E-Learning tool – Educreations

I have recently begun using Educreations in my grade 7 French immersion classroom. If you have never heard of Educreations before, it is a “community where anyone can teach what they know and learn what they don't” - www.educreations.com The program allows the user to create a 'lesson' on a 'whiteboard' while recording their voice in order to explain what they are teaching. Here is an example of an Educreation lesson.

Formative feedback:

Teachers can easily provide feedback for students who have recorded their knowledge using Educreations. They can watch the video lessons at their leisure and can either record feedback audibly or write it down. Feedback can include what the student excelled in or areas for improvement. Teachers can also ensure that the student correctly understood the content being taught based on their ability to re-teach the lesson using Educreations. Furthermore, students are able to provide feedback to their peers and can work even self-evaluate by re-watching their lesson and engaging in critical and meta-cognitive thinking.

Differentiated assessment:

As a French teacher, I love the auditory component to the program. Most recently, I have used Educreations to assess French reading levels. I have uploaded several books onto Educreations, and I have students read the books aloud. The program then records their voice and I am able to provide feedback and ensure that students are reading at the correct level. I am also able to check their comprehension by asking questions after the text has been read which also lets me assess their ability to speak freely in an unrehearsed context.

Educreations is particularly useful since I am able to provide work and lessons at various levels for students. For example, if students are reading a book so that I can check their pronunciation, I can have a more challenging book option for a stronger student, and an easier book for a student who struggles with reading in French. This allows me to cater my activities and assessments to the individual students and to provide challenges that are appropriate to their independent working level.

E-Portfolio:

Students need to be encouraged to reflect upon their work and think critically about their abilities. Creating e-portfolios allows students to highlight some of their best work and also consider how to bump up their work to achieve an even higher degree of competence or fluency. Educreations allows for lessons to be stored to an account, and teachers can work with students to help them compare their work at the beginning of a unit to their work at the end. These critical conversations are important for students since they provide important feedback and next steps to consider in their future work.