Wouldn't it be great to make a handout or textbook page digital and interactive? Quickly grade stacks of handwritten quizzes? Tabulate and analyze results of paper-based assessments with lightning speed?
You can...using PairPrep! PairPrep is an online application with a lot of really cool features, including the ability to "digitize" (make interactive) any paper document--worksheets, quizzes, textbook pages, etc. It offers "speed grading", gaming, and analytics to measure individual student learning. It even has science content pre-loaded!
PairPrep offers a lot of benefits for the ELs in your classrooms. For example:
[This is not a paid advertisement. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the blogger. No homework assignments, exams, or exit tickets were harmed in the writing of this post.]
- It makes quick work of differentiation and personalized learning
- ELs won't suffer embarrassment from being given work that looks different from their peers'
- You can attach videos to your digitized documents to aid comprehension (ESL students can watch YouTube videos with subtitles turned on)
- All kids love being on computers (big surprise, right?)
- Useful as an adjunct to purposeful grouping and collaborative work
- Teachers can provide individualized feedback more quickly, and using Google Translate, could even write their comments in the student's first language
- Students can search for pictures to support their learning
- Offers practice for students who have limited experience with technology
It's a real boon to busy teachers because assignments can be differentiated without having to
create entirely different documents. Anyone can quickly and easily
digitize their paper materials by scanning them as a single PDF
(can be done on most copiers, printers, or by smartphone), and uploading to the site. The functionality
is super-easy and intuitive.
I'm still new to the program, but here are a few tips I learned the hard way (will update as I get more experienced):
- I couldn't access the PairPrep website on my computer using Internet Explorer; Chrome worked fine.
- After digitizing your documents, check carefully to make sure you've included everything. I couldn't find a way to edit my document after I clicked "Save".
Check out this 3-minute
demo! (Oh, c'mon...it's just 3 minutes!)
[This is not a paid advertisement. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the blogger. No homework assignments, exams, or exit tickets were harmed in the writing of this post.]
