There’s something about a well-done multi-media presentation that is greater than the sum of its parts.

This amazing map of the floods of 2019 along the Mississippi is a terrific example. I make no claim to produce anything so amazing, but one of my favorite digital tools- a real go-to tool for me- is Adobe Spark Page. I made sparkpage embedded below for my history students. It originally was just a google doc. But in about 40 minutes I was able to make this. To me, it is more engaging than a Google doc and I expect it is for students also. 

Powtoon is another terrific tool. That’s why I am so happy to highlight an example from Sonia Chin and Holly McCloskey who used ed-tech tools to have students demonstrate mastery outside of the traditional test format. They asked students to produce videos as part of their Bio II Adv. Final. Sonia and Holly purposefully wanted students to use a storytelling medium to share out and reflect upon what they learned. 

These new, easy to use storytelling tools allow us to assign creative projects equal to any test’s demands for knowing at any level of Bloom’s taxonomy of while also promoting communication, collaboration and creativity. 

I’d be happy to come to any class and share these tools and others. Book me with a help ticket.

After break, I will highlight Synth (my students’ have a pending assignment with it), a free podcasting tool specializing in 256 second long podcasts. Click here for a sneak preview/ explanation.