Several technology-based teaching approaches and resources engage students and enhance abilities, yet many educators struggle with them.
Introducing a platform may be too difficult. It may not work on your devices. You probably want education technology’s benefits despite the hurdles.
- Virtual Field Trip
If a site is logistically inaccessible, you can mimic a virtual vacation with a Google Cardboard for about $15.
Explore the Empire State Building and the Great Barrier Reef with apps.
How does this relate to a learning objective?
You may pretend to speak a foreign language at a foreign landmark. Geographically study the area.
This can spice up your lessons.
- Field Trips Online
Google Earth lets you pre-visit places.
Your class is visiting the zoo. Street View the area to determine which exhibits interest students. You can immediately explain what they’re excited for, building travel excitement.
Many field trip venues have webpages with visual material for previews.
Just a projector or large screen and a device.
- Calm a Noisy Class
A gadget that tracks and shows classroom noise makes teaching and presenting simpler.
Too Noisy measures noise accurately. Students will likely quiet when the meter spikes without being told.
Most won’t disrupt your lesson or solo work activity.
They may even whisper.
Presenting content will be easy.
- Video Mini-Lessons
Video overviews can enhance your lesson plans.
Many websites offer teacher-made video skill reviews and previews.
TeacherTube, an education-only YouTube, covers essential disciplines.
Search or browse by category to swiftly locate relevant videos. Searching “middle school algebra” returns study aids, tutorials, and exam reviews.
This simple tech hack adds multimedia to your classes, which visual learners will appreciate.
Animated videos improve memory, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving in children.
- Live Video
Conferencing technology lets subject matter experts teach.
Whether it’s a contact from another school or a seasoned lecturer, inviting an expert into your classroom will introduce new ideas and reduce your workload.
You can add the person as a contact on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or whatever your school uses
Asking students to prepare questions helps them appreciate and fully participate in this modern spin on conventional lessons.
- Play Podcasts
- Podcasts for kids can augment courses, engage auditory learners, and serve as learning stations.
- Podcasts are made by media giants and simple people passionate about a subject.
- Author interviews for your students’ books
- Studying methods
- Curriculum-related explorations
- Professor lectures
You could build an initiative for high school kids to create and play podcasts. You only need a smartphone with good speakers to do this.
- Multimedia Presentations
Multimedia slideshows can engage pupils better than text-only ones.
If possible, include:
- Images
- Graphs
- Pictographs
- Podcast clips
- Audio effects
- Video lessons
- Movie, TV, and news clips
Make graphs and pictographs instead of searching the Internet. Free online tools guide you through entering data, labeling, and designing. Adding media to your slideshow presentations can make them more engaging.
- Adapt Content
If your students are always on their smartphones, why not use them to offer content? Tablets and smartphones offer adaptive learning programs.
ClassK12 provides adaptive English and arithmetic exercises. Mobile apps can be downloaded by students.
Virtual classes, assignments, and reports are available to teachers. Such programs deliver relevant content intuitively and automatically.
- Upload a Class Calendar
Create and share a class calendar with lessons and key events to keep students informed.
You may distribute your Google Calendar link to students and parents. This keeps them informed and helps you stay organized—you’ll instantly realize if you’ve established too many due dates in a short span.
Keep students informed to prepare them for class.
Educating Students
- Virtual Manipulatives
Students can use virtual manipulatives more than actual ones to reinforce some math concepts.
A National Library of Virtual Manipulatives 6th grade geometry activity uses geoboards to demonstrate area, perimeter, and rational principles. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is the most flexible and interesting of these websites, according to teachers. The website has pre-K–12 tasks. Your class should have something. This classroom technology strategy is simple and appealing to hands-on learners.
- Learning Stations
Learning stations give pupils multiple ways to process knowledge.
Each station has a gadget for films, podcasts, slideshows, and other digital media. Students can solve problems to learn. They include:
- Virtual manipulations
- Addressing relevant computer game problems
- Reacting to a podcast
- Adding remarks to a group Wiki page, which this guide covers later.
Best part?
Students can group at each station for classes without one-to-one gadget use.
- Early Finishers Get Online Activities
When students finish early, set up stations to help them process content.
Open videos, webpages, and instructive games on several devices. Make sure this information fits your class so students can explore relevant subjects. This will motivate them to maximize class time. Even before the bell.
- Time Exit Tickets
Saving ten minutes for exit tickets allows technology use.
Exit tickets:
Online Diary Entries—Students can summarize what they learnt on an online notepad.
Slideshow Comments—Students can remark on slideshows from the day’s class in PowerPoint or Google Slides.
