Discovery Education Streaming - Assignment, Quiz, Writing Prompt Builder Tools
Oftentimes, a teacher will want her students to watch a video clip and respond with a written reflection. With the writing prompt builder, this process becomes simplified, as the video, writing prompt, and a place for the student to respond are all in one location. Once assigned, the student can view the video (repeatedly if needed), and prepare a written response to the prompt to send directly to the teacher. No more "video worksheets", and the student can complete the assignment on his own time. Additionally, multiple resources can be embedded, and the student can review parts of the video at his own pace. This is probably this easiest way to get started with the classroom tools included with DES.
Similar to other assessment builder applications such as Quia, DES includes a Quiz builder that lets you attach resources and add questions that can be graded automatically. Available question types are limited to multiple choice (single or multiple answer), true/false, and short answer (teacher graded). However, one of the distinguishable features is the option to include resources both in the question, and as a review. In the latter scenario, students can be guided to a resource when they answer a question incorrectly. Again, this is a great opportunity for teachers to create some scaffolding for students, especially those that have missed out on classroom instruction. Resources can be anything from a simple photo or lecture notes to a full streaming video. More detailed than the writing prompt builder, the quiz builder is a great way to craft some formative assessments while including more media in instruction.
This is where you can create an entire lesson, or even a whole unit based around media resources. The builder includes places for the assignment instructions, learning objectives, and teacher notes. From there, you can add articles, images, full videos, video segments and more. I really like promoting this feature as an easy way to create a simple "webquest". Allow students to explore the content through multimedia, both still and moving. Have them reflect on the journey (writing prompt), assess them on their learning (quiz), and encourage them to contribute (upload to Media Share server) some work of their own. Submissions don't have to be a fully edited video every time. Instead, students could create articles written in the style of the subject being studied. They could create a map of their neighborhood re-imagined in a different era, or they could record a short audio jingle or video commercial.
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