We Like Those Stinkin’ Badges!

I was sick one day this week and instead of laying in bed binge watching Netflix I spent a good chunk of the day reading blogs on assessment.

For the last year or so I’ve been trying out different methods for students to keep track of their own learning. I’ve been slowly moving my assessment techniques away from the standard unit test (too bad kid if you failed that test….try harder on the next unit kinda thing) to mastery learning and standards based assessment.

I’ve been using a system like Dan’s and have wanted to jazz it up a bit to incorporate a more game like feel (Especially after seeing his talk on Video Games and Math Class)
I came across Alice Keeler’s blog and wow!!! she is a Jedi on Google! I especially love her google sheets for levelling up and awarding badges and Gamifying Searching Google Drive. I felt that a combination of these two ideas was exactly what I wanted.
So again instead of watching House of Cards on Netflix, I modified Alice’s sheets to create a system that works form me.
Here is what I came up with….
I created a Master List which will keep track of each student and their level/achievement on the expectations/learning goals.
Screen Shot 2015-01-11 at 7.27.06 PM
 I created a Student tab/sheet which will show a student their current mark on each learning goal, the level (stars), and a mastery badge (if awarded). The best part about the student tab is that it is completely automatic. Everything on that tab is populated using formulas. The only thing I need to enter on that page is the individual student numbers.
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This student page is what the student will see. They can look here to check their “score” on each learning goal. See how many badges they’ve earned toward mastering their learning. I just need to publish each of the student sheets and share the public link with each of those students. (Read at the end of the post to see how)

Here is the process…..and this is where I may need some help…

For my senior students:
We will have weekly to semi-weekly “rolling” assessments. On each assessment I’ll assess up to 4 learning goals. For example, the first one it will be learning goals 1 through 4. The second assessment will assess 2 through 5 and so on. The second and third times assessing the same learning goal will include tougher questions.
Every time a student does better on a learning goal they get the better mark. I go to the master sheet take out the old mark and put in the new one!! Screen Shot 2015-01-11 at 7.52.50 PM
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It magically shows up on the students score page.
To get a badge the student will have to have demonstrated mastery of the learning goal. For me this is the student has demonstrated that they know the concept repeatedly. To award the student a badge I just have to put an M in the second column of the learning goal…..and voila! a badge shows up on the student score page!
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My students will have a visual record of their achievement. They can also request “upgrades” on any learning goal! They can set a date and time to come in and get another assessment testing that learning goal. Their mark should always reflect the amount of knowledge they know rather than the knowledge they know on test day.
Check out the badges tab, Alice has included a ton of different badges. You could set up the different badges you want displayed. You will need to just edit the formula in the badges column on the student tab. (Do this before you make a copy for each student).
Here are some samples of badges I’m creating to award mastery of learning goals.
Screen Shot 2015-01-12 at 8.27.27 AM
Currently my sheet is set up for 20 learning goals. If you need to add more, do it before you make copies for each student. Fill all the formulas down on the student page.
If you want to try this out:
    1. Definitely go and see Alice’s blog and see what she’s got.
    2. Download a copy of my Spreadsheets and give it a whirl 
    3. Let me know how it’s going by commenting here or sending me a tweet @MrOrr_Geek

 

After showing Alice the new sheets she pointed me to her Template Tab sheet which will automatically create tabs/sheets for each student!! Awesome.

Here’s how to share the student tabs with kids

Share the first student sheet by choosing publish to the web..

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Choose the first student to publish and hit publish (Do not choose Entire Document). It will give you a link copy that link!

Screen Shot 2015-01-11 at 8.34.43 PMScreen Shot 2015-01-11 at 8.34.49 PM

 

Create a brand new spreadsheet and paste that link beside a cell with the student’s student number.

Screen Shot 2015-01-11 at 8.34.59 PMRepeat this for every student. I know it seems like a lot of work at the start, but that will be it!!

Now you can share that one document with your class and they can always access their score sheet!

 

 

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24 thoughts on “We Like Those Stinkin’ Badges!

    1. Jon Orr

      Thanks Steve. I actually haven’t used the badges idea yet. Starting my new semester next week. I’ll probably write another blog post on my experiences.

  1. Matt Vaudrey

    Whoaaaaah. That’s hot.

    That last spreadsheet could email each student the link to their own tab using FormMule or Autocrat. That way, they can’t visit their friends’ pages.

  2. Heidi Finley

    I am looking at doing something like this with my 5th grade class for math. (I need something to motivate them and I think this is just the type of thing to do it.) Is FormMule easier to use then Autocrat to email out the individual sheets?

  3. Heidi Finley

    I am trying to add images to the badge sheet. I am able to get the image URL in the B column, but I am struggling with getting the image in the cell in column C. The images are saved in my Google Drive. I am not sure if that is the issue. Any ideas on how to get the images into the cell?

    1. Jon Orr

      I tried that too! Those images have to be published to the web somewhere. I made a google site. Pasted the images on that site. Grabbed the url from there and it works.

  4. I love your Mastery sheet! I used it with my 3rd graders for Math (Multiplication) standards. it made my life so much easier and the kids loved the badges. Even without any explanation, they figured out the higher their score the more stars popped up. I’m on my 2nd one now – Math again. I did combine it with Alice Keeler’s Template Tab and it worked beautifully! LOVE HER!! Keep those wonderfully creative ideas coming! If you need a “guinea pig”…just let me know!

    1. Jon Orr

      Thanks so much! Alice has some great work. It’s awesome to hear how you’re using it with primary! Would love to hear more.

  5. Heather Lye

    Hi Jon,
    Is there a way (that you know of) to publish individual student pages to the students in a way that they can make edits? I want it to be a place for them to put reflections in without creating a bunch of work for myself.

    1. Jon Orr

      Yes…on the student page you can lock parts (cells) of the spreadsheet allowing others to be editable. You would then have to share each page as a file instead of as a webpage.

    1. Jon Orr

      Yes…I’ve moved into freshgrade and haven’t been using that spreadsheet. In freshgrade I can give different icons (stars, pictures,etc) that are like the badges.

  6. BRITTANY PAVELY

    Love your work. Is there anyway that I can use your template AND run the Alice Keeler templatetab Add-On? Thanks!

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