Kaizena

As a former English teacher and an all-out Google junkie, I am always looking for more efficient ways to give students prompt feedback on their writing.  One of the most difficult parts of grading writing is the amount of time involved.  Not only is it taxing on the teacher, but the student does not get prompt feedback, which results in lost learning opportunities.

We all know by now that, the closer feedback is given to the time of the task, the more students learn from it.  But, many of us have been in the position of carrying a milk crate full of essays home every day, constantly trying to keep up, only to return an essay to a student 2 weeks later.  An essay the student can hardly remember writing.

But, take heart, if you use Google Drive and Google Classroom (and why wouldn't you!), you can easily add voice feedback to student essays with Kaizena.

Kaizena

If you are not a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) school district, then Kaizena will not be for you.  It integrates with Google Drive and Chrome and does not operate as a stand-alone platform.  But, if you are a Google Apps district, you will love Kaizena.  

Additionally, since Google Classroom allows a teacher to easily collect and organize documents within Drive, Kaizena's integration with Drive makes adding feedback to student writing a breeze.  If you are in a GAFE district that has not turned on Classroom, pester your Technology department until they turn it on!  If you are the district admin and you haven't turned Classroom on, shame on you!

How Does It Work?

Kaizena has essentially 2 parts.  Both parts require the installation of Kaizena for Chrome, which you will be prompted to install when you create an account.  Currently, Kaizena only supports Chrome.

Part 1.  Website

When you create an account at the Kaizena platform, it will integrate with your Google Drive.  Once the integration is complete, you are able to transfer any Drive documents into Kaizena and organize them.

Kaizena Platform

Kaizena organizes your imported documents into "Boxes," which are accessed and created from the file tray and plus button.  You can create as many boxes as you wish, and you can add documents and folders from Drive to any box.  If you are using Classroom, it is simple to import a class or assignment into Kaizena since Classroom groups documents by class and assignment.

In addition to document importing, Kaizena also allows you to link to resources (videos, documents, etc.) that you can use in feedback later, which are added using the chain link button.  The platform provides tagging features to organize documents as well.

Once you have imported documents to a box, you enter the box and click on a document to open it in Drive and begin providing feedback.  Alternately, you can access the document straight from Drive now that Kaizena is integrated into your Drive.

Part 2.  Once in the document in Drive, you select the Add-ons menu and start Kaizena Mini.

Kaizena Mini

Kaizena Mini will launch to the right of the document.  You will be prompted to choose if you are giving or receiving feedback.  If you are giving, you will be prompted to choose a recipient.  To add a voice comment, you simply highlight the text that you wish to comment on and then press the microphone button.  You record a comment and then proceed to the next area on which you wish to provide feedback.  

Alternately, you can add written comments and attach resources.  The resources link is very useful.  Once you have created links in the Kaizena web platform, you are able to insert them into feedback that you provide.  So, for example, you could add a comment that links to a simple document or lesson on comma splices as enrichment for the student if he makes many comma splice mistakes.

When you are finished providing feedback, you must share the document with the recipient.  If you are using Classroom, then this step is completed for you when you return the assignment to the student.

Receiving Feedback

Once you have added feedback with Kaizena, the recipient receives an email alerting them that feedback has been provided.  In order to access the feedback, the recipient must install Kaizena into their Drive.  If he has not installed Kaizena, he will be prompted to do so in order to receive the feedback.  

Once Kaizena is installed, Kaizena Mini will launch and the recipient can play or view any feedback.  Additionally, the recipient can now provide voice or written comments to the reviewer, who will be alerted if the recipient adds feedback.

Conclusion

If you struggle with collecting and providing feedback for student writing, I highly recommend Kaizena.  Once the install process is complete, the software works flawlessly.  It is so much easier to provide audio feedback on a piece of writing, and the feedback is also more in-depth.

Imagine, you can now grade a student's paper, and he can learn from the feedback!  We know that students mostly ignore written comments (and for good reason, since the comments usually just point out a mistake instead of teaching the student how to correct it), so let's do something different!