Doctopus is an extension tool for Google that saves me so much time in the classroom each and every day! In sum, it allows teachers to push out documents to their students easily. Doctopus can be used with or without Google Classroom; my district doesn't allow access to Google Classroom, so Doctopus has truly been a life saver for me.
This tool eliminates student confusion, technological difficulties, and inefficiency in sharing Docs or having students "Make a Copy." Instead of going through the process of asking students to make a copy of a doc, and crossing your fingers that they save it to a spot on their Drive that they'll be able to find it later (no matter how many times you've instructed on how to organize files for your class and no matter how many times you've *literally* held their hand and helped them organize their digital files anyway), and waiting for everyone's internet connections to sync up, etc. etc.,
the files you need your students to access during class ARE ALREADY ORGANIZED, CORRECTLY NAMED, AND READY TO GO IN THEIR DRIVE right away!
Ways students can interact with/use Doctopus documents:
- directly edit their own copy
- collaborate on a shared copy
- view a copy that you don't want them to edit
Ways that I utilize Doctopus:
- Sharing "view-only" documents (like resource articles or syllabi)
- Differentiating tiered assignments or unique assignments for individual students or small groups
- Distributing worksheets, graphic organizers, and study guides (instead of passing out worksheets or papers)
- Writing workshop
- I can monitor student progress easily by accessing their folder/doc and either leave feedback comments or conference with them after having already had the opportunity to read their rough draft before they get to my desk.
- Students can easily share their writing with peers for peer editing, and all comments/suggestions that they leave each other are tracked for me to monitor if I want to check out how they're collaborating.
- I also grade each and every writing piece right in Doctopus (IT'S SO EASY!) with the use of an additional Google extension called Goobric. More on that in an upcoming blog post!
Part 2 of my Doctopus blog series will take you through a tutorial on SETTING UP Doctopus for your classes!
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