As my students start completing the essay portion of their Science-based Persuasive Essay Project, they are shifting into working on a multimedia component. The other day, we chatted about the various technology tools we used this year in class — Glogster, Bitstrips, Gamestar Mechanic, podcasting, Photostory 3, and a few others. While they were not confined to the tools we used (I made it clear I was open to other ideas), they have to choose some way to create a companion media piece to their essays.
Yesterday, I did a quick survey with the classes, to determine the choices they were making. I find it interesting that so many are choosing Glogster (57 percent), although I don’t find that surprising, given their use of it during the year. They really do enjoy that site for its multimedia functions, and it allows them to mix video, photos and text together in a visual way. Gamestar Mechanic (25 percent) is the second highest choice, and I will be interested to see how the games turn out. I’ve been coaching a few students about how to represent ideas from their essays into their video game creations. Although I do not teach Powerpoint (14 percent), I am not surprised a few have turned to that old stand-by.
Another interesting point is that not a single one of my students decided to use Bitstrips for making a comic about their topic nor dipped into digital storytelling. I’m fascinated to see how the projects will develop, given my Tuesday deadline for everything to be done and handed in — the school year is just about done.
Peace (in the survey),
Kevin