Quizilla

A student of mine contacted me the other day and asked if he could use Quizilla to complete a compare and contrast assignment by making a quiz. It seems like a really interesting method for a student to demonstrate a higher level of thinking so I said "go for it" before I even looked at the site. When I pulled up the site the next day, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it offered 5 ways to create:

• quizzes
• stories
• polls
• poems
• lyrics

Any of those creative options could be used to demonstrate learning so feel free to make and publish your own story as a replacement for any lesson.

You can create a poll and publish it, if its interesting people will take your poll and you could share the results as part of your assignment.

Writing poetry or lyrics for a song takes a special talent, but if you have that talent feel free to use it to demonstrate your understanding of the topic.

Student Sample

Advanced Search Using Google

Here is a five minute video walking you through 3 tips on how to complete research in your courses using Google. I recommend you open up this link and follow along as you watch the video below.

Video Essays using Youtube

There is a really easy way to make video essays using Youtube. When I say video essay, what I'm referring to is most commonly known as a Video Log (vlog). You have seen these on Youtube before, they usually consist of one person sitting in front of a webcam talking. Well, have you ever considered doing that for an assignment? For those of you who have my course, you have already seen one of these this year.

Lets say you have an assignment for a course that requires you to write a paragraph, or 3 paragraphs, or the dreaded 5 paragraph essay. Well, if you get one of those for my course, feel free to replace it with a video essay.

Here is how:

1. Go to Youtube
2. Create an account if you do not have one.
3. Click Upload
4. Fill out the necessary information
5. Click Quick Capture
6. Make sure your audio and video on your webcam is working properly
7. Record


A couple hints:

1. Write out a script - I'm not saying write a long script, but make an outline or jot down key words to help you focus. We would hate to hear you ramble on for 5 minutes with no clear direction.

2. Make sure you address all the requirements of the assignment - If the assignment says it should be 3 parapgraphs, I would like roughly 15 sentences in your Video Essay.

3. Make sure your video and audio is clear before submitting

See below for a video essay about this blog entry