Tech Corner w/Jenel Cavazos: Tech Teaching & aSSIGNMENTS

I’ve written about several different tech tools in previous blogs, and I’ve got more to go…but today I want to talk about some specific ways to use tech tools to liven up your assignments.  Tired of grading the same boring papers? In the market to try something new next semester? Then this blog post is for you!

Things to Consider

But first, there are a few things to keep in mind when you’re thinking about giving a tech-based assignment:

1. How much of a learning curve will there be for students? What about for you and any other graders? If the tool is too complicated to learn quickly and it’s not something the students will need to master for later classes, you probably don’t want to use it. After all, you’re assessing their knowledge of the subject, not their ability to learn a new technology.
2. Do they need special programs and/or equipment? Consider students who use macs vs. PCs, who have reliable internet access and those who don’t, and the adaptability for students with special accommodations. 
   
3. How will the students submit the assignment? I’ve run into some tech tools that were completely free to use…right up until you want to download your work. Others provide a link, but it’s only accessible if you know the student’s login info (which you likely don’t). Many are designed for specific file types, like .jpg or .mov, so make sure to take this into account when setting up a place to submit the files. 
4. What variety of problems might students encounter? What should they do if they need help? You do NOT want to be 24/7 tech support, so find out if there’s a customer service line available.

​Now that you’ve got these points figured out, let’s talk about some specific assignments. These are easily adaptable for a variety of class sizes and topic areas, so feel free to make them yours!

Idea 1: Create an Infographic

This is an assignment that I use with my Introductory Psychology class. I provide them with a list of popular myths in the field of psychology, and their job is to create an infographic that proves the myth false. In my class, they are required to use three different academic sources and add in pop culture references, but there are many ways to customize this:

• Have students explain a theory
• Present facts for or against a position
• Create a public service announcement for an important issue

 
For the technology aspect of this assignment, I point students to a few free online programs for building infographics. The most popular one seems to be Piktochart (https://piktochart.com/), and students generally get the hang of how it works pretty quickly. It’s completely free for students to use (but warn them against sending a link from their account because it won’t open for others; see point 3 above). In addition to downloading the file, I allow students to submit screenshots of their infographics as well. 

Idea 2: Create (Cartoon) Video

​Students are generally pretty great at using their phones to record things, so this one doesn’t have to be high-tech unless you want it to be. Even if they’re just using their phones, the act of having to DO something can be far more beneficial than writing about it. Here are some ideas for implementing this assignment:

• Create a video interviewing others (experts, family members, peers, etc.)
• Demonstrate a concept (imagine training a dog to do a trick and explaining the conditioning principles behind their behavior!)
• Find real-world occurrences that exemplify course content
• Analyze themes in the media by presenting a “movie critic” segment to discuss things the media got right and wrong

 
One possible variation on this assignment includes having the students create animated cartoon videos using a free online website such as moovly.com, which offers a free version to anyone with a .edu email address! 

Idea 3: Use Social Media, Websites, and Blogs

If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that students are ALL OVER social media, and there are lots of ways to use this to our advantage when it comes to creative assignments. One thing to consider is the difficulty of making social media accounts private for education purposes. If this is a concern, you might try using a social media template rather than the social media site itself. Either way, there are a lot of possibilities for assignments:

• Create profiles and posts for various individuals (famous and/or historical figures, people who exhibit specific characteristics, etc.)
  • Potential topics include things such as mental illness, historical events, political events, social justice issues, and more
• Use a class hashtag to allow students to share study tips, post advice to future students, create examples of concepts, etc. For example, I used #whatIlearned #psychwithdrc to collect advice from current students to future ones as an extra credit assignment (see picture below)

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• Create a course website or blog, where students can write about experiences, relate class information to one’s own life, and more
  • Encourage them to tie together audio and visual resources to make the page more dynamic
  • Enable comments so that students can interact about each other’s work

 
Hopefully these ideas will spark your creativity and help you develop a few fun activities using a little bit of technology. In the next post, I’ll be talking about how to use technology to manage communication and collaboration with teams, which is an especially important topic for those of us with teaching and research assistants. Until next time!

​Written by Jenel Cavazos