Below is a full screenshot of the computer I’m using during office hours:
Students need to look at this image carefully. Notice first that the assignment on the right — the self-assessment assigned on Tuesday and due yesterday — was completed by only 40% of you.
The next thing to notice is the Q3C gradebook open on the left. The names are blocked and randomized, so you can focus on the columns of GAP scores. Those numbers tell the story of each student’s academic progress.
Every day, my co-teachers and I are building a picture of how you’re doing. We are coordinating feedback, sharing data, taking notes — whatever it takes to give you what you need.
Distance learning makes the forms you complete essential to that progress. You must complete them. The 40% who didn’t make yesterday’s deadline aren’t penalized with a lower GAP score, however; there just isn’t any data for them.
This is true for the daily check-in, as well. Here is a document pulled together after five days of distance learning:
62 students have communicated a daily goal at least once in those five days. That is a bit more than 50%.
If you haven’t checked in each day and/or didn’t complete the self-assessment for April 1, you are missing. It’s no longer about grades and passing or failing; the potential for growth in GAP scoring should prevent that concern. The concern is that you are missing.
In other words, while we are away from the physical classroom, you cease to exist when you don’t communicate. There’s nothing for me or my co-teachers to see.
Take the next 24 hours and be sure — be absolutely certain — that you check in, complete the self-assessment about your progress, and firm up your intentions to stay in contact.
If you have questions, that’s a great place to start: Ask them here, in the comment section of this post, or send an email.