Elevating young minds, incorporating real-life scenarios, and utilizing social media trends are all visible in active 21st century learning tactics. Two dedicated teachers from Vicenza High School used this formula successfully.
Lori Encke-Bane and Desiree Horton used their computer science classes to turn social media into a useful career tool. From the beginning of the school semester in February until May, they teamed up to create a hands-on final exam project called the Digital Media Marketing Exhibition.
According Enke-Bane, this type of learning is ideal for students to progress in the real world. "Having the students create their own companies, mission statements and logos-- and then using the knowledge, skills, and software learned in class to create sample digital medium marketing products to compete in a real world scenario-- truly integrated the 21st century skills that top companies today want in their employees."
It was Horton's first chance to collaborate with a colleague in her department, teaching the same class together. "It was the first successful project-based learning activity of this size," she said. "It was the first time we did a project that involved administrative, parent and community support all at the same time. I hope to continue to bring this type of real-world learning experience to more of my students at VHS."
Students were put into random teams where they had to utilize social media in a professional manner. They had to create sample magazine ads, billboards, a 30-second marketing commercial for a random product, and a company website. As the final test, students presented their companies to 12 community members who acted as mock companies. The event took place May 26 at the high school gym and was called "An Exhibition of Mastery."
Students were judged by the mock companies, and those that scored highest were selected as the team companies would most likely hire in real life for digital media marketing. The scores were also used as final exam grades. Students, in turn, got to evaluate and judge their own group's participation.
Three teams were chosen as the best of the event: JT Designs, M.A.P., and Out of the Box Marketing. Each team received prizes donated by the Post Exchange.
Two students who were involved in the event spoke positively about the alternative assessment. "Instead of simply picking the answer from a multiple-choice question, this type of project made you actually have to think and apply yourself just like you would in a real-world situation," said 11th-grader Maria Briskin.
"I liked being able to have a real-world experience and getting to interact with people, instead of simply taking a test," said 11th-grader Pearl Spencer.
Overall the project was a display of interactive and career-focused 21st century learning tactics while encouraging and enforcing the professional use of social media.
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