BEST TECHNOLOGY FOR EDUCATION EVERY TEACHER AND STUDENT SHOULD TRY

BEST TECHNOLOGY FOR EDUCATION EVERY TEACHER AND STUDENT SHOULD TRY .Easy and simple  to use .

           Here ARE 4 of them:

 1    Markup:

Teachers it is time to go paperless in your classroom. Use Markup app for iPad. This application will enable you use your iPad to mark students exams. The use of iPads in classrooms is increasing, so the time will come when every student has a tablet, and this is the time when classrooms will go paperless. You can easily assign exams or tests via iPads, students will submit their exams to your email, then you start marking them using this Markup application for iPad. Imagine the trouble a teacher goes through to mark exam papers, some classrooms have more than 50 students, which means a teacher has to mark over 500 exam papers per classroom. I think teachers need to simplify their job by using this type of technology.

  2 ArchMount:

Teachers and students can use this ArchMount in the classroom to present data and projects with their iPads. Since tablets are small in size, it can be challenging to use them as presentation tools in your classroom. However, this ArchMount will hold your iPad or tablet at a raised level so that every student in your classroom can see data being presented. Classrooms without advanced digital interactive boards can use iPads as interactive display tools; also students can use this ArchMount to share research projects with fellow students in the classroom. It is portable and easy to carry, so it can fit in your school bag

    3  Fidelity Bluetooth Speaker:

Students you can use this high quality Fidelity Bluetooth Speaker to listen to audio lessons on your cell phone. It is basically designed to deliver high quality sound for your iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices.  Teachers can record podcasts or lectures which can be downloaded from a classroom blog by students using cell phones, with this high quality Bluetooth speaker, students can easily listen to audio lessons during their free time at home. It is a simple technology which can be used for educational purposes 

.    4  HALO ZERO LED MESSENGER BAG

To some extent, this is not an educational technology, but for student’s safety, I think, it is worth to be listed here. This glowing messenger bag will keep students who cycle to school safe. It illuminates at night which will keep you safe on the road while riding your bike from school. 

The videomaker ‘’Animoto ‘’

 

Hello everyone.

 During this course we have been dealing with lot’s of new programs.We had a presentation which was organized week after week .For this presentation we were supposed to use three media elements which some of us managed to do in such a good way.One of these media element some of us used were different apps or links provided for videos like:kinemaster ,the power director, animoto videomaker and many others.

I must say that the use of videos in class is very useful and serves to a simple purpose, that of teaching ,teaching effectively and riorously in such innovative ways.One of the apps used by us for videomaking is ‘’Animoto ‘’videomaker. It was quite a beautiful and easy program to be used and to make videos with ,which serves to our teaching purposes as well.

But what is this program?Animoto's video creator allows you to make beautiful videos within minutes. Simply pick a design, upload photos and add music. Animoto offers different price and video service plans to suit your needs. Animoto makes it easy to create professional videos on your computer and mobile device.

I tried various times making videos with it for teaching purposes and the result was quite pleasant and I got a lot of positive feedback ,that was great.

Hope you will find it useful too .

This is a link where you  can see a video about Animoto .Take a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYH8Vr4U420

Thank you.

Why is it hard to use technology in Albanian schools .

Why is it hard to use technology in Albanian schools .

Though we live in the  21st century Albanian schools in general have not embrace developments  in technology that much . Why so ? Here are some reasons :

1-Many teachers argue that technology cause more harm than good. Because of the fact that many of the modern technologies are very passive, they do not provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial emotional, social, cognitive, or physical experiences they require when they are young.

2-Educators confront a number of challenges when using  technology in the classroom.

3-Teachers must understand the computer applications more completely to use the computer for learning. There is a challenge of how to prepare prospective teachers and in service teachers for teaching and learning with technology. Most professional development programs have not provided teachers with the knowledge or experience to begin to use computer technology in their classroom. Technology implementation is not simply putting computers in every classroom or linking every classroom to the Internet.

