HOW TO ENGAGE STUDENTS WITH LEARNING TECHNOLOGY.

In this post on how to Engage Students With Learning Technology, you will learn Technology can help students by making learning more engaging and collaborative, the benefits and many more.

In a 21st century learning environment, students and educators have the opportunity to collaborate to set learning objectives, experiment with new tools, and design for a learning experience that’s meaningful to each individual student.

With the growing body of knowledge from student data insights and the field of learning science, we have so much available to us to drive that relationship between student, content, and technology. But the opportunities that come with education technology are still so unexplored that it’s absolutely crucial to keep the specific purpose the technology will serve at the forefront of instruction.

Technology can help students by making learning more engaging and collaborative. Rather than memorizing facts, students learn by doing and through critical thinking. This could be as simple as taking an interactive quiz in class or participating in tech-enabled group discussions.

The following are Seven ways to use technology to increase student engagement:

1. Use social media: Students are captivated by the real relationships, communities, connections, and identities they can form on social media. These are some ways you can use social media for learning:

• Have students crowdsource opinions on social media via a survey or public post.
• Have students share work to receive feedback from people outside class.
• Students could create a post, ad, or group as the final product in a project.
• Students could organize an event (e.g., a fundraiser).
• Students could create groups or communities to raise awareness of issues or ideas.
• (For upper school) students could experiment with what it takes to ‘go viral’ and find out something about their peers and the public in the process.

2. Start a class blog: A class blog can showcase everything the students create, whether that be a link to an online resource, a photo, or a text-based post. Friends and family can have look at any time, and students could also post reflective or explanatory statements to go alongside their work.
3. Give your students tech options for their next project: If students are able to think beyond paper projects, give them the freedom to innovate and lose themselves in something immersive.

Think about how technology can take an ordinary task to the next level. For example:

• Speeches and oral presentations could become podcasts.
• Narratives could become short films.
• A research project could become a mini documentary.
• An art piece could be animated.
• Posters could be created using online graphic design tools.
• Essays or extended written pieces could be published as online articles with photos.

4. Use gamified learning programs: Gamification engages students through visible progress tracking, measured challenges, and friendly competition.
5. Use technology to get students working together: Technology can bring a whole new level of engagement to group work. Instead of huddling around an A3 sheet all trying to write at once, your students will be able to:

• contribute equally, without the ‘strong-minded’ members of the class hogging the paper
• walk away with a copy of the activity on their device (without you having to photocopy it)
• stay accountable. Because every student has their own copy, it becomes their work as much as anyone else’s.

6. Conduct an Online Class: Online Classes are a combination of video recordings and live lectures with course reading and tests. They are generally conducted using a virtual portal through which students gather reading materials, interact with teachers and classmates, view grades, and monitor progress. In general, many online classes are self-paced, and students can choose the time slot to study. In some cases, these classes also provide a particular schedule and the student is required to be available in order to maximize their learning.

7. videos: Educational videos can be used to boost students’ motivation. This new approach has a great impact because most of the students are visual learners. Leveraging YouTube videos while explaining some subject is a more effective method of teaching than only explaining and describing things. Teachers can search educational videos online or create their own – there are many options readily available.

What are the benefits of educational technology?

Technology has the potential to make aspects of education easier and more equitable in many ways. Let’s find out how teachers and students can benefit from additional technology in the classroom.

Here are some of the ways educational technology improves the classroom experience:

• Creates a More Engaged Environment: You may think technology is just a distraction, but it can help encourage active participation in your classroom. Using devices like a computer, tablet, or other type of technology in your classroom can help turn traditionally dull subjects into interactive and fun activities

• Incorporates Different Learning Styles: Each child in your classroom is different and it can be challenging to adjust your learning plan to fit every student. Fortunately, technology in education can help you modify your lessons. Instructional design can help students elevate their approach in the classroom, giving them a more tailored experience that can benefit them in the future.

• Improves Collaboration: Teachers have observed an increased frequency of students helping each other when they’re using technology in the classroom. Many technology-based tasks involve other aspects, and this leads to situations where students need to seek help from their peers or the teacher. Additionally, when students are assigned to small groups, the students who are more technologically advanced can assist their inexperienced

• Prepares Children for the Future: Using technology in the classroom would help prepare them for the digital future. By teaching students’ skills like PowerPoint, you can help set your students up for success. Introducing instructional technology in the classroom at a young age can help prepare students for future digital demands.

• Creativity: The content available online is endless. Students who are interested in learning about arts, music, videos and virtually anything else can find plenty of resources. Any creative endeavor that calls to a student can be supported by technology. Tablets have the capabilities to capture student’s sketches. Editing software lets students bring photos to life and manipulate them in creative ways. Technology can enhance creativity rather than inhibit it if students are given choice about what they create.

• Productivity: Analog tools need to be tended to, cared for and replaced. Using technology allows students to access what they need when they need it. They can keep calendars online, and teachers can push due date reminders in a learning management system (LMS). Word processors do not need to be sharpened and online books do not get lost. Technology allows students instant access to all the materials they need, saving time, space and mental effort.

• Automation: A huge benefit of educational technology for teachers is automation. You can upload lessons into an LMS for students to access on their own time. Online assessments make grading easy and parents can automatically be messaged when students receive a failing grade. Teachers are always looking for ways to find more time in the day, and technology can assist in big ways.