Thinking Beyond the Essay in the Classroom

This month I’ve been focusing on learning more about using technology in the classroom, and how it’s being implemented in classes that don’t use much technology.

Many classes are striving to bring digital components into their lessons. Such examples include an Intermediate Spanish class that is taking steps to move parts of the lessons online. One of the challenges that they face as a language class is how to assess the student’s pronunciation. The professors are experimenting with a tool called VoiceThread that allows users to record their voice in a clip. They are planning to use the program and have their students record their pronunciations of phrases and submit it to them online. Other departments are also attempting to move more assessments and projects online by utilizing Brightspace, or creating websites that students can submit projects to. My honors literature class last semester created a new website for our projects, and when the semester had come to a close we were able to see all of our projects side by side, and it created an online portfolio for the class. Teachers utilizing these countless online tools is allowing for more innovative ways of thinking about how to assess student’s learning, and for students to learn how to create an argument or prove a theory without having to write an essay, but to be able to present an argument in many different ways.