Now that I've written a post about the
free version of Penzu and
Penzu Pro, I'd like to concentrate on
Penzu Classroom!
I apologize in advance for the book-like, mega-long entry with a trillion pictures! I have a lot to say. :)
Note: I do not currently use Penzu Classroom with my students because I discovered that it won't work with my unique class structure. I would, however, consider using it with students if I had a "regular" classroom setup!
My Unique Class Structure
I see every single student in my K-4 elementary school for an hour per week. This means that I see a total of about 500 students per week, and I teach each student for approximately 36 hours per year.
An Overview of Penzu Classroom
With a teacher account, you can create a new journal and specify that it's for classroom use. Doing so will generate a classroom code and link that you can give to your students so that they can access the class journal.
Students must have a Penzu account in order to access and contribute to the class journal, and users are required to have an e-mail address to sign up with Penzu. Please be aware that you still cannot access the iOS app without being a Pro user, which means that if a student does not already have a Pro account when they join the classroom journal, they cannot write entries on any mobile device. I did e-mail about this, and was told that Penzu offers Pro memberships for students for $9/year. It's still a bummer, but I guess 50% is better than nothing.
Once students have joined the classroom journal, you can create assignments. As students submit those assignments, you can comment on portions of their entry, grade the entire thing, share the entry with the rest of the class, etc. I won't go into
too much detail here because
Penzu already has an informative FAQ page with more Penzu Classroom details.
Set-Up
If you teach secondary students, they probably already have an e-mail address and can sign up for a
Penzu account on their own.
Since I teach elementary students, I knew that I would have to generate the e-mail addresses on my own. There's no way I was creating 500 e-mail addresses, so I went to
Yahoo! and created an e-mail address for each table -- 6, total -- in my classroom. Afterwards, I signed up each e-mail address for a free
Penzu journal and used the code to give each account access to the classroom journal. This took me about 15 minutes.
 |
| Click "enter class code" and enter the code provided so that students can access the classroom journal |
My plans were to link each of my 6 classroom iPads to one
Penzu account and make sure that that iPad was used by that certain table only. My plans were foiled, however, when I realized the "no access to the iOS app unless you're a Pro user" rule is
still in effect for student accounts. In order for each table to be able to access the classroom journal from our class iPads, I would have to pay the upgrade-to-Pro fee for each student account.
Bummer!
I only have access to 4 desktop computers on a regular basis and cannot assign homework, so for me, this was when I said "See ya!' to
Penzu Classroom. :(
I'll continue this review to show you how I would use it if I had a "regular" classroom, though.
Teacher View: Adding an Assignment
Go into your classroom journal and click the clipboard icon:
 |
| The clipboard icon is highlighted |
That will take you to the assignments page:
 |
| Assignments page |
From there, you can view submitted assignments and/or create new ones.
 |
| Add an assignment or add entries to an assignment |
Creating a new assignment has several options. I like that you can include a due date with a time and pick how you are going to grade the assignment! Once you create the assignment, it will show up in a list view, similar to the entries you may have submitted into personal journals.
 |
| Title and describe the assignment and decide if you want to notify students via e-mail |
 |
| Lots of scoring options! |
 |
| Include a due date! |
Student View: Receiving and Submitting an Assignment
As soon a new assignment is available, students will see a notification on that journal, similar to the pop-up badges that appear in iOS devices.
 |
| Notifications on that journal to indicate something new has happened here. In this case, a new assignment has been added |
Students can click on the name of the assignment to see the instructions, print the directions, view the comments, or begin working on the assignment.
 |
| Write a new entry for an assignment |
When the student is finished writing, she can submit the entry to the teacher with a comment.
 |
| Submit your entry to the teacher -- with or without a comment |
Teacher View: Receiving and Grading Assignments
After a student has submitted an assignment, you'll receive a notification on that journal.
 |
| Teachers receive notifications on journals when something new has happened |
Clicking on the journal will show you a list of the assignments and submitted entries. New entries have a blue dot next to them, which you can remove or put back at your will.
 |
| Unread entries have a blue dot to the left of them |
Opening an assignment will allow you to see everything the student has typed and submitted.
 |
| This is the students' submitted assignment |
From there, you can add comments to the overall entry or to an individual word/portion.
 |
| Purple dialogue boxes are the teacher's comments |
Assign a grade and comments with the entry, too:
 |
| On which scale am I going to grade this? Or am I going to grade this? |
 |
| Provide comments on an overall grade |
Student View: Receiving Grades
Students receive notifications about incoming grades and comments. When clicking on the list of journal entries, students can see the assignment directions and their entry. Icons beside the entry indicate what has happened to it -- someone has seen it, it's been submitted, it's been graded, etc.
 |
| This student assignment (top entry) has been seen, submitted, and graded |
Students see the overall grade and comments in a hand-writing font:
 |
| She got an "A"! ;) |
And can view comments by clicking on the comment notifications tab:
After an assignment has been graded, students can only copy that assignment and use those words to begin a new entry -- they cannot edit a graded assignment because graded assignments become "read only."
I couldn't figure out a way to view comments on individual words or portions as a student... they weren't highlighted like I expected. Instead, they show up as a list like this:
 |
| Teacher comments left on this assignment. |
The student can comment back and continue dialogue with the teacher:
 |
| Teacher comments in purple. Student comments in blue. |
Overall
I think
Penzu Classroom has some
fantastic features for teachers who require writing submissions. Unfortunately, this account doesn't work for my unique classroom structure, so I won't be using
Penzu Classroom until I get a "regular" class again.
Here are my favorite features:
- Notifications when something new happens so that you don't miss anything
- Ability to specify how you're going to grade an assignment {or not grade it at all}
- Ability to comment on work and continue having a private conversation about the assignment with the student. That instant and specific feedback is what helps students the most!
- Provides a paperless way to submit and grade writing assignments!
- Automatically private, instead of automatically public, like a blog.
Here are my not-so-favorite features:
- Students cannot access their Penzu account from a mobile device unless they upgrade to Penzu Pro. There are some students who ONLY have Internet access via a mobile device, and I think it's dumb that Penzu won't allow students mobile access without paying an upgrade fee.
- Because students can't access the site on a mobile device without upgrading, teachers need to have an adequate amount of desktop computers available if they want to try Penzu Classroom.
- It's harder to attach pictures to entries if you can only add entries via a desktop or laptop. {If students could add entries via an iPad, they could take a picture and import it incredibly easily and quickly!}
Ideas for Use
- Make all writing assignments digital.
- Ask students to "warm-up" by responding to the prompt of the day.
- Record observations and results in science experiments.
- Record the "how" and "why" for math problems.
- Make this your "exit ticket" by allowing students to tell you things they liked/disliked about the lesson, things they learned, and things they still don't understand.
- Make this your "question parking lot." Allow students to ask you questions they have during the assignment that may or may not be completely relevant... you can answer the questions as soon as you get a chance.
- In a flipped classroom set up, let students comment on or summarize each video before moving on to the assignment.
- Link a QR code back to the assignment prompt and place it on the Promethean board as students walk in to the classroom.
- Record agendas for each day. Eliminate absent student crates or copies by just having them check the class Penzu for absent work.
There you have it. I've written until I can write no more. Thanks for sticking around for this mega-long entry!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Penzu Classroom.
*Note: This post contains a referral link. By using the referral link
and signing up for your own pro account (at a 20% discount), you'll
give me one free year of Penzu Pro. I am not affiliated with Penzu
in any way; I simply would love a year of Penzu Pro for free...so if
you're going to be purchasing it anyway, I'd love you forever if you
used my referral link. :)