4-A lack of funding touches every level of education and makes it particularly difficult to provide technology infrastructures and tools, sufficient support staff, and professional development opportunities. Many computers and software programs in the classrooms are outdated. Schools have limited computers, Internet access, software and support to offer each classroom. Internet connections may be limited to certain designated computers.

Hope you enjoyed it .

What Will Classrooms of the Future Look Like & How Will They Engage Our Students?

What Will Classrooms of the Future Look Like & How Will They Engage Our Students?

Do you wonder what classrooms will be like in the future? Technology is rapidly changing and it becomes challenging to keep up with it. It has invaded the field of education, as some classrooms now have interactive boards instead of blackboards. When we were kids we may have dreamed about having computers in our classrooms for learning. In today’s digitalized world, the education system has changed drastically and utilizes tools that we could have only imagined.
The Future of Technology in Education

Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR), introduced in 2016, took the world by storm with its endless possibilities. VR is being referred to as a unique learning resource that is capable of immersing students in the subject of their own choosing. Most of the schools around the world are investing in creating virtual science labs where the students, as well as the teachers, will be able to carry out experiments without any danger. It will also allow students to attend global conferences and converse with top speakers and narrators of the world without having to travel to places.

3D Printers
For most our lives, when we talked about printers we discussed the kind of printers we all know: They print on paper, and sometimes have multiple, helpful functions such as faxing and scanning. Well, now there’s a new piece of technology that’s radically changing not only printing, but education and manufacturing, too: 3D printer

3D printer  are now used in a range of professions, from medicine ,to airplane manufacturing .For educators, they hold a lot of potential to lend assistance to a valued topic area, the field known as science, technology, engineering, and math. As an example, students can use 3D printers to recreate an artifact or fossil; design, build, and test bridges; make letter matching tiles; and make maps. This is especially useful in the application of hands-on learning which is much more engaging for many learners than the traditional “sit and listen” type learning. Making objects with 3D printers allows students to imagine, design, create, problem solve, touch, etc

Video Presentation on 3D Printing

As we can see, technology  and education go hand in hand. Many students learn best with an interactive, visually stimulating approach, which these technologies can provide. Additionally, technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D printers can put our students in touch with concepts that are relevant and real to life, allowing for the ultimate learning experience. Many students need to see and interact with things in order to truly understand them. Sometimes verbal explanation and still images, or even videos, simply isn’t enough to truly drive the point home. We can all learn best when we are able to immerse ourselves in concepts in a real way. Seeing and doing helps create real understanding.

Hope you enjoyed it .

Thank you.

Interactive whiteboard

Hello .Today we talked about Interactive Whiteboards so I Googled a little bit about it. Since is a new technological item I wanted to see what it benefits were  . Here are some of them :

1. Makes It Easier for the Teacher to Structure Lessons

With interactive whiteboards, a teacher can easily formulate and plan for the lesson beforehand. He/she can schedule for specific learning tasks like labeling parts of a picture and matching words with their respective meanings. Students can understand how to handle naming tasks quite profoundly as the images are displayed right in front of them. While on the hand, teachers will have an easier time delivering on what they have on their lesson plan.

2. Makes the Learning Process More Fun

Nowadays, teachers in learning institutions are using LCD monitors displays together with shared whiteboards to deliver lessons. With such technology in class, every student will be anxious to try out how the board works. Images and presentations  are delivered in full HD display accompanied by interactive computer capabilities. Students in such learning environment will find syllabus coverage more fun and most of them won’t miss school or skip classes.

3. Increases the Level of Engagement between Teachers and Students

Instead on making the often boring one-way presentation, a teacher can use interactive  whiteboards   to engage every student in class. Whether it's learning vocabulary, pronunciation or exploring a research, students will find a lesson engaging if it integrates text, images, videos and/or audio files. For instance, a teacher can play an audio file to demonstrate the pronunciation of a word displayed on the board. Students will then be given a chance to pronounce other words to see whether they are correct.

4. Makes Review or Revision of Lessons More Convenient

One of the greatest benefits of using interactive whiteboards in the classroom is that it allows students to save lessons for later playback and/or review. Students can also record full lessons and share them with friends who weren't able to attend classes.