Tweets—Students can explain the most significant class lesson in 280 characters or less. Requesting a class-exclusive hashtag lets you see what they typed.
Exit tickets are quick for students and straightforward to use and manage.
- Twitter Hashtags for Queries
Use a class-exclusive hashtag for exit tickets and daily questions. You can display the feed on a screen during class or check it on your device by typing the hashtag into Twitter’s search bar. Answer all questions at once or individually. Empty feeds are bad. Encourage pupils to ask inquiry and lesson-related questions. Technology can help introverts who are uncomfortable asking questions in class.
- Assess Website Content
Select a web website relating to your lessons and have students take notes right on it.
Bounce can create an interactive screenshot of any page from its URL. Students can contribute notes, feedback, and other adjustments by opening the screenshot. Students can do this alone in one-to-one device classrooms. Make it a group activity in schools sans device use. Ask each group to make content-improvement notes. Compare each group’s edits to see who enhanced the page most. Who knew note-taking could be fun?
- Online Mind Mapping for Class Brainstorms
Websites can produce clear, detailed mind maps faster than writing them.
Teachers utilize MindMeister because it’s built for students and instructors. Display the software publicly. To reinforce teachings or start problem-based learning, brainstorm with pupils. This classroom technology should be set up in minutes.
- Student Feedback
Survey students regarding content-processing activities.
Students can respond via personal or classroom devices, revealing their preferred activity. Results may provide an easy approach to enhance lessons. This may require using new technologies in class.
Student Product Creation
- Collaborative Assignment Wiki Page
You can give groups wiki page-creation assignments to collaborate remotely. Wiki pages, editable web pages, can be created with numerous programs.
Students can make a relevant one as a project.
Students collaborate by adding their own content and modifying each other’s work.
This group paper may be more interesting than the traditional one.
- Student Blogs
Language arts and other writing-intensive classes benefit from student blogging. WordPress has free layouts and extensive privacy options for student blogs. Can they make products? Popular choices:
- Poems
- Brief essays
- Historical or fictional character diaries.
Blogging is one of the easiest methods to incorporate technology in the classroom, but it takes effort to start up.
- Open-Ended Projects
Provide pupils options for new projects. You can appeal to their learning preferences and help them demonstrate their expertise. Projects may include:
- Web design
- Making ebooks
- Inventing art
- Writing music
- Multimedia creation
These tasks can be completed using readily available software on classroom equipment. This manner, you may devote class time to project work while providing students some control over school technology.
- Online Sign-Ups
Digital signup forms simplify student presentations. Share a survey link like a class calendar. It should merely list dates so they can pick a presentation time. Kids may like working at their own pace.
- Tech-Based Tasks
Concerned that students would struggle to use certain technology when generating products?
Instead, assign software and technology topics.
Students can make manuals for their favorite computer programs. They can explore and report how specific technologies have affected history, politics, or other subjects for a bigger challenge. They may appreciate the innovations more.
- Game-based learning platform
Using a game-based learning platform in the classroom is ambitious. Most are meant to excite kids about tough topics. Research supports further benefits.
According to a 2014 Learning, Media, and Technology article, video games raise midbrain dopamine, which aids memory.
Prodigy Math and English use adaptive game-based learning.
Plans and assignments let teachers construct classrooms, track student progress, and ask personalized questions.
- Play Simulations
Online simulation games for solo and group use help contextualize and apply lessons.
Most simulations involve business and economics, which demand advanced math skills. Yet younger students can like them. Yet, advanced simulation systems teach students how to apply their knowledge in more settings, making them more engaging. You can test and use most of these programs on most devices.
- Join a Webquest
Webquests make research fun by letting students find and analyze information in exciting circumstances. Students could play detective in these free online activities. They may need clues and information to solve a case.
In today’s digital age, effectively using technology in the elementary classroom can greatly enhance students’ learning experiences. Integrating technology into lessons can provide interactive and immersive opportunities for students to explore and understand complex concepts. It can also cater to different learning styles and abilities, allowing for personalized and differentiated instruction. By leveraging educational apps, online resources, and multimedia presentations, teachers can create dynamic and engaging lessons that capture students’ attention and foster active participation. Additionally, technology offers opportunities for collaboration and global connectivity, enabling students to communicate and collaborate with peers from diverse backgrounds. The blog “The Most Beautiful Adventures” provides a unique perspective on the value of incorporating technology in educational and recreational settings, emphasizing the transformative power of technology to enhance learning and create unforgettable experiences both inside and outside the classroom. Check out Slingo.com for that blog.