Searching for a learning and teaching tool that helps to promote creativity? Edcanvas can do that and more.
I just happened to stumble across Edcanvas last week and can see myself using it quite a lot in the future as it is appropriate for my teaching situation. So what can you and your students do with it? Let's take a look.
I've embedded an example of Edcanvas and used the chequerboard template to give you an idea of what you can do with this tool in a multimedia format. Click on the squares and view it at leisure.
In my teaching context, as a Virtual English Teacher, this sort of tool is fantastic for, preparing material to be viewed before a lesson; I can use it for mixed language levels; I can put together extra resources for those needing additional help; the use of multimedia means all literacy skills can be trained; students can review the material as often as they like from a choice of devices
(although they can't yet be created from mobile devices, but the team is working on it); learning can be self-regulated and slowed down, thereby promoting reflection and active learning, and it's a means of encouraging students to demonstrate their understanding of certain themes and concepts in a creative manner.
I am particularly partial to tools that make it possible for students to illustrate that they have not only grasped what happens during a lesson, but that they can take that material, expand on it and share it in a way that means something to them, instead of pure regurgitation. As Godsk (2012) comments in his blog about tablet casts, by enabling students to 'synthesise' and 'create' presentations (as is possible with Edcanvas) the ' level of cognitive processing' (Godsk, 2012) is likely to be higher than that of a passive learner. This aligns with Bloom's Taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Certainly a positive factor from my point of view.
If you feel that it's a tool that you can put to suitable use in your teaching or learning context then go and test it for yourself. It's a free tool, offers support, has a growing community of users who can be reached via social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter etc, so plenty of help out there if you should require it. Try it out.
Godsk. M. (2012) ' Will 'tabletcasts' revolutionize education',
The Broken Dam, September 13th, Online at: