A second meaningful artifact to me from this course was creating a screencast for a flipped lesson. I chose to screencast how to create a dynamic QR code because I want to share that with you before the start of the school year. QR codes can be a handy way to disseminate information to parents and students, as well as, create engaging activities for students. I have hung up sheets with a QR code to my Weebly website and to join the Remind app at Back to School Night so parents can receive any updates I send about upcoming tests, projects, or other important happenings in the classroom. Upon discussion of QR codes with my classmates, I came away with the idea of embedding QR codes in your syllabus so that parents and students always have access to the pertinent information for your class.
My favorite activity that I created using QR codes was a Civil War Predictions Homework assignment where the students were only required to make predictions to answer the four questions but could then check their answers using QR codes if they wanted to. I made this a homework assignment so I could pre-assess what each individual student knew about the Civil War at the beginning of the unit. I was so pleasantly surprised by the number of students who completed the answer portion as well, by scanning each QR code and writing in the information. It gave many of my students some additional knowledge to start building the unit on.
Another way to use QR codes and screencasts together is to have students record a book review and then print a QR code to put in the book. Other students can then scan the QR codes and listen to the reviews when selecting their next book. This is another spin on a book report and lets students share their opinions with others.
Screencasts can be used in so many valuable ways like having the teacher record a lesson or step-by-step directions, demonstrate how to use a new technology tool, or differentiate a lesson to provide extra support for struggling students or provide additional information to students who already grasp the concept. Students can use screencasts to show their understanding of a concept, demonstrate and explain how to do a math problem, or demonstrate how to use a technology tool to their classmates. We can challenge our students to create quality screencasts that can then be posted to help classmates that are struggling to understand a specific concept. The possibilities for how to use screencasts are endless.
Although I had done some screencasting in the past, this assignment was valuable to me in that I thought of new ways to utilize screencasts and I started to get more comfortable hearing my recorded voice which has really bothered me in the past. I am grateful for this knowledge and experience so I can create better screencasts in the future that help you. If you haven’t tried making a screencast yet, add the Screencastify extension to Chrome and start with a simple 1-2 minute video welcoming your students at the start of the new school year. Happy filming!