The end-of-semester review is one of the most common topics we blog about, and have definitely made our fair share of suggestions of tools that would be great to utilize when reviewing material with students at the end of the semester.
Now, we’ve come up with a new idea that would be a great way to kick-off the semester—a beginning-of-semester preview!
It’s the same idea as the review, only this time you are giving your students a sneak-peek of what is in store for them the next 16 weeks. It’s a great way to spend the first day—it will spark interest, break the ice, and get them excited and motivated for what’s to come! Here are a few ideas of how to create a semester preview:
- Quiz ‘em: Socrative is one of our favorite tools, and we’ve blogged about it plenty in the past. This tool turns mobile devices into the responders—ask students questions and they can instantly respond during lecture! Try asking questions to help gain a better understanding of what students already know about class material, ask fun questions to get to know them better, and quiz them on the content of the syllabus!
- Play some games: TurningPoint, a tool offered here at UIS, provides students with clickers to use to answer questions during an interactive presentation. Create a game and divide students onto teams—this will help them meet their peers and will again give you a baseline to what they know coming into the semester! More great websites to check out are Purpose Games and ClassTools.net—there are a great variety of options!
- Send them home with some fun: The semester preview doesn’t have to take place in class—we have some fun tools that you can use to create an activity for them to complete when they return home! One of our favorites is Blubbr, where users can create a quiz based off of different videos!
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