Programs can either be their own thing with unique features or they can advance the experience when using another, simpler program. That’s why Mrs. Paulus’s favorite piece of technology is the program Hot Potatoes.
It’s a freeware program for Windows and Mac which allows you to create quizzes, matching games, crossword puzzles, and moreover anything you choose. It allows you to add what you create to a website, such as Mrs. Paulus’s Weebly site, and lets students do the activity multiple times.
“What I like about these types of assignments versus the traditional worksheets is that they give immediate feedback.” This allows students to see what they got right away instead of having to wait for it to be graded, they can then redo the assignment and turn it in for the score they want instead of what they got the first time. Mrs. Paulus looks on the bright side, “I figure that even if it involves the student doing it once, taking a screenshot and then redoing it from the screenshot, who cares? They’ve actually done it twice now. Simply looking over the material the second time has to be better than ‘Do it once, hand it in, and hope you did it right.’ For me homework is to help students learn the material.”
It’s a freeware program for Windows and Mac which allows you to create quizzes, matching games, crossword puzzles, and moreover anything you choose. It allows you to add what you create to a website, such as Mrs. Paulus’s Weebly site, and lets students do the activity multiple times.
“What I like about these types of assignments versus the traditional worksheets is that they give immediate feedback.” This allows students to see what they got right away instead of having to wait for it to be graded, they can then redo the assignment and turn it in for the score they want instead of what they got the first time. Mrs. Paulus looks on the bright side, “I figure that even if it involves the student doing it once, taking a screenshot and then redoing it from the screenshot, who cares? They’ve actually done it twice now. Simply looking over the material the second time has to be better than ‘Do it once, hand it in, and hope you did it right.’ For me homework is to help students learn the material.”