EDIM 508 u05a1 Blog on Content Creation

It's interesting that this topic is brought up, as it is something I like to talk to my students about often. One of the things that my students value, in particular my eighth graders, is autonomy/freedom of choice. Whether it's in a physical form or digital, my students want more opportunities to choose. For example, my students have a project coming up where they can make something inspired by Roman culture. It can be a drawing, painting, mosaic, or a digital form such as a sketchup plan, an animation, or the most recent favorite: minecraft builds. Most of the students really like the project because they can work on something that they chose, and the subject is something Roman of their choice. Now having this discussion I can see why they really do enjoy it.

In terms of technology the students love anything that can be done or played on their personal devices. The biggest rage currently in online review games is kahoot, a sort of quizzo-style game where the students use a computer or their phones to submit the answers and see who can earn the most points by answering correctly. The students also love Quizlet, a website/app that can create flash cards. Also, in the modern languages, DuoLingo has taken the classroom by storm. This app helps students learn a new language through small lessons that are almost game-like. Unfortunately Latin has not been adapted yet, but I use it on my own to learn German!

Finally something that surprised me, more strictly computer-based programs and websites were not as popular. We use Schoology, which I think is an excellent website but from what I understand the mobile app hasn't yet gotten up to par. Students aren't as excited to use this platform I think because of the lack of good mobile access.This reinforces what we learned in this week's readings, how students access the internet on their devices more than a desktop/laptop computer.

References

Lenhart, A. (2015, April 9). Teens, social media & technology overview 2015: smartphones facilitate shifts in communication landscape for teens. Retrieved November 23, 2015 from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2015/04/PI_TeensandTech_Update2015_0409151.pdf