Over the past few decades, classrooms have changed dramatically. Technology has found its way into education, providing a great number of benefits to teaching and engaging the students. As a teacher, sometimes it can be difficult to know the best way to use technology in the classroom, so here are some interesting ways to bring tech into your learning environment.
Take part in a digital course
If you want to provide more access to technology than you do currently, then a great place to start would be to find a digital course for yourself and your students. This way, you can all learn something new together. Have a look at some educational courses like WebQuest technology in the classroom to encourage active learning from an online-based course.
Start a class blog
A class blog is a way to pull all the students together while working with technology and the Internet. You can be as creative as you like! You could assign different areas to different groups of students, allowing them to write about their favorite topics. If you have a student who is interested in photography, they could manage the photos on the site. What’s brilliant about a blog is that nobody has to be left out – everyone can come up with the content that suits them the most! It’s a way for your class to collaborate and creatively shine.
Use sites to manage learning content
These days, there are many sites online that allow teachers to manage learning content. If you have an assignment coming up, you could log it into an online calendar you all share. It would also make it’d be easier to assign homework and send out the week’s reading. Not to mention all the paper waste you would save!
Provide access to e-books
As a teacher, you want to encourage reading as much as possible. While access to the school library is always available, another way of getting your students into reading while using technology is to provide access to e-books. This way, there can be no excuses that they’ve lost their text, and students who previously were not bothered by reading might find that they enjoy it when it’s mixed with tech!
Use social media
The likelihood is that most of your students are already using social media, so why not use it in the classroom? Find a way to communicate out of class hours by setting up a class Facebook page, or you could even start a Twitter account (with your own hashtag!) so students can engage with classroom content after school.
Video projects
A fun addition to individual or group activities, videos can add a whole new layer to presentations or creative projects. Let your students find their creativity behind or in front of a camera, allowing them to engage with their learning entertainingly. Bonus points for all the fun you’ll have watching the videos back.
Integrating technology into the classroom can be done in a variety of ways, and it can help your students actively engage with learning while figuring out how to use tech creatively.
