Using Google Docs Draftback for SQA AAA Evidence

Post date: Dec 08, 2015 9:49:59 PM

It's come to that time in the school year where I'm spending some time discussing Alternative Assessment Arrangements (AAA) with pupils and colleagues to make sure the right things are in place for prelims and external exams. This year I've been able to add evidence from Google Docs, thanks to a handy Chrome App called Draftback. I can't remember how I came across this in the first place, but it's become one of my most often used tools, especially in certificate classes.

Draftback has a couple of main features which I've found useful as a classroom teacher:

• • It allows me to see the writing process in action. When you generate a Draftback, which you can do for any document you for which you have edit rights, it plays back how the document was pieced together, letter by letter and word by word. I can see attempts at spelling, where spelling suggestions/autocorrect have been used and how any editing is done. In discussion with the SfL teacher we've been able to identify why some pupils work well with a scribe (they plan their sentences, then type them all out) whereas others find that really difficult (editing as they type). I can also see the time that different processes are taking, for example a pupil taking four attempts across 30 seconds to find the correct spelling of a word.

  • A small text link takes you to the "document graphs and statistics". This shows how many writing sessions were used to complete the document, how long it took and which part of the document was being worked on. It's been helpful for both me and pupils to see how long exam questions are taking and it proves invaluable when looking for evidence of DQP and extra time use in exams.

I hope in the future that I'll be able to use Draftback alongside pupils to help them understand (and improve) their writing process.