The COVID-19 pandemic means many schools are going one-to-one, giving way to a fusion of on-tech and off-tech classwork called blended learning that is forever changing education. This is the beginning for some of a shift to the new digital pedagogies: teaching learning methods empowered by the digital world. These new learning tools allow us to gather richer information about student learning and growth. Teachers are hungry for new ways to do this, and once you see the power of this shift, it can become addictive.
At first, some of the new digital pedagogies might feel a bit unfamiliar as you move away from typical multiple choice questions and written responses to give students the opportunity to SHOW and DISCUSS their learning. Digital tools give teachers insight into what students are really thinking and learning, how they arrive at their learning and explain the deeper connections they are making. Something known as multidimensional learning.
For more blended learning ideas like this - check out The Chromebook Infused Classroom
The best place to start this journey is this type of blended and multidimensional learning is with Flipgrid. No matter what your typical formative assessment looks like, try layering on Flipgrid a few times and ask students to explain their thinking to go deeper with their responses. Over time, this becomes more natural for students. And as the teacher will be hooked by this new more powerful insight into student learning! You will crave the deeper connection students make with the content.
Meaningful student responses take time and intention. A teacher must guide and help learners in their journey to articulate these deeper, more complex responses.
Four ways to more meaningful student responses:
- Help Students Go Deeper: Help students dig deeper into their responses. When you see/hear a student response, respond with a question asking them for more detail. Why do you think that? Can you tell me more? Help them make the move to deeper more critical thinking this way. Coach them into the role of a thoughtful, articulate thinker instead of simply looking for the right answers.
- Help Students Choose the Better Words: Help students build a toolbelt of words that will help them develop into articulate and meaningful thinkers who can clearly express their ideas. Have students pick a few powerful words from a LIst like this (or better yet make one) and, ask them to add one or two if they can in their responses.
- Give Exemplars: Offer up a few examples of really good responses and why they are so powerful. Unpack them and analyze the language. Choose quality over quantity. Responses may be concise, but they contain powerful words, context and connections.
- Empower students to BECOME better responders. Here are six constructive ways for students to BECOME better at expressing deep learning:
Getting students to craft great responses requires time and effort. As time progresses, and you compare their early responses to their later ones, you will understand the power of this blended learning response. These types of rich assessment really brings to life the power of rethinking the traditional and shifting to a blended classroom