Students Learn How to be Visual Communicators

Many young people know how to use computers, tablets, and smartphones even before stepping into their first classroom. But in addition to knowing how to use technology, students today also need to be able to communicate their ideas using digital media.

Grandview Preparatory School understands this concept as well as any school in the country and encourages its students and teachers to use technology to showcase ideas and knowledge. Case in point: the school’s use of Adobe Spark. Peek into a Grandview classroom, and you may well see students delivering the day’s lesson—aided by compelling multimedia presentations.

For example, middle school students in a Spanish class dug deep into Hispanic societies, creating Adobe Spark videos highlighting countries where soccer is an important part of the culture. Younger students also caught the creative bug, as third graders worked together to make a video about the process of agile learning. They even shared it on Twitter, where they were delighted to see positive feedback.

“Adobe Spark is a fantastic way to help students demonstrate their understanding of a topic,” says Rosita Darden, a language arts teacher who serves as the Innovation Coordinator for lower and middle schools at Grandview.

But Adobe Spark is not just for students. In fact, a science teacher used the technology to convince school administrators to extend Grandview’s PenPal Schools program, incorporating student video testimonials in her presentation to underscore the value of the global, collaborative learning experience.

Adobe Spark requires very little training and enables students to use web and mobile devices to create media-rich documents. Students can tell stories and share ideas using audio, text, images, video, and more to communicate with other students. With single sign-on, students can log into their personal account from school or home, making it easier to create projects—for school or just for fun.

“We want to teach students best practices for 21st century skills,” says Darden. “No one uses poster boards for presentations, meetings, or marketing. They’re using videos and highly visual, interactive solutions. Our students need to be prepared to showcase what they can do.”

Homework will officially never be the same again at Grandview.

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