Adventures in EdTech

In this course, we discussed the use of rubrics to assess student learning. I created a rubric to assess a 4th-grade book trailer project completed in iMovie. For this project, students are to use iMovie’s “Trailer” feature to create a book trailer for an independent reading book that they have read. To create this rubric, I used the site  Rubistar . I really liked how Rubistar offers some sample rubrics for a wide variety of subject areas and project types, as well as sample criterion and descriptors. I combined a few of the sample criterion with other criteria of my own choosing to create the final product. Rubistar made the process of building a rubric online very easy, particularly with their sample rubrics and language. I also liked how the rubric can be printed or accessed online which makes it very easy to share with students as well as colleagues. Rubistar will definitely be my go-to online rubric creator in the future!

In this course, we dove into the idea of digital badging in the classroom. I absolutely love the idea of digital badging as a way to incentivize learning for students. I created a digital badge pathway in the area of telling time. The students would have to progress through the five levels of the telling time pathway ( Identifying the hour and minute hand on an analog clock > Telling time to the nearest 5 minute > Telling time to the nearest minute > Correctly calculating elapsed time > Solving real-world problems using elapsed time ) in order to earn the Time Technician badge. This badge could then be displayed in a students' learning portfolio as a record of their growth.

As I reflect back on my learning in this course, it is hard to pick out just one stand-out activity, article, or discussion. Assessment is something we as educators do constantly and so I really think the combination of the topics we discussed - formative assessments, summative assessments, personalized learning, mastery learning, student self-assessment, and rubrics all really work hand-in-hand. While I was already aware of most of these topics, I really enjoyed learning about new digital tools to help make some of these assessments more efficient. The more efficient the assessment tool, the more effective it will be in the classroom. We as educators are assessing our students on a minute by minute basis and using the information we gather to make learning as targeted for our students as possible, so utilizing technology wherever possible helps teachers to maximize their time. I loved learning about new digital formative assessment tools like Formative, Google Quizzes, Edulastic, EdPu...