MIEExpert Spotlight #11: Kathryn Riva from Cape Town talks about her use of Sway & other applications for a classroom project

This is a guest post from Kathryn Riva, a MIEExpert from Micklefield Primary in Cape Town. Kathryn Used Sway and other applications in a project with her Grade 7s this year. Follow Kathryn on Twitter @kathriva 

"The Grade 7s are required to do a project in the first term in which they have to…

• Draw a sketch map(s) of own area
• Include symbols, key and scale
• Record own observations of land use and kinds of vegetation 
• Show four cardinal compass directions

I decided to make this project a little more challenging and fun by turning it into a blended learning project.

The class

The Grade 7s busy with their task in the classroom

The task

We started off along the traditional path where the girls were given a Cape Town Street Guide and they had to plot the route from Micklefield School to Cavendish Square Shopping Centre. They then had to draw a sketch map and provide instructions of the route to be taken. This was the planning phase of our project.

In their computer lessons, the girls took a virtual tour of their route on Google Street View. They looked for important landmarks and collected them using Microsoft’s Snipping Tool. The final project required a virtual tour of the planned route to be created and presented as a Microsoft Sway. 

The assessment rubric

The girls had so much fun doing this project and the creations were phenomenal.

Quotes from the girls:

“I had fun exploring Sway and Google Streets, the tools were fun to learn and the more I worked with it the more I enjoyed it ~ Julia
“Once I got the hang of Sway and Google Streets I enjoyed playing around and using them.” ~ Carrie
“I loved the themes and styles of Sway.” ~ Chloe
“I liked seeing the outcome of my Sway.” ~ Josie
“I enjoyed exploring Street View and finding different routes.” ~ Michaela"

Examples of Kathryn's students' Sways:
These are simply lovely:

https://sway.com/xAuIOT8txgwwOfLM

https://sway.com/NPDIbrWhIBgtRUNS

https://sway.com/mN6UN4VXlmqSJd50

https://sway.com/9OoXfFhUia2AmXUz

Find out about Microsoft Sway on the Microsoft Educator Community

You’ll find the Sway website at https://sway.com/ You can create and share interactive reports, presentations, personal stories, and more. If you are keen to learn about Sway – check out this freeIntroduction to Sway course on the Microsoft Educator Community.

Get involved in the Microsoft MIEE program in 2016/2017
If you are a teacher who likes to be innovative in the classroom, think about entering Microsoft's Innovative Teacher MIEExpert program in 2016/2017 when applications reopen later in the year. You can learn more about the program at this link: http://bit.ly/1H4gKcB on the Microsoft Educator Community.