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5. Allows Students with Various Disabilities to Learn Better

Each student in a class enjoys learning in different ways. While some are good auditory learners(able to learn better with audio), others are great visual learners. So including text, images, audio and video in a presentation allows everyone, including those with learning disabilities, to enjoy the lesson. Another benefit of using interactive whiteboard in the classroom is that it helps students with hearing impairment to benefit from visual presentation. Those unable to see partially or completely can also learn more about a given topic using audio presentation.

I hope you find those benefits interesting  .

16 innovative ways /ideas to make teaching methods more effective.

Hello everyone how are you?

Throughout the whole subject we have been discussing and dealing with teaching connected with technology.Teaching is our future profession, and the methods we may and shall use ,should  be always in development in improvement.

Teaching methods vary ,we can use lots of them in order to make our teaching effective .To us as future teachers the ways we can teach,the methods ,the styles  are very important and we shall always seek to improve ourselves.

Earlier as I was looking for some information ,I came across a very useful  article and I even took note of those ways and ideas ,in order to use them in teaching. I thoughtof sharing them,hope you find them useful as well.

The biggest challenge any teacher faces is capturing the students’ attention, and putting across ideas in such a way that it stays with them long after they have left the classroom. For this to happen, classroom experience should be redefined and innovative ideas that make teaching methods more effective should be implemented.So here are some innovative ideas that will help teachers reinvent their teaching methods and make their classes interesting.

1. Creative Teaching

Take the help of creative tools to stimulate creativity. Include playful games or forms of visual exercises that will excite the young minds and capture their interest. This is a time tested method to identify young student’s creative abilities and encourage creative contributions. . Think of ways to develop their creative ideas. Encourage different ideas, give them freedom to explore

2. Audio & Video Tools

Incorporate audio-visual materials in your sessions. Supplement textbooks with models, filmstrips, movies and pictorial material. Use info graphics or other mind mapping and brain mapping tools that will help their imagination thrive and grow. These methods will not only develop their ability to listen, but will also help them understand the concepts better. There are a lot of smart apps for preschoolers that you can utilize to create awesome slideshows or presentations

3. “Real-World” Learning

Link your lessons to real world learning. Infusing real world experiences into your instructions will make teaching moments fresh and enrich classroom learning. Relating and demonstrating through real life situations, will make the material easy to understand and easy to learn. It will spark their interest and get the children excited and involved.

4. Brainstorm

Make time for brainstorming sessions into your classrooms. These sessions are a great way to get the creative juices flowing. When you have multiple brains focusing on one single idea, you are sure to get numerous ideas and will also involve everyone into the discussion. These sessions will be a great platform for students to voice their thoughts without having to worry about right or wrong. Set some ground rules before you start. You can go for simple brainstorming or group brainstorming or paired brainstorming

5. Classes Outside the Classroom

Some lessons are best learnt, when they are taught outside of the classroom. Organize field trips that are relevant to the lessons or just simply take students for a walk outside of the classroom. The children will find this fresh and exciting and will learn and remember the things taught faster.  Role playing is most effective for students of almost any age group. You just need to customize depending on the age group.

6. Role Play

Teaching through role play is a great way to make children step out of their comfort zone and develop their interpersonal skills.  This method comes in handy, especially when you are teaching literature, history or current events. The role playing approach will help the student understand how the academic material will be relevant to his everyday tasks

7. Storyboard Teaching

Rudyard Kipling rightly said “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Storyboarding is a great way to teach any subject which requires  step-by-step memorization or visualization highly-conceptual ideas. History teachers can use a storyboard to recreate a famous event. Such visually stimulating activity will ensure that even complex ideas are easily put across to students.

8. Stimulating Classroom Environment

A classroom environment that is well-decorated, fun, and engaging will help stimulate a student’s mind and will help think and learn better.  Children, especially young ones cannot be expected to sit all day and learn. Such creative and stimulating environment will help them explore and will encourage them to learn about the subject. An environment that positively impacts the children is beneficial for the teacher as well.

