Students will use technology to tell their story, hopefully increasing their digital literacy.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Below is a storyboard for my prototype. The idea is to have students relate to the curriculum of Modern United States History by investigating and telling a family story about the time period from World War II until now.
Students will use technology to tell their story, hopefully increasing their digital literacy.
Students will use technology to tell their story, hopefully increasing their digital literacy.
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HI Todd,
ReplyDeleteI think you've done a great job defining a problem that is relevant to your own teaching practice and to your students. In particular, I like how you push beyond the typical facade of a 1:1 program, which implies that the use of technology alone somehow improves the learning experience for students. Clearly you've experienced that isn't the case and are trying to make good use of the tech tools that your school is providing, which is inspiring!
One thing that I like about your storyboard is how clear the logical progression of steps is. You seem to have a strong grasp of the specific actions - and their order! - that need to be taken for students to complete this project. I also like your use of images and arrows to help convey your message. Overall, nice storyboard!
You are doing what I always says is the "gold standard" of technology integration, which is using a variety of different technologies throughout your project/assignment, each one serving a distinct purpose related to student learning. For example, the collaborative nature of Google Docs enables both peer and teacher feedback; online publishing gives students a purpose and audience for their work; and QR codes facilitate easy access to each other's work. I'm impressed! Your integration of these tools is fluid and I think the assignment will make a lot of sense to your students.
I'm curious about step #4, where expert students and the teacher provide guidance on digital technologies. What are the "products" you have in mind? Are you thinking about videos, infographics, etc? I'm also wondering how the type of device in your 1:1 program (by the way, what is it?) influences decisions in terms of technology choice. For example, Chromebooks aren't great at creating multimedia, whereas iPads are much stronger in that area. I would also be curious about what your "expectations" are for students' products, in part because "assessing" creative work that takes different forms can be difficult.
To follow up on some of those questions, I would recommend that you present students with several concrete options for digital technologies, but with the option to go "beyond" if they so choose. This way you can also provide them with additional guidance on how to use some of the tools, perhaps with training from you or one of their "expert" peers. My fear with projects involving creative use of technology is that fear or lack of understanding of digital tools sometimes inhibits progress for some students; I think it's important to provide students with both the technical skills and tools they need to be successful in this sort of endeavor.
One suggestion I have is to include some follow-up at the end of the project. This could take the form of peers sharing their reactions/feedback after finding stories via the QR codes. It could also be some sort of feedback for you about their experiences doing the project - kind of like part reflection activity and also part feedback for you regarding your professional goal/problem of practice. I think your students will have a lot of interesting things to say!
Overall, I think you've outlined an excellent project for your students that successfully addresses your problem of practice. I can imagine that the logistics of a 1:1 program are challenging, so I recognize that all of this additional effort to integrate the tools will only increase the logistical complexities, but I commend you on your thoughtfulness and willingness to do it anyway! I'd be interested to see your students' projects when your storyboard becomes reality!
Nice job!
Jason