Going Beyond the Essay

Being able to organize your thoughts, develop a sound argument with supporting evidence, and write persuasively is an important skill. This is one of the key reasons why essays, as stand-alone products or part of a written test, are often the final assessment of learning. Is an essay enough, though, these days? Is this a fully authentic task that is going to prepare them for the skills and frames of mind they will need in the future? Can we take these writing and thinking processes a step further to bring more meaning and engagement? Yes. Giving students the opportunity to create products of learning that incorporate these thinking and writing skills AND allow them to develop creative and design thinking skills will bolster their abilities even more. Technology supports this next-level content creation wonderfully.

Going beyond essays to create and publish videos, podcasts, screencasts, and other creative multimedia work push students to incorporate visual and audio elements that enhance the written work, bringing more meaning and deeper understanding of the content. The creative process with these products tends to engage students more, especially when students can choose how to show their learning. Furthermore, the creative and technical skills that are developed are very useful for their personal and professional lives.

They become storytellers in this process. They have to think differently about the content since they have a broader audience they need to engage both visually and with the content. It furthers their research capabilities since they have find (or create) relevant and legally usable media in their work. In the process they must become aware of and respect copyright issues with media, which is a critical digital citizenship skill. Learning the technical processes involved with creating these products increases their prowess and confidence with technology. Furthermore, these products are perfect for publishing to larger audiences via the Internet. The students add value to the world of knowledge this way and they can receive additional feedback on their work from pin-pointed experts or the general populace. This expands the reach of their ideas and helps them to develop, defend, or dialogue about their work beyond the student-teacher relationship.

To promote this idea, students in Jay Prodger’s World Studies 10 classes are currently creating a documentary-style video related to Japanese Imperialism. Once the project is completed, I will share out the process and examples here on The Matrix.

Being proficient users of different technologies is essential for their futures. These opportunities to go beyond the essay increase that proficiency. Let me know if you would like to take your students beyond the essay.