ITS-Got it! Good.

We can deter the boredom, plaguarism, and overall inability to learn by focusing on the actual assignments. Yes, research has shown that if students are interested in the assignment, they will learn more from it. Technology can add that interest. But more than technology, the assignments need to be meaningful and yes– a great deal of work.

How many have heard students complain about “all the work”. If they are complaining, asking questions for clarification, or how to do it– then rest assured, they are learning. If the assignment is meaningful, they will want to do it. Blogging is writing, but if you told your American Lit class that we are going to write today, you would receive a wall of complaint. Instead, “we are going to create a web page of your thoughts on this reading passage today.” Wow, what a difference.

In turn, we shouldn’t be assigning an “essay”, “research paper”, or “presentation”, why not design assignments so “you are the main character”, “you are a zoologist training a new zoo employee”, or “you are the expert of xyz reporting”.

Then you have to model or train the students to use the technology to accomplish their mission. Make the instructions very specific students can learn valuable skills. Take PowerPoint for example. This software is use by teachers to present material, which is great for modeling. Students know how to use it. Even the “bells and whistles” as I call it. But do they really know how use it effectively.

I have found students do not know how to make bullets, an essential skill in writing. While presenting with PowerPoint, students read the slides instead of walking around the room, looking into the eyes of their audience, describing the bulletized points. See… PowerPoint is meant to be a visual. It can be used to present all the pertinent information, but we are really teaching students how to present if we model that this is how PowerPoint should be use.

Define the slides. The first couple of slides should be a review of the topic for prior knowledge. The “meat” of the presentation as I call it is then the “expert” knowledge the student is sharing with the rest of the class. Finally wrap up the presentation with your opinion, your summary, your point driven home. Sound familiar? Isn’t this how we want them to write?

I know many of you keep in mind the way you write to teach your students, but how are we assigning the work. There is nothing wrong with having a specific pattern to follow at least the first time. This can be done with any software. Software that we use everyday. We take for granted sometimes that we are effective with our word processing. Some of our student hunt and peck making word processing very frustrating. Providing students with a diary template, or hey, we are going to make a newsletter or newspaper with articles centered around our setting. The assignment can make or break the learning.