The Schoenblog

If you’re reading this blog, this probably isn’t too much of a surprise as I write about forms, sheets, and add-ons constantly. That’s why I was thrilled when New Vision Cloud Lab asked me to be a part of their Ignite Throwdown at Google’s NYC headquarters. The event celebrated the release of autoCrat 3.0, which you can learn more about in this episode of the Schoencast.

The ignite talk was my first shot at this kind of event and audience size, and I was excited. An ignite talk is five minutes long with 20 slides that automatically transition every 15-seconds. This meant that I needed to be well prepared and memorized to make sure that my words matched my visuals, and New Visions asked us to keep to a schedule in for the script, slides, and rehearsal. I was given freedom to design my talk, with the goal of featuring some of New Vision’s fantastic products along the way.

One of the big challenges was timing, so I tried to figure out how many words I could plan per slide. 42 was the magic number for me, with some scripts being shorter as needed. I tried to build in time for pauses, effect, and reactions, too, and this was hard. I worked and reworked the script, practiced by myself and for others, recited the script in the car for days, and worked really hard for the big day.

The focus of my talk was using autoCrat with Google Forms to help automate communication and grading. But one of the most important pieces of advice I’ve ever received is to not focus the heart of a speech on tools or even technology. Instead, I wanted to focus on a message and on students. I developed this tagline to summarize the story I wanted to tell: Learn how New Visions add-ons made feedback & grading better, easier, and automatic so teachers had more time for what matters most: students.

For me, telling a story was essential. I wanted my talk to have heart, to showcase students, and to make an impact. I wanted to use the technology and add-ons as tools to help do this, not as the story. And this is advice I want to continue to apply in my work as a speaker, where I hope to grow and improve. Preparing for five minutes was a challenge and really made me think about speakers who deliver powerful memorized keynotes and similar sessions--I’m impressed!

In the end, I veered from my script a little bit. I said things that I didn’t exactly plan. But I think the whole was better for it. I’m proud of my talk, the work it represents, and the students it’s all impacted.

The video of the talk was just released, which is why I’m writing about it now. Below, find an embed of the video from YouTube plus a copy of the slides if you want a closer look. I’m proud to have participated in the event with so many other great speakers and can’t wait for next time.

  

While most Google Apps have add-ons, for my money sheets and forms have those game changers that can really impact workflow, make your jobs more efficient, and transform your work. Below, find some of my favorite add-ons with brief explanations and applications. If you have one to add to the list, reach out on Twitter or in the comments!

Most Google Apps have an Add-ons menu on the top toolbar. Click Add-ons → Get Add-ons to start exploring!

The Best of the Best

Choice Eliminator, as the title suggests, removes an option from a multiple choice question after it has been selected, depending on your preferences. Each question can be customized depending on your intended quantity of responses.

I use Choice Eliminator to have students select groups and topics for projects. I share the responses sheet with them, and the add-on is used to keep all of that management seamless and electronic.





Form Mule is a mail merge utility. It combines the data across the rows of a spreadsheet into a template you create, and e-mails it to whoever you decide.

Use it to send form results to a user, e-mail students comments from a forms rubric, or to notify yourself when students submit form or sign up for appointments. Find much more on Form Mule on the first episode of the Schoencast here.





Autocrat is a document merge tool. It works similarly to Form Mule, in that it combines and merges data from a sheet or form. However, the power of Autocrat is that is can create .pdf or Google Docs that can be attached to an e-mail, fitting a .doc template you create.

Use Autocrat to send PD certificates or quiz results when participants complete a form. Many conferences do this to automate the certificate process. Or use it to merge those ugly rows of data into a nice, clean document from a student survey that you might not have really looked at since the first week of school. One day, I’ll write about my self-paced, automated quizzes that are based on Autocrat.





Copy Down copies formulas in a Google Sheet down a column.

Use Copy Down to automatically apply custom formulas to form results. For example, create a basic sum formula to total grades from a form quiz. Then, use Copy Down to fill that data when the form is submitted each time. Combine it with Form Mule to automate the return of the feedback. Since each new Google Form response actually inserts a new row, Copy Down is essential if you plan to use any formulas and accept new responses.





Flubaroo automatically grades a Google Form multiple choice quiz.

Use it to grade quizzes (duh!). The add-on compares your results of a submission as the key with student submissions, grades them, and provides some basic analytics on the data. It highlights problematic questions, low scoring questions, and can even e-mail scores and /or answer keys to students. Additionally, Flubaroo can be set to run automatically upon submission, and can now even be used for scoring open ended responses, too.

Bonus Round: 

Doctopus is an incredible Google Sheets add-on used to distribute templates. When paired with the extension Goobric, it’s incredibly useful for using rubrics to grade writing through Google Drive and Classroom. It deserves it’s own post, though, so while it’s incredible, I’ll keep it brief this time.

The More the Merrier

One of the great things about Google Apps is that new updates, products, extensions, and add-ons are coming all the time. The screenshots below show some of the ones I use in addition to my top 5. Number 6-10 could easily be a post on it’s own, too. Explore the Chrome store and make your life easier and teaching better with the power of the Forms and Sheets add-ons.