossary to create Vocabulary Connections, Self-monitoring their spelling proficiency, and much, much more.

Quiz Default Review Options in iLearn

by

Due to feedback from teachers, we have made some adjustments to the default settings on Quizzes in iLearn.

 

Checklist of default settings for iLearn Quizzes.

We know that timely feedback is one of the most powerful instructional strategies. Moodle allows for teachers to provide timely, specific feedback. Providing that feedback while students are working through quiz can assist students in learning. However, also have listened carefully to how teachers are currently using Quizzes and what they expect. It is through working with teachers that we have made the changes to the defaults. Please remember that these are the defaults. These can be changed and adjusted by the needs and use of the teacher. If your situation calls for providing instant feedback (i.e. if you are using a Quiz for students to review/practice), you can easily turn on the Specific feedback.

Teachers have the option to enter Specific feedback, General feedback and Overall feedback. These are great opportunities to communicate with students in an efficient manner.

Feedback Times:

iLearn allows for that feedback to happen at four different times for a quiz:

  1. During the attempt – is only available when ‘ How questions behave ’ has been set to ‘ Immediate feedback ’, ‘ Immediate feedback with CBM ’ or ‘ Interactive with multiple tries ’. If set to one of these options then a ‘ Check ’ button will appear below the answer and when clicked the student will submit that response and then receive immediate feedback.
  2. Immediately after the attempt – means within 2 minutes of the student clicking “submit all and finish”.
  3. Later, while the quiz is still open – means after 2 minutes, but before the close date (if the quiz does not have a close date, this phase never ends).
  4. After the quiz is closed – means what it says (you never get here for quizzes without a close date).

Feedback Type

Additionally, iLearn allows for the following information to be conveyed:

  • The attempt – Will show how the student responded to each question.
  • Whether correct – Displays whether the students response to each question is correct or incorrect*.
  • Points – The numerical points for each question and the overall attempt score.
  • Specific feedback – Will show the feedback for the response to the answer as set when adding the question to the quiz. Each response to a question can have feedback for both correct and incorrect answers. This is entered by the teacher in the appropriate section of each question. (*noted as one of the most powerful instructional strategies). 
  • General feedback – Displays the general feedback for the whole question as set when adding the question to the quiz. You can use the general feedback to give students some background to what knowledge the question was testing.
  • Right answer – Reveals the correct answer to each question, whether the student answered correctly or not
  • Overall feedback – Displays feedback for the entire quiz as set in the quiz settings

The new defaults will just show the student their answer while they are attempting the quiz. After they have attempted the quiz, it will students will see points and overall feedback, but nothing specific. After the Quiz is closed, students would receive feedback on why their answers are correct or not (if entered by the teacher).

Support

Please know that the Tech Coaches are available to assist you in utilizing iLearn for student achievement. You can reach out to them on their blog.

 

*Note: Currently, the Answers display is a bit inconsistent between different question types. For example, the matching question type shows students which of their responses are correct, but does not tell them the right answer for the ones they got wrong. The short answer and multiple choices question types do tell the student what the correct answer is.

iLearn Lockdown Browser

by 
by Chris Kenniburg & Troy Patterson

Students who cheat on tests should be VERY worried!

Whether it is opening up a new tab and searching for an answer or logging out and logging back in with a different account ( or any number of creative ways students cheat), in K-12 circles it seems to be a never ending fight to prevent students from cheating.  This is especially true when using most online testing websites.

We are creating a secure testing environment for students by utilizing a combination of a Chromebook App and a new Secure iLearn Quiz Module.

This process is tightly integrated with iLearn and Chromebooks. This process will now allow you to eliminate cheating (at least by preventing students from opening additional tabs or windows – they could still write out answers on their hand) and focus on building good assessments to better gauge student learning.

Our Chromebook App is launched by the student before actually logging into the Chromebook (the student never logs into Chrome, but will log into iLearn – which is the only page accessible in the App). An audible “Chime” noise is produced so that the teacher knows the student has entered the testing application. This provides the teacher  with an audible alert know if a student leaves the testing environment during the testing period.

Once logged in, the App enters into testing mode in which there is no going back.  Absolutely. No. Going. Back.  Once a student clicks a link to open a quiz, they can only go forward until they complete the quiz. (A student may go back to previous questions or pages within the quiz but they are blocked from leaving the quiz module.)  They cannot use navigation buttons to leave the quiz module.  Following completion of the quiz, they must shutdown the Chromebook in order to logout.  There is no logout or ability to leave a quiz.

Oh… we didn’t mention the new Moodle Secure Quiz Module (in development now) which looks to make sure the student is using the using the Chromebook Testing App! This effectively eliminates the ability of the student to login and take the test in any other way other than within our controlled and secure testing app on a chromebook controlled by the school district.

Students Leading the Way

by

What happens when students become the teachers?

We have a very powerful tool in iLearn (based on Moodle). We’ve trained teachers to take advantage of some of the powerful options available in iLearn. Our focus though, is always on student learning. iLearn provides teachers with tremendous possibilities for student engagement and empowerment.

One way to provide student empowerment is to let them become the “teacher” and create an iLearn course. They can then use this course to teach others. Those others can be in their class. Or, those others could be in a different grade. Or, those others could be in a different school.

Over at Fordson, one teacher is “elevating” the students to become the teacher. These students are responsible for creating an experience for their learners. They are creating some very interesting material. (*The students are even writing Language Objectives and Content Objectives).

iLearn opens so many doors, so many opportunities.

Contact a Tech Coach if you’d like some support as well.

iLearn Tips

by

Here are a couple of really good iLearn tips:

Show items in gradebook with a score of 0 zero

Hide Course Total score/grade from students

Dearborn Moodle Moot- Take 2

by

There is still time to register for the second session of the Dearborn Moodle Moot for 2017. If you want to become better at using iLearn (and enjoy some awesome ICE CREAM), register today. You will have a coupon code available (sent out earlier in an email) or contact me.

Need more information? Want to invite your family and friends? Use the link below:

Dearborn Moodle Moot 

August 15th & 16th.

(8:30 am – 4:00 pm)

The Dearborn Moodle Moot is an exciting and engaging conference for educators interested in elearning.  Learn the skills necessary to turn YOUR classroom into a Blended Learning Classroom. We are focused on practical K-12 training that can be applied directly to your online classroom.

iLearn Upgrade

by

Moodle (iLearn) 3.3 is now available.

This is great news for us. We have been looking forward to the update since the beta was released. We will be upgrading immediately after school is dismissed in June.

Impact

So how does this impact teachers and students? iLearn will look very different than in the past. It will be more user friendly, but it will be different for those who have used iLearn in the past. If you are teaching summer school, the course work will be provided through the newer interface. (You can get more information from a previous post – The Gift that isn’t quite ready – or head over to the Moodle Sandbox to start to get comfortable.

Of course, the upcoming Moodle Moot (with ICE CREAM) will cover the new look and feel for iLearn as well.

Follow this blog

Get every new post delivered right to your inbox.