How I Use It
When I introduced Glogster to our math and science team many years ago, I introduced it as a Science project board without the cardboard. Glogster is highly engaging and students really enjoy creating projects on the site. I have used Glogster in language arts and social studies classes. In my language arts class, students used Glogster to create digital poetry projects - the project included a mini lesson in creating a webpage (Glog) with links to specific genres of poetry (Glogs) students created. A colleague shared that he was having a difficult time getting his students “into” the poetry unit, so I shared my lesson with him. I told him to compare the digital project (I had a model to share) with the hard copy project and see if he had a better response. He told me that once he showed the digital project he asked, “Ok students, are you ready to start the project now?” He received a resounding, “YES!” (which I happen to hear next door). Further, students critiqued others projects and posted on each project. We were both very pleased with the final outcome of the projects and the impact on student learning. I would like to add that I especially like having the ability for students to scan and upload their images/art work and use them alongside the graphics offered by Glogster.
Here are a few helpful hints:
1: Always use a rubric to grade and go through the rubric very carefully asking students to grade at least two models (three is better). Make sure to include in the rubric that students need to connect the graphics to the content. This can be a difficult task for some students;
2: Make sure your students have a clear understanding of “theme” (should be another rubric criteria);
-Some students would benefit from sketching a rough draft of their project and subsequent pages (if students are creating a Glog with multiple pages and links) in order to insure the content does not come secondary to graphics – remember, just like using a Word document: content first, format second and;
-Students who struggle with spelling should type their work into a word document and check for spelling and/or grammar prior to posting;
4. Frequent meetings/check in with students on project timeline/progress and;
5. Review blogging/critiquing guidelines rubric.
In my social studies class, I have had students use Glogster to create an end-of-the-unit study guide as well as a unit big ideas/summary Glog/discussion board.
Finally, Glogster is an awesome tool – just make sure your site has ample bandwidth to support high student use because once students use it, they will want to use it over and over again!
My overall opinion about Glogster is a positive one – I have shared the site with many of my colleagues who still use the product. I especially like that I can embed/upload it to PREZI which can make for a stunning presentation! My special area of focus in college was art and technology, so I try to incorporate art into all projects. Again, when students are working on Glogster, it is imperative that you are checking in with them frequently to make sure they are on track as some students can get carried away with the “design” aspects (graphics, colors, patterns, etc.) and put content secondary.