Students ‘evidencing’ their learning
A theme we often come back to is that of ‘who owns the learning’? Didactic teaching approaches and 20th Century teaching models placed control and responsibility with the teacher. We now understand that the learner must take responsibility for learning, for the hard work and perseverance that are required to make knowledge stick, for practising skills and for achieving outcomes.
Of course, this is not to say that teachers are working less! In fact, teachers must frequently take up the role of facilitator/‘guide on the side’ and are responsible for just in time instruction, questioning to support inquiry and, most importantly, for designing learning with clear, shared outcomes.
An important part of the responsibility that students must take is demonstration of their learning, or what we call, ‘evidencing their learning’.
Students need a repertoire of strategies for demonstrating what they have learned, providing evidence of their successes and challenges. Technology opens up a huge array of new possibilities for moving beyond written reports of learning achievements and into multimedia approaches to providing learning evidence.
Some tools you might like to consider with your class include:
Blogging
Imagine having students writing enthusiastically about their learning. Blogs are a brilliant way to give students an authentic audience, to be transparent with parents and to showcase learning. See post: Why Blog?
Voice Thread
This iPad app is a powerful tool for mixing media and adding voice overs and comments. Interactive and easy to use, this tool allows students to share video or images of their learning, to add a voice over and to seek feedback from peers.
Speak over a photo
The iPad app Vittle is a terrific, easy to use app for recording voice over and annotating images. Students take a photo of a step int he learning process or a product, add voice, add captions and drawings and publish. Saved to the iPad’s Camera Roll, it can be uploaded to YouTube or a Blog.
iMovie
One of our favourite and most flexible tools, iMovie, especially on the iPad is a fabulous tool for recording learning — in video and images. Add a soundtrack and its ready to go. Being a native IOS app, it can be linked to other iPad functions and published easily. Students love it.
Screencasting
Chrome and Chromebook users will love the Screencastify extension, it allows you to capture screen images and add voice over.
Other Mac options are: Camtasia or Copernicus, or for Windows: AviScreen or CamStudio.org and for both platforms: Jing or Screencast-O-matic. Well worth exploring the options.
iPad Camera app
Photos are an easy option. A photograph of students’ working on a whiteboard or on paper, or of a finished product, can form the basis of a record of learning.
e-Books
We’ve seen some terrific ‘how to’ e-Books made by students to provide evidence of learning or to support other learners tackling similar challenges. We’ve tried Creative Book Builder, Book Creator and My Story. What do you recommend?
To connect with me:
Register your email at https://www.studentvoice.space — my research blog.
Follow me on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/teachersolutions/ or my Student Voice group on https://www.facebook.com/groups/talkaboutstudentvoice/.
