For a final assessment in my second tri class I chose to add an xtranormal project that required the students to teach me about one of my other assignments. This project was very enriching and really seemed to bring about a higher level of thinking in the students. You can view the details of the project here. Through having to create a somewhat realistic conversation between two people discussing how to do a project in my class the students were able to better connect to some of the minutia that the software has available in it. When I gave an informal verbal assessment to some of my students I found that those that reached the final project in my class (and completed it) were far more advanced in telling me about the features of certain software than those who just completed the basic project. I think this all comes back to the old belief that you never really learn something well until you've taught someone else to do it. This project was intended to do just that, teach someone else how to perform the steps needed to complete a project.
While I do feel that this web tool is very valuable it doesn't come without some sort of drawbacks. The server sometimes can be painfully slow to save or publish the movie that has been created. Without putting money into an account the students cannot publish their work to the web. Finally, the subtle hand, face, and body motions that could really provide students with a way to create non-verbal expressions to amplify their teaching points do not really work that well. Unless the character is told to raise a hand or some other obvious motion, nothing really shows up in the final film.
All in all I would give this website a big thumbs up, but just be ready for some small frustrations.
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