Are you thinking about incorporating digital assessments into your courses? Some examples might include having students create infographics, write blog posts, or create videos or podcasts. IDT can help you design these assessments and learn the technology your students will need.
Resources
What do I need to think about before creating or redesigning my assignment to include digital technologies?
It’s tempting to dive right in, but there are some things you should consider:
- What are your assignment objectives?
- How will you inform students of your expectations?
- How will you scaffold the process for students?
- How will you encourage your students to reflect on the process?
Read more about these questions to consider.
Storytelling with graphics and blogs
Potential tools
- Piktochart allows you to create infographics and posters. This might be a useful tool if your students don’t have a lot of narrative text to share, but need to disseminate information that is centered around data.
- Adobe Spark allows you to create a static webpage. If you want the students’ outcomes to be more interactive or include more narrative text, this may be an option for you. You can include graphics, embedded images, and links.
- Blogging is a great option if you want students to contribute their thoughts or reflections over the course of a semester. At Rutgers, you can set up a class blog using the Rutgers WordPress instance.
Some examples and reflections from instructors
Infographics
- Read about a statistics instructor’s process for assigning his students an infographic project. His example of using scaffolding to prepare students to create infographics is especially good.
Blogs
- Sample class blog from a Rutgers–New Brunswick professor Here, you can view his student blog posts. His “Blogging Guide” will also give you a good sense of how you can guide students in creating their posts.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education examines how you might grade blog posts, and they include helpful tips on how to improve the student blogging experience (important to consider as part of the “how will you scaffold the process for students?”)
Storytelling with video
Potential tools
- Adobe Spark also allows users to easily create engaging, professional quality video presentations. This tool is best used to create brief videos with the goal of inspiring or introducing the viewer to a topic or idea.
- When more text and information is needed, Emaze will allow you to create a more traditional presentation while still maintaining visual interest and seamless transitions called for in a video format. Coupled with a screen recorder, this is an excellent tool to consider.
Some examples and reflections from instructors
- Read about the experience of incorporating digital video as active learning tools and assessments from the University of North Dakota.