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.