Thinking Creatively About Mobile Assessments

caryn
Community Member
4
1361

Canvas provides instructors with an opportunity to rethink the technological side of their course - and mobile activity is one of the major areas in which this occurs! As I watched the video series for mobile assignments (which is fantastic, by the way), it really made me think that we design courses as if we are transferring them from paper to electronic, instead of being "born digital."

 

The examples of taking a picture of specific items was interesting! I could imagine a sort of a library scavenger hunt that included these pieces (i.e. take a picture of this book on the shelf in the Library, take a selfie of yourself working on a computer in the lab, take a picture of a 3-d object that you printed in the makerspace). It would transform the regular "get acquainted with your Library" into a sort of an "Amazing Race" experience.

 

I could also imagine a more research-based assignment. Perhaps the course is on ecology, and you encourage the students to take pictures of flora and fauna, requiring geo-referencing of the image. Then, you download the results and generate a custom Google Map of the results.

 

What other examples can you think of, as ways to creatively engage students with mobile activities?

 

There are so many exciting opportunities available when we begin to think about the tools that are available, and how to best use them. The instruction becomes more of a transformational experience where students realize that education and learning is real and could be a lifelong pursuit.

 

After all, curiosity is one of the early steps of expertise, right?

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