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Project-based learning is a great way for students to show what they know and can do with the material.  It is a way for students to demonstrate this learning in a unique way that meets their own interests and skills.  Through the numerous possibilities with technology, there are many options available for students to create dynamic displays of their learning.

image: http://blog.visme.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Vismeworking.jpg

Students searching for a unique way to create a project, full of a variety of themes, styles, and more, have found Visme to be exactly what they were searching for.  By choosing Visme, students can design using a variety of fonts, backgrounds, images, icons, animations, plus have the possibilities for including audio or embedding video, and much more for their creation.

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Digital Tools for Presentations

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While the content and themes can stay relatively unchanged over the course of one’s teaching career, the variety of options for having one’s students show their learning have changed dramatically.  Project based learning is a very authentic way to assess their learning and I have used project based learning for more assessments over the past few years.  The reason is because of the great potential I see for offering students a choice in their work and the availability of so many digital tools for their projects, which engage and motivate them in their learning.

In my experience, I have changed the types of assessments I have my students do and offer more opportunities for students to have choices. I have always loved looking at student work, in the traditional format of paper and poster, and seeing their creativity come through in their projects.

With the use of digital tools like Visme, I have found it makes it more interesting and meaningful for them, they are more engaged in their learning, and they have fun trying out these new tools and doing something different than they had done in the past. Another positive effect is that teachers benefit as well by seeing the innovative work the students produce.  The uniqueness of their work is inspiring and while it shows us what they have learned, it also teaches us more about who they are.

 

What Do Students Think?

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Because technology changes and trying something new can be scary at times, it is not uncommon to hear pleas from students who would rather complete their project using paper or PowerPoint. Teaching foreign languages, I often want them to add their voice to some of their projects or embed a video, and so having choices available which enable students to use one tool for creating their project makes it much easier for them and for the teacher as well.

With Visme, students have so many choices in their hands that are adaptable to any content, in any course, and in any area of society. But for students creating presentations with tools like Visme, it also enables them to learn a lot about the language by adding in various elements from the resources, and also helps them to further develop technology skills and create a visually engaging and fun product by taking advantage of all of the tools and animations that are available.

How Can Students Use This?

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Some of the examples that students have used this for, are in Spanish I, students created projects to describe their families and were able to upload their own photos, have the images appear on the screen by setting the timers with descriptions to make an entrance on the screen.

They could use some of the icons available by searching within the Images tab and they also can change the color, size, and appearance of each of these, and they really enjoy working on the project. And create a very dynamic, visually engaging presentation that they are proud of. They also develop other skills such as learning about design, artistic layouts, and more when they create a presentation.

In Spanish II, students have created projects to talk about their childhood and schooling experiences, as well as their community. There are so many options available within the resources for building their presentations and for really creating a dynamic visualization of their childhood, school, community and more. It also enables them to present their project to their classmates and design a vibrant project that they will definitely remember the content cover and enjoy working with the tool.

 

When the Students Become the Teachers

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In addition to the Spanish courses, I have taken students to technology conferences where they participate in the student showcase and demonstrate how they use technology in our classroom. One particular student who was really resistant to trying any type of new technology, had seen one of my presentations and decided to give it a try. For her individual project for the conference, she decided to create a presentation using Visme, and use it to inform those attending the conference about how we use Edmodo, our learning management system.

She created a vibrant presentation showing the uses of Edmodo and at the showcase she engaged all of those that came to the table and was able to tell them so much about the presentation, her experience and what she learned from it. I could see how proud she was of her work and how comfortable she was sharing it with everyone there.  Using Visme enabled her to take a risk with something new, develop her skills, and reflect on her growth in the process.  It also developed her leadership and advocacy skills and led her to teach others.

In each of these situations, the students were able to use Visme for each task and they now have another tool they can use in another class or recommend to a friend or family member that could be used for any other type of purpose.

So the result is that while students have used this in my foreign language classroom to create projects which are for describing their life, their family, talking about food or any content that we are covering, they are learning about a presentation tool that they can take and use later on, that they can share with others, and they also build their confidence skills in the process.