Areas is a totally free digital portfolio tool that launched previously this year and has quickly become one of my top suggestions for instructors and trainees who want to bring Portfolio-based assessment into their classrooms. Given that it concerned my attention in the middle of the last academic year, some teachers might not have actually tried it since they already had a digital portfolio in place. Now that the brand-new academic year is here, take an appearance at
Spaces and its many functions for teachers and trainees including some that were simply released for the brand-new school year.

Activities” Activities” is my favorite brand-new feature in Spaces. Activities are precisely what the name suggests, activities that you can designate to your students to finish and add to their Spaces digital portfolios. And due to the fact that Spaces provides group portfolios and private portfolios, you can appoint Activities to individuals or groups.

Three Reasons to Try Making Spaces Digital Portfolios.

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Curriculum Goals & & TagsCurriculum Goals & & Tags is another brand-new Spaces feature for this year. Ive seen other digital portfolio services try to do something comparable, however none has made it as easy for teachers to carry out as Spaces has.

Head here to learn more about Curriculum Goals & & Tags or watch the video at the bottom of this post to see how simple it is to add Curriculum Goals & & Tags to your Spaces account

Read more about Spaces Activities right here or view my brief video at the bottom of this post to see the teacher and trainee perspectives of Spaces Activities.

Areas will even let you tape a video to describe the directions to your trainees. When students submit their Activities assignments you can evaluate them in your Spaces account just like you can examine any other items that they add to their portfolios.

Curriculum Goals & & Tags lets you import sets of standards with which you desire to “tag” your Activities. The sets of requirements that are readily available to import is quite excellent. There are the usual state and province requirements typically used by public schools in addition to standards often utilized by independent schools.

A complex Activity may be something like asking students to record a short video discussing the essential points of a presentation theyre making and how those points line up with the requirements youve appointed. Heres a list of some sample Spaces Activities.

To import Curriculum Goals & & Tags into your Spaces account just sign into your account, select a class, then click on “Curriculum Goals & & Tags “on the left hand side of the screen. Youll then see a search box pop-up where you can search for standards sets according to organization, province, or state.

After youve selected the set of requirements that you want to import into your Spaces class, you can then add standards tags to your assignments in Spaces. This is a terrific way to assist trainees and parents understand how a project aligns with a curriculum objective.

Disclosure: Spaces is currently a marketer on FreeTech4Teachers.com

1. Ease of access.
As I wrote earlier this year about.
Spaces, accessibility was among its big selling points when I attempted it for the very first time. Spaces provides a method to ensure that the announcements, Activities, and feedback that you publish for trainees can be accessed by them in a range of ways.

When you publish in your class Space you can compose it out, however you can also tape-record audio and video messages to accompany that written message. I can do that by writing a message and I can use Spaces built-in audio and video recording tools to publish the very same message.

2. Parent involvement.As I mentioned above, moms and dads like to see what their children are working on and digital portfolios are a terrific method to facilitate this. Moms and dads can be invited to view their kids Spaces portfolio. Doing that offers a fantastic chance for them to see their kids progress throughout the year instead of just at parent-teacher conference night. Inviting moms and dads to view their childs portfolio likewise offers them with the opportunity to talk with their child about what theyre learning in school. And the brand-new Curriculum Goals & & Tags feature in Spaces makes it much easier than ever for moms and dads to understand how their childs work aligns with the goals of your curriculum.

3. Group Portfolios.
One of the important things that makes Spaces somewhat unique in the digital portfolio area is that there is a built-in way to develop group portfolios within your class account. Your trainees can have individual portfolios where they display their individual work, but they can also be a part of groups in which they share their work.

Spaces is a free digital portfolio tool that introduced earlier this year and has quickly become one of my top recommendations for trainees and instructors who desire to bring Portfolio-based evaluation into their class. Activities are precisely what the name indicates, activities that you can appoint to your trainees to add and complete to their Spaces digital portfolios. Spaces will even let you record a video to describe the directions to your trainees. When trainees submit their Activities tasks you can review them in your Spaces account simply like you can evaluate any other products that they include to their portfolios.

How to Get Started!The quickest way to start is to sign-up at https://app.spacesedu.com/signup then create an account utilizing either your Google account or email address. You can develop a class roster and welcome your trainees to join. From your teacher dashboard you can quickly produce individual spaces for them to utilize once theyve joined. This video strolls you through the procedure of producing areas for your students and this video reveals the trainees viewpoint.

The much better use of group Spaces is as a location where trainees can share their work in progress and get feedback from each other as well as from their teacher.

Earlier this year I explained the group alternative in Spaces as “asynchronous breakout rooms.” You can appoint trainees to particular group Spaces to share with each other and with you. Group Spaces could be used for just sharing completed group projects. The better usage of group Spaces is as a place where students can share their work in progress and get feedback from each other along with from their teacher.