The stress of exams live long in the memory

As an adult, I love Spring and saying goodbye to long, dark and cold nights. However, I distinctly remember as a teenager, dreading what has traditionally been exam season. In an attempt to alleviate some the stress inflicted on our y8’s,  I decided to dedicate the computing curriculum time to revision in other subjects.

This may sound odd, and neglectful of computing, but my theory is that by using technology to create engaging, interactive revision guides that both bookmarked useful sites and allowed students to create their own content, I would be providing them with the best of both worlds; time to learn, consolidate and revise but also time to create high quality digital content.

The ideal tool to do this is Thinglink. A free resource that allows users to pin links/video clips/images to an image of their choosing.

Example of student description of link

Students were encouraged to pick curriculum areas in which they lacked confidence and then develop their research skills and collate useful and helpful websites. Short descriptions and links were then added to their Thinglinks that explained the resource at the other end of the link.

Once 3/4 quality links were attached to their ThingLinks, students were then encouraged to create their own content. This could take the form of a film, blog post, podcast, popplet, quiz, prezi or whatever students thought would allow them to create content that would be useful for themselves and for their peers.

Examples of positive and constructive student comments.

Finally, once completed, the students embedded their ThingLinks onto their year group blog. Each student was also careful to ensure that they categorised their work properly therefore creating what is now a complete revision hub, across all subjects, available to all students locally and indeed, globally! The categories range from German Revision to the Great Reform Act and contain superb links to both web content and self-created content. Another huge advantage of blogging is the ability for children to comment on each others work. This has done wonders for their self-esteem and has also created a great atmosphere of collegiality between the students .

I have embedded a few examples below but please take the time to visit their class page and even better, leave a comment or two!