NZ Tech Advance Educational Technology Summit – June 2017
Stylecheck [Stylefit] encourages self-directed learning = engaged students http://www.thestorymint.com/what-story-mint
NZ Tech Advance Educational Technology Summit – June 2017
Five Minute presentation
Greetings to you all.
I am Suraya Dewing, CEO and founder of The Story Mint, a global writers’ and readers’ online platform.
Our platform provides a break-through for everyone in the field of education and student-guided learning.
“Stylecheck”, soon to be rebranded Stylefit, sits on The Story Mint platform.
Stylefit is unique technology.
We have widely tested it with a large number of learners in a range of schools. The way learners react to it is truly exciting. They become engaged and start interacting immediately.
We are indebted to the amazing principals and teachers who have had the vision to invite us into their schools to trial this inspiring innovation.
They immediately see the potential for this technology to promote self-directed learning. They also can see it as an additional resource to enable them to teach their learners well and to encourage them to think of different ways to use words.
Most adults also use stylefit in a self-directed way.
It encourages learners to analyse their writing and to think of other ways to write. The technology challenges and provokes but leaves every writer free to explore his or her creativity. We have been delighted to discover how quickly learners figure out why a piece of writing isn't working and what needs to happen to make it interesting and engaging. I never tire of watching this process unfold. Students are very quick to point out to another student what to do to get their writing on the grid. In this way Stylefit encourages collaboration.
These three students were the first group to ever trial Stylefit. That was in 2014.
Anna Zhigareva is now in her second year at Edinburgh University and continues to regularly use The Story Mint and Stylefit. She is a key part of The Story Mint and her writing is phenomenal.
Stylefit currently meets five curriculum criteria.
1. The need to use more description
2. To avoid passive voice and use active voice instead
3. To discover how different genre work
4. To understand grammar; and
5. To work on varying sentence length and structure
We plan to take this prototype, originally developed for creative writers, and to tailor the next iteration specifically for education. That will ensure that it meets a wider range of curriculum requirements.
Educationalist Michael Fullan, says education should be ‘irresistibly engaging’.
He talks of students becoming progressively bored as they go through school.
We have seen misbehaving, bored learners and that is deeply troubling. However, we have also seen them suddenly switch to excited learners who are keen to write stories.
Learners don’t need to be sentenced to a life of boredom or to feeling inadequate.
It is really exciting to see how this unique technology transforms young lives. I have seen them switch and come alive as they discover how to master words and to put them in their place of meaning. This makes learners feel truly powerful. They love that feeling and it sets them on an amazing journey of discovery.
This is an example of a story that is essentially using the same information but telling it in a different way giving us a change in genre.
Other students quickly pick up on what is missing when someone’s writing falls off the grid. They immediately tell their classmate what to do to get their writing onto it. Their analysis is usually spot on.
Our vision is to continue our collaboration with schools, principals and educators and learners to create a customised educational Stylefit.
Shortly we launch a major campaign to raise the funds to realise that dream.
We would really like you to join us on this exciting journey.
To be part of this revolutionary new way of teaching young writers email me suraya@thestorymint.com or go to our website www.thestorymint.com
- Suraya Dewing's blog
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