Doctopus

I work in a 1-1 laptop school. All the students were issued a Google Chromebook during orientation. Because they have Google machines, using Google Drive to its fullest extent seemed to be the smart way to go. I have decided to go completely paperless in my classroom meaning students will not keep binders or take notes on paper and all work will be submitted via Google. Once I made this decision, I had to figure out how to have the students organize their Drives. Then, our fabuous media application specialist told me about a ridiculously named, but powerful tool called Doctopus.

What is it?

A virtual teaching assistant that will copy, distribute, and collect assignments, all while keeping you completely organized! 

What can it do?

• Generate Class and Student Folders
• Re-use (and update!) rosters
• Sharing
• Individual: same (creates the same, separate individual Doc for each student)
• Individual: differentiated (creates a copy of a Doc based on their group)
• Project Groups (creates a shared copy of a Doc for each group)
• Whole Class (creates a single shared copy of a Doc for the whole class
• Standardize file names (so you don't get nameless "homework.doc" files)
• Monitor student progress on assignments
• Use Goobric to send grades to students
• Goobric is another add-on that lets you attach a rubric to an assignment and grade their work

It does take a few minutes to set up your rosters (there are plenty of how-tos on how to do it on Google), but overall I think it is a pretty awesome tool if you are trying to go paperless in your class.