Digital Task Cards

Most teachers end up being out of the classroom at some point.  It's always hard to set up something for students to do when you are out but I've used a learning platform to leave the lesson for the day so I don't have to make tons of copies of make-work for my sub.  Having students use task cards is one option and they can be done digitally. 

Task cards are cards with problems for students to do.  Although most schools are back in session, some students are out due to covid so by having digital cards, all students can participate even though they are not at school.  They can also be a part of the lesson used by a sub when the teacher is out.

Digital task cards can be set up so students can either scroll through the choices or work their way through the cards so the teacher becomes the facilitator. In this case the facilitator can walk among the students, encourage them to work together, edit each others work, explore, analyze, while providing a choice.  Furthermore, the tasks can be differentiated from relatively simple to much harder so students can find something they can do. Digital Task cards allow students to work at their own pace or the teacher can set a deadline.  There can be choices for students who finish early or need something more challenging. 

There are a couple ways to create and use digital task cards.  One way is to create the cards in Google Slides. Open google slides and set up a new presentation.  Place a different task on each slide. One can create four answers on each slide with one correct and three incorrect answers.  Link the correct answer to a slide telling them it is correct and when they click the next button, they go to the next question while the incorrect answers are linked to slides that say incorrect and back.  The other possibility is to create a open ended task that students answer using a google doc where they explain their thinking. Once they have their answer down, they move to the next slide.

If you prefer, you can set up a google form for students to place their answers.  Each slide lists a different task and each task should be numbered.  Then set up a google form so it's set up as a self-grading quiz.  If you go with tasks that have absolute answers, set up google forms with the correct answer so students type in their answers and they find out immediately if their answers are correct.  Otherwise, if the tasks are open ended, set the form to short answers so students can place their answers in the form and you can provide feedback.

Another way to create digital task cards is to take a pdf of all the task cards and capture a picture of each task card.  Then import one task card per google slide so you have a slide presentation filled with the cards so they can choose one or work their way through.  This can also be done in google forms so that one picture of a task card is imported for each question.  In the question box, you type the number of the task card and import the task card image for the question.  Click short answer and required, then done. 

If your questions have a single answer, you can click multiple choice and list four answers for students to select from.  The correct answer is identified and inputed so when students chose the correct answer they get immediate feedback.

If you use keynote or power point, you can set it up as a presentation and import pictures or type out the questions and follow the directions for google slides with the appropriate links.  You can have students type the answers into pages or Microsoft word.  So now you know how to create digital task cards.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.