Motivation through Engaging Projects
Many students find creating traditional reports, stories, presentations, and paragraphs boring. Technology-enhanced projects engage learners in motivating activities that involve young people in writng, drawing, and expressing themselves in new ways.
Differentiated classrooms adjust the products of instruction to meet diverse needs. Technology can provide motivating tools and resources for differentiating student products.
Alternatives to Reports
From local history videos to digital science fairs, authentic technology projects bring learning to life. Promote deep understandings and address individual differences by combining the power of primary sources with student-produced text, photographs, graphs, audio, and video.
Go to Escrapbooking: Projects to learn about ways to involve students in motivating projects.
Alternatives to Paper-based Stories
Rather than writing a traditional short story or poem, ask students to combine visuals with text. Read webcomics to provide ideas, then provide students with websites such as MakeBeliefsComix and Make Your Own Graphix. Or, software such as Comic Life to produce digital comics.
Read Digital Comics, Graphic Novels, Sequential Art, and Technology-Enhanced Learning. How can you get young people involved with reading and writing webcomics and graphic novels?
Alternatives to PowerPoint Presentations
Create technology-based workspaces for students to organize their thoughts, ideas, and understandings. Apply existing technology tools such as PowerPoint to create engaging project starters. Whether introducing concepts, practicing essential skills, or transferring knowledge, starters provide an engaging space where students can share their understandings through writing, illustration, and sound communications.
Read PowerPoint Sidekicks and Desktop Learning Spaces: Practical Engaging Project Starters.
Alternatives to Paragraphs
Many traditional lessons ask students to write paragraphs on paper for the teacher. Why not provide students with an real-world product and an authentic audience?
For instance, after reading the book Gopher Up Your Sleeve by Tony Johnston students might use the enature website to learn more about the animals in the poems and write an electronic postcard. Go to San Diego Zoocards,Yahooligan Animals, or Enature ecards. Rather than writing facts or a poem about an animal on paper, while not send an ecard?
Develop an ecard activity that makes use of an ecard.
Differentiate! Design guidelines and assessment for an alternative student product. Think about how this type of project would motivate specific students who are difficult to reach through traditional assignments.
Review
Review the "big ideas" on this page:
Technology-enhanced projects engage learners in motivating activities that involve young people in writng, drawing, and expressing themselves in new ways.
Differentiated classrooms adjust the products of instruction to meet diverse needs. Technology can provide motivating tools and resources for differentiating student products.
