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Education technology is evolving a mile at a time. There are no more excuses for teachers to wait for the next best chance, devices to be granted to school, students to be more ready. It is here and now that every teacher has to be tech-educated and implement modern solutions in every class with no delay. Here are some educational technology concepts every modern teacher needs to be familiar with.
1. BYOD
Bring your own device or BYOD is the principle many teachers are using worldwide. They realize the urgent need to stay in tune with technological development to make their classes relevant and interesting. Simultaneously, teachers understand that waiting for the government to help with tech supplies may take away crucial time. That is why they allow students to use their own smartphones and tablets in class.
BYOD principle enables teachers to integrate the latest technologies into a common curriculum, enhance students’ practical skills, turn lessons into more challenging, interactive and personalized ones. Still, it is vital to remember about safety measures and agreements you need to come to with your students so as not to turn technology integration into a cyber threat or distraction from studies.
2. Interactive Boards
Interactive boards are becoming a common practice in schools around the world. They make it possible for a teacher to share media and interact with external sources and study in real-time mode. This means you can run different programs, access educational platforms, show pictures, videos, other illustrative materials to your students with ease and precision. Such an integration brings life to the lesson, makes the use of the latest educational apps and technologies possible, and changes the academic format significantly for the better.
3. Play and Learn
Gamification is another modern approach implemented with ready existing ideas and the latest technologies. Educators discovered that students are learning better and with more enthusiasm with the help of educational games and gaming techniques. These days teachers are stepping further using mobile, computer games, and educational gaming activities to enhance general knowledge. For example, students are taught via playing Minecraft to develop strategic, analytic, and creative skills.
Helena Garrison, a middle school teacher, shares her experience, ‘I was surprised when my son came up and asked me to type his term paper. I realized that he lacked some practical skills. So, I decided to play some games to teach both my son and my students. In the end, we even had some typing battles after we practiced enough in some typing activities and games.’
4. Personalized Approach
Such a variety of educational tools and technologies enables teachers to create a personalized curriculum for every student. With the help of contemporary apps and programs, educators only administer the whole process. Meanwhile, the app assesses the particular student’s progress and comes up with personalized activities to review specific issues and move on with a suitable learning pace.
5. Online Learning and Tutoring
If online learning used to be an optional way to study due to the problems with commuting or health, nowadays this is the best educational solution for the whole world. In the global pandemic conditions, online learning and tutoring is the best way to continue educational processes no matter the surrounding issues.
Still, video conferencing is not the only tool to conduct lessons. With all the new tools that are available, online classes can sometimes be even more engaging and fruitful than offline ones. Just think of shared board and media, live games, virtual tours, and so many more. A teacher who is eager to learn and use the newly emerged technologies will bring the best possible educational outcomes with less effort wasted but more satisfaction earned.
6. Augmented and Virtual Reality
AR and VR tools are guaranteed to enhance students’ knowledge and skills and add to overall engagement. In fact, AR and VR programs don’t require any additional devices but students’ smartphones or tablets. This way you can add real-life experience to your classes in the form of:
- Worldwide tours
- Meetings with famous people
- Exploring nature
- Space exploration
- Learning history
- Witnessing the principles of work of technologies, machines, live beings.
7. Cloud Sharing
Cloud sharing is already being used and it brings many benefits to everyday classes. The teacher can share study materials, schedules, assessments with parents, students, and other teachers in cloud storage. This will enable better communication, all-time access to study materials, a more qualitative study process, enhanced cooperation with parents, and more.
In the era of constantly evolving technologies, teachers need to grasp those basic educational technology concepts in order to stay ahead of their students and explore more possibilities to make classes more interactive, challenging, and motivating.
