Collecting and Sharing Evidence of Learning

o    How can you apply these methods to collect digital evidence of learning of content apps?

A screenshot is an easy way to collect visual evidence of student work completed on the iPad because it is an easy process to learn and apply. It could be used to capture images of the stages of a project completed on an iPad. Screen shots could be taken throughout lessons by the teacher, class tutors and or students during lessons as students work through the stages of an app. For example, screen shots could be taken of stages involved in filming a script using iMovie or creating an animated movie using Puppet Pals 2.  Screenshots could have annotations or narration added noting whether work was completed independently or with support. Screenshots could be emailed or uploaded to shared files within the school. Evidence captured in this manner may be applicable as a student work sample that could be uploaded on Electronic Student Profiles (ESP) as evidence of student learning.

Having consistent access to iPads in the classroom would make this an efficient way to collect evidence of student work across curriculum areas.

o    How can these methods be used to collect digital evidence of learning from creation apps?

Some creative apps allow for students to create and save a work task which can then be shared directly from the app by emailing to other interested parties such as colleagues and parents. An app that allows direct email is Strip Designer and I would use this app for this purpose as students become familiar and skilled with this app.

Student work samples produced on other creative apps such as Puppet Pals, Sock Puppet, Explain Everything and iMovie can be saved as work samples and saved to the camera roll, where it can be exported to ‘Dropbox’ and saved in a shared folder. Other Dropbox members can be invited to view student work files in the shared folder. Files can be moved from the shared folder and access to the shared folder can be changed as circumstances require.

Student work samples can be saved to a public folder as a means of sharing files where Dropbox accounts are not present or considered suitable. These files can be viewed by anyone who has access to the public link. For this reason, it is essential to ensure that all files in this public file are appropriate for sharing. Photographs can be shared in this way also using the public photo folder.

o    Which methods of sharing evidence of learning will be most effective for each?

Email is usually the most effective means of sharing student work if the files are small enough to email as they can be emailed directly to the desired recipients including parents. If the files are too large to email, such as those using apps that contain several images, then it is necessary to save them to a shared medium such as Dropbox or a shared folder. This requires notify desired recipients to access the files in the shared folder, often via email notification, thus an additional step.

In our school we have a public folder, known as staff no backup, for storing and sharing large files off the school server. Teaching staff have access to these files via the NT Schools login. It is our school policy in my workplace that student work or student images must not be stored in Dropbox accounts due to privacy concerns by our principal. Therefore, sharing electronic evidence of student work is restricted to the use of the shared folders on the school server or the public staff folder as outline above.

Social media is not currently a way that I would share evidence of student work as I would be concerned about breeching student privacy issues and I know our principal would not be supportive of sharing evidence in this manner.