Creativity Tools

I really enjoyed exploring creativity tools.  I love assessing my students based on work that they have created.  I chose to explore several apps, Sock Puppets, iMovie, Explain Everything and Glogster.  I found pros and cons with each app.

App	Pros	Cons
Sock Puppets	Very easy to use.  You only have to record your voice so it doesn’t take much prep work.  Great for reading responses, explaining steps for a math problem or science investigation, etc.	You only record your voice.  Visuals are already created for you and you can not include your own.
iMovie	My favorite!!  So easy to incorporate pictures and videos, edit timing, add voice over and music.  Students can easily record themselves, take pictures and plug all of their media into iMovie using only an iPad.	Students need to have access to iPads.
Explain Everything	I also love this app!  It’s like power point but more interactive.  You can include pictures, you can write on each slide by typing text or using your finger as a stylus.  You can make a voice recording on each slide.  You can use pointers to highlight information in pictures or text that you have included.	Students need access to iPads.
Glogster	Students can make interactive posters that are very informative and contain lots of great information.  You can include videos, websites, text that you type and pictures.  Each piece of information you include is linked by a graphic that you choose.	I have had quite a few technical difficulties using Glogster.  Sometimes it runs very slowly and doesn’t load work that has been previously started and saved.

Explain Everything is the creativity tool that I would like to continue discussing in this post.  I like this tool because you can have students show their thinking in just about any academic setting.  They could upload a math problem and then walk through the steps of how to solve that problem by both writing on the screen and using their voice to explain the steps they took to solve the equation.  They could do research and make a short presentation of their findings for the class.  They could read a story and do a character analysis including pictures, voice and text to prove their point.  Explain everything takes what students have the capability of doing on paper and adding graphics and voice recording to enhance their work.  I like the idea of having students upload their writing to explain everything and then having other students come and edit and explain their editing so the students have quality feedback.  These types of exercises take a constructivist approach to having students expand on their knowledge or the knowledge of others.  I also like that it is a very user friendly app and you can quickly make a presentation.

In my current teaching assignment I teach a very structured reading class for dyslexic students.   I do not have the opportunity to stray from the curriculum or change the mode in which I teach.  This makes using these creativity tools challenging in my actual class.  One of the skills I work on with my students every day is coding words for reading.  I could see myself making tutorials about different coding rules to help the kids struggling consistently with the same coding rules.  This would be great because the kids could watch my quick presentations as often as needed for refreshers on coding.  I would love to have the students making presentations more, but that is not really my job assignment at this time.

I think creativity tools add so much to the educational experience.  Students truly learn so much when they are able to teach others.  I think creating something for others helps build higher level thinking skills and creativity that will set students apart in the competitive job market.  I am still a fan of using tests and games, etc. for assessment.  Students need to be able to retain information and answer specific questions.  However, when a student can take a concept and apply it and show someone else how to do the same, you know they have really mastered that objective.  Because I realize that all students have different strengths and they do not all process things the same way I do, I am ok with letting my students explore creativity tools that they might enjoy.  One tool that I have never fully embraced is Prezi.  I think that using Prezi for a presentation can be great, however it has always seemed so complicated to me when I believe other apps can make just as engaging presentations for much less of the headache.  However, I would not be opposed to my students using Prezi for their personal projects if they had shown mastery of that specific tool.  When I assign something to my students, I will always give an example and explain how to use the tools I have shown them.  I only offer support though if students are using tools that I have previously taught or explained in class.  This way, they can enjoy freedom to use what they prefer, but they are responsible for making sure the product works and meets criteria.