Technology can be used to bring in more
engagement and fun in the classroom. While there is no denying that the
traditional way of delivering lectures by knowledgeable teachers is educative,
they tend to get quite boring at times. They do not really hold the attention
of the students throughout and by the end of it, students do not learn as much
as they should have.
The importance of technology in
education has increased greatly since the last few decades. Students are taught
the basic computer skills that they would need in everyday life. Now, there are
a number of ways to integrate technology in the classroom as well. Let us
consider some of those here!
1. Introduce interactive whiteboards
in the classroom
Many schools today have introduced
interactive whiteboards in the classroom. They are a lot more engaging than the
traditional dry chalkboards or whiteboards with pens. These interactive
whiteboards can display anything, from pictures to videos to various websites.
Hence, teachers can make the learning sessions way more interesting by
incorporating related video and audio files. Interactive whiteboards bring in
more enthusiasm in the classroom as every student is excited to see how it
works. These boards also allow them to put forward their presentations in HD
display. One of the greatest advantages of interactive whiteboards is that they
have the ability to record classroom lessons for students to view later. Thus,
they make the education system more flexible and convenient.
2. Using informative videos and pictures
from the internet during lessons
The use of informative videos and
pictures while teaching a particular topic can really help the teacher to get
the attention of the students in the class. For instance, while teaching about
the Mughal Dynasty in India, the teacher can search on the internet and show
some rare pictures from that era to the students. That would straightaway take
the children to that specific period in time and they would be able to grasp
the related content easily as well. Also, there are educational websites such
as TeacherTube which cover a number of school subjects. You can use those
websites as well to make classroom teaching more interesting and informative.
3.
Explore field trip locations on Google Earth
Schools often take students for field
trips to various places. Field trips provide educational value as well as
broaden the minds of the children. However, some students might be a little
apprehensive in the beginning to go on a field trip for the fear of the
unknown. What the teacher can do is to make students more familiar with the
place by exploring the location on Google Earth. You can also find out about
the tourist attractions in that place through the Internet. The more the
students get to know about the place, the more they will feel comfortable with
the thought of going on a field trip there.
4. Use of Social Media
Social media is a potent educational
tool in current times. Most of the grown students these days are on social
media. What the teacher can do is to use their love for social media in a
positive manner. He/she can create a Facebook group for a particular class
where the students would be able to discuss on any relevant topic. The teacher
can also teach them how to use social media sites like Twitter and Instagram in
the best possible way, so as to gather as much information as they can.
Furthermore, he/she can use social media references and also having discussions
related to social media in the class.
5. Make students download dictionary
apps
Carrying a big fat dictionary can be
quite burdensome at times for anyone. Teachers can instead ask the students to
download dictionary apps on their phones or simply look up for words on Google.
Most of the grown students these days have smartphones and this is a
constructive way to use them. What they would have to do it just type the word
and they would immediately get the meaning as well as a number of synonyms.
With smartphones, they would always have a dictionary with them and it isn’t
even heavy. Also, compared to the old dictionaries, the online dictionaries are
much easier to use and it takes much lesser time to find the meaning of words.
6. Students can include multimedia
elements in their presentations
Instead of making the conventional
presentations with just text, students can include a number of multimedia
elements such as images, pictographs, videos, news clips and podcast clips as
well. While the regular presentations can be a bit boring at times for
students, these presentations with images and videos would be able to hold
their attention and interest far more effectively. As far as the pictographs
are concerned, the students can make those themselves using some free online
tools.
Conclusion
Technology has become an integral part
of education these days and there are a number of ways one can use technology
to better the educational process. It helps in making the students more engaged
in class and also makes them learn new things in a fun manner. We hope that you
would find our list useful while incorporating technology in the classroom.
Keywords: Technology, Classroom,
Technology in the Classroom, Importance of technology in education, Students,
Teachers, Presentations, Social Media, Dictionary apps, Interactive
Whiteboards, Google Earth
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