9. Welcome New Ideas

An open- minded attitude can help you innovating new teaching methods. Though open- minded, sometimes most of us show reluctance to new ideas. If you’re a teacher never do this, always try to accept new ideas even if it looks like strange at the beginning.

10. Think About A New Hobby

Sometimes, hectic workload may affect your engagement in teaching .If it happens to you, it’s natural. You can take a break for couple of hours and engage in some other activity that you’re interested in. This will rejuvenate you and you can return to your work with more passion and interest.

11. Work Together As a Team

As everyone knows, the end result of collaborative efforts is always immense. Think about spending some quality time with your colleagues. Ask them to share their views on improving teaching methods, you can see many of them come up with interesting strategies. So, collaborate and introduce innovative teaching methods.

12. Puzzles and Games

Learning is fun where puzzles and games are part of education. Children may not feel they’re learning when their lessons are introduced through games. Puzzles and games help children to think creatively and face challenges.

13. Start School Clubs or Groups

What about starting an after school club or group? Being a teacher you may not get enough time to work on interesting topics that you are passionate about. You can share your views and learn more from others when you have school clubs or groups.

14. Refer Books On Creativity

To be a creative teacher, you need to do some research on creative ideas and techniques. There are a lot of books on creativity. Choose some of the best works and start learning, it will be helpful for your professional development as well.

15. Love What You Do

You can give your best only if you truly love what you do. You will be more creative and inspired when you are not stressed. Loving your work keep you relaxed and give you room to experiment new ideas.

16. Introduce Lessons Like a Story

Just think, why do you watch movies with much interest? You like to watch movies because there is always an interesting story to keep you engaged. Like that, learning sessions become more interesting when you introduce it like a story. If you are creative even math lessons can be related to interesting stories.

Take a look at this video as well.

Thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCFg9bcW7Bk&t=2s

5 benefits of multimedia learning.

While reading and searching through the internet about multimedia I came across this article that appeared to be thoroughly interesting to me , I thought about sharing it with you through this post.

Hope you like it!

While there is no doubt that the interest in technology education is rising, the fast progression in the past years has been impressive. Investments as well as the school spendings are on the rise.
One might wonder why. This is the reason why we are going to explore five of the benefits multimedia learning brings to the 21st century classroom, which could be contributing to the recent edtech boom.

The benefits of multimedia learning:

1. Deeper understanding

 

According to research, a benefit of multimedia learning is that it takes advantage of the brain's ability to make connections between verbal and visual representations of content, leading to a deeper understanding, which in turn supports the transfer of learning to other situations. All of this is important in today’s 21st century classrooms, as we are preparing students for a future where higher-level thinking, problem solving and collaborative skills will be required.

2. Improved problem solving

 

A large percentage of the human brain dedicates itself to visual processing. Thus, using images, video and animations alongside a text stimulates the brain. Student attention and retention increase. Under these circumstances, in a multimedia learning environment, students can identify and solve problems more easily compared to the scenario where teaching is made possible only by textbooks.

3. Increased positive emotions

According to psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, experiencing positive emotions makes people see more possibilities in their lives. Using multimedia during instructions impacts student's mood during the learning process. With a positive attitude they learn better and tend to be more proactive.

4. Access to a vast variety of information

With computers, tablets, smartphones and the internet, students are today better equipped than ever to search and find the information they need. A study revealed that 95% of students who have access to internet, use it to search for online information. Sharing the information and participating in class discussions is done in a more confident way when access to information is as easy as today.

5. World exploration

There is no surprise here. With the help of multimedia children can explore and learn about places they would never been to. In a geography class, students can explore different cities of the world, the tallest mountains and the most dangerous jungles. In a science class, space and planets exploration is now possible. In a biology class, the dissection of rare animals and different habitats exploration are like a walk in a park for students benefiting of a multimedia learning environment.

