• Motivation
• Publishing, sharing and searching for information
• Collaboration
• Developing IT skills
• Creating a more individual approach to learning
• Flexibility in terms of space and time
• Creativity.

Teachers, on the other hand, can also benefit from the technology:

• Classroom management and organisation
• Changing the role of the teacher
• Student evaluation
• IT skills
• Visual quality of teaching material
• Finding a unique teaching approach

• Online safety and security

• An unnecessary distraction
  

• Battery limitations

• Concern about their expertise around, for example, Wi-Fi.
  

An actual piece of content that I can use as an example for a content creation project in my classroom:

An idea for a piece of content I produced with my class that has a purpose beyond the classroom activity:

My students have created an intro for their school.

An idea for a piece of content I produced with my class that has a purpose beyond the classroom activity:

My students have created a set of flash cards with the description of the inventor or scientist on on one side and two names
listed on the right. Place the QR code image with the name of the
correct individual under the listed names. Theses flash cards are sticked on the school bulletin boards and every wall on the school.

Students read the clue and guess the name that they think fits the description. They then use a tablet with a QR code to scan the answer and see if it is correct.

Students will video while the activities happenin in class or aout of the class and put them on their blogs.

OBJECTIVE: The student will use a tablet to scan QR codes and identify famous scientists and inventors based on clues given and will verify answers using a QR code.

STUDENT STATEMENT: I can identify famous scientists and inventors using my background knowledge and confirming using a QR code scanner and tablet.

DIRECTIONS:
Create QR code images for the following individuals: Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Alexander Graham Bell, Issac Newton, Nikola Tesla, Johannes Guttenberg, Louis Pasteur, Eli Whitney, Francis Crick & James Watson, Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking.

My students have created:

My students have used Aurasma (Augmented Reality App) to introduce teachers to the visitors or new comers to the school for their ITEC project.

• are different genders
• are different ethnicities
• prefer different subjects in school
• do not know each other very well
• have different “intelligences”
• have varying levels of academic proficiency
• have varying levels of technology proficiency

-During small-group interactions, they find many opportunities to reflect upon and reply to the diverse responses learners bring to the questions raised. Small groups also allow students to add their perspectives to an issue based on their cultural differences. This exchange inevitably helps students to better understand other cultures and points of view.

-Acknowledgment of individual differences. When questions are raised, different students will have a variety of responses. Each of these can help the group create a product that reflects a wide range of perspectives and is thus more complete and comprehensive. -Interpersonal development. Students learn to relate to their peers and other learners as they work together in group enterprises. This can be especially helpful for students who have difficulty with social skills. They can benefit from structured interactions with others. -Actively involving students in learning. Each member hasopportunities to contribute in small groups. Students are apt to take more ownership of their material and to think critically about related issues when they work as a team. -More opportunities for personal feedback. Because there are more exchanges among students in small groups, your students receivemore personal feedback about their ideas and responses. This feedback is often not possible in large-group instruction, in which one or two students exchange ideas and the rest of the class listens.

What are some challenges you might face?

You can assign specific roles to each student or let the students assign roles within the group. Having team members rotate through the various roles requires them to tackle several different sets of skills and helps them see the value of each role.

I used below stratigies to assess my groups. Some challenges of group work include:

• Coordination
• Motivation
• Intellectual

For instructors, common challenges involve:

• Allocating time
• Teaching process skills
• Assessing process as well as product
• Assessing individual as well as group learning

Strategies: To help reduce or mitigate coordination challanges:

1. Keep groups small.
2. Designate some class time for group meetings.
3. Use group resumes or skills inventories to help teams delegate subtasks.
4. Assign roles (e.g., group leader, scheduler) or encourage students to do so.
5. Point students to digital tools that facilitate remote and/or asynchronous meetings.
6. Warn students about time-consuming stages and tasks.
7. Actively build communication and conflict resolution skills.
8. Designate time in the project schedule for the group to integrate parts.

You may get help from:

https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/groupprojects/challenges.html

There are many methods for assessing groupwork. Each has its pluses and minuses and requires careful consideration. Some methods may also work better for some tasks and group sizes than others. It is also possible to use a combination of these methods. For any of these methods, you will need assessment critera. For further information on each of these methods, follow the link:

Assessment Criteria for Groupwork

The assessment criteria can provide clear guidelines to the group about effective group practices. One option is to engage the students in writing the group contribution assessment criteria. This way, they simultaneously have a discussion about acceptable norms of behaviour in groups. For example, the following criteria were written by first year students at Flinders:

Co-operation: This erson works with the group to reach a consensus view and then abides by that consensus; works with others to finish the assignment; compromises; does their assigned tasks and does not intrude on others' tasks
Attendance: This personis punctual; is prepared; turns up at all scheduled events.
Contribution: This person makes sure they do the work the team decided they would do; brings work back to the group by the deadline the group has set; does their fair share of the roles (e.g. chairing, editing, etc.)
Communication :This person listens to others' ideas; is contactable (responds to emails / answers their phone); is open to new ideas; includes others in the discussion
Works efficiently :This person has good time management skills; meets deadlines; stays focused in meetings
Responsibility :This person if they're given something to do, then they do it; makes sure they provide good references for the material they have researched

An actual piece of content that I can use as an example for a content creation project in my classroom: my students are learning "Present Tense"

http://www.powerleague.org.uk/