Webquest

 Hello 

Today we had to write about webquest .A webquest is an oriented lesson format in which most of all the information that learners work with comes from the web. Personally I had never used this webside or the previous ones as  well. It has been a new experience .
About webquest .
A webquest has 6 essential parts 
1-introduction 
2-task (the format description of what the students will produce )
3-process (the steps that students take)
4-resources (the resources the students should use )
5-evaluation (the way in which the students' performance will be evaluated)
6-conclusion 
One of it main goals in education is to increase critical thinking  because the webquest isn't just about acquiring information .
But however webquests are not appropriate to every learning goal.Webquests require good reading skills ,so they are not good enough to the youngest classrooms or the students with language and reading difficulties.

Project based learning in classrooms

Hello.
Project based learning also known as PBL is a student centered pedagogy.Through PBL students are able to work with passion ,creativity and empathy .They take advantage of digital tools to produce high quality products.Students are engaged in investigation where they work in teams in order to respond and then to create an artifact in order to present their gained knowledge .
Artifacts could be :
1-art
2-drawing
3-videos 
4-photography
5-writing 
6-three-dimensional representation
Unlike traditional teacher -led classroom activities ,students often must organize their work and manage their time in a project based learning .
In my opinion PBL should be used in classrooms This way children can make use of critical thinking , working in teams and most importantly to  be creative .This is what school is supposed to be about.

Avantages and disavantages of using Padlet

Padlet
Hello .My topic for today is  the avantages and disavantages of using padlet in classrooms.But first what is padlet ?Padlet formerly known as a Wallwisher is a free application that can be used to display information  for any topic .You can add videos , images ,links ,record and share your voice ,as well as add  documents.
In theory ,digital learning appears to be something extremely beneficial to all schools and students .But we are all aware that digital learning has both it good and bad sides.Among
good sides I can mention as follows :
1-Engagement :improved students motivation from engaging content and game based stategies.
2-Location :anywhere anytime learning creates a new world of opportunity.
3-Ownership:students choosing what to learn and how to demostrate  their learning.
4-Time :extending the learning day and year ; allowing students to learn what they learn best .
As I mentioned before there are also a number of disavantages using padlet ,such as :
1-Security and cheating:technology will solve some problems but introduce other challenges
2-Preparation and development :learning new tools will be the easy part , learning new roles will be more challenging particularly as school models proliferate.
3-Software and hardware constantly change their versions which makes it tough for schools to stay current .
4-The risk of layering technology on top of how we've always done school with little benifit.

       But despite disadvantages technology in education can be a life-changer.It has the power to bring textbooks in life.

Teachers and technology .
With the developments in technology many educators encounter difficulties using it in the classrooms.That can be either because a specific platform is hard to introduce or because teachers are not that familiar to the latest technology developments.
Some schools themselves are not that helpful when it comes of using technology .
Not all schools can keep up with the rapidly challenging technology. Upgrading equipment is often costly and many may not have the manpower to handle the equipment.Many classrooms contain at least 30 ,35 up to 40 students so they find it challenging . There are lot's of teachers who  believe that technology  can be a source of distraction .It is not easy for them to monitor students all the time whether they are utilizing educational apps or browsing Facebook or Instagram .Plus it is hard for teachers to select which  tech tools  to use and when.
But what can teachers do in order to have a good relation with technology?Here are some tips :
1-Do plan how you are going to use technology in advance .How is it going to aid the learning of your students?
2-Don't buy the latest fad products .
3-Use technology only when you find it proper.
You can not use it everywhere and anytime.
4-Do invest in good CPD in brushing up your ICT skills .But this does not mean that you have to pay an expensive consultant.
5-Never give up .Try and discover what works best for you and your students.
          "Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students"(Charles Kuralt)

Modern electronic educational technology.

Hello everyone .This is my first time using a blog .First experience with new things is beautiful but never easy .That has been my case as well.Modern electronic educational technology is an important part of society today .Years ago teaching was based only in textbooks and teachers were at the center of the lesson .But times have changed . Nowdays  technology is an essential tool to both students and professors .If it is used correctly ,mobile phones ,pcs and applications will help prepare students for their future careers .The correct use of tools and resources nevertheless ,does have the potential to change education .Education needs changes .It should change for sake of a better future ."If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's we rob them of tomorrow".(John Dewey )