Using Technology in the Classroom

Teaching with technology means using different types of devices during the lesson. Using technology in the classroom also includes working with educational and gaming apps, social networks, online platforms, and much more.

Integrating technology in education can be a challenge for teachers. For a successful technology integration, educators should research new models of teaching and find ways to engage and motivate the learners. In this article, we collected the ideas that can help teachers to implement technology in the classroom.

As learners use their smartphones all the time, it can be helpful to let them use the devices during the class. Students can download learning apps and do training exercises, tests, or classroom projects.

Educational apps or games for smartphones can be used by the students who finish the exercises early and get bored during the lesson. They can watch extra videos or do more assignments using their smartphones.

One more possible way of integrating technology in the classroom is to play podcasts. Find the people who have podcasts on the topic of your lesson and listen to these recordings during the class. It can be an interview with a famous person, some lectures, or research. Listening to a podcast will improve the auditory skills of learners and engage them more.

Some locations are too far away to visit them with the class. But there’s no problem as teachers can take their students on a virtual trip. Walk around the famous buildings or visit popular landscapes to learn more about the location. Complete the tour with an interesting lecture about the places. Such virtual trips can boost the engagement of learners and hold their attention. This activity may require using a projector.

The online class calendar will help to keep students informed about all the important dates. The calendar can serve as a reminder for assignments or classroom meetings. You can use Google Calendar or any other program you know for creating calendars. You can also send notifications to parents of students, so they are always informed and can help their children prepare for the classes.

Among the ways to incorporate technology in the classroom is a collaborative work on creating a wiki page. These pages can be edited by different people. Each student in the group can be responsible for the exact part of the page. Students can also edit each other’s work. Such projects are really useful for building collaborative skills.

A great way to enhance teaching and learning is to create a class website. It can be used as a social network for students. With the help of a website, they can communicate and work on projects together. The site can also contain courses, assignments, useful links, presentations, and notifications. Creating a site will also develop the technical skills of students as they’ll be building a website by themselves.

Simulations can help to apply the knowledge of students in the real world in a range of different scenarios. Playing games, learners can get a better understanding of the topics as they add context to the knowledge.

The best tool to help learners conduct their own research is to organize a webquest. A teacher can create a task and let students search for answers on the Internet. Learners will have to collect clues and finally complete the given task. Webquests can last up to a few weeks.

Encourage learners to create multimedia presentations using different kinds of media: photos, graphs, videos, and audios. Students can use PowerPoint in the elementary classroom.

Recording a screencast can be one of the good ways to use technology in the classroom and give feedback to students. Teachers can capture their computer screen and highlight the parts of the assignment where the student made a mistake. Then the teacher can comment on the mistake or explain the concept once again.

There are several ways of how to use a whiteboard in the classroom. The examples of activities using a whiteboard can be watching downloaded or streaming educational videos, viewing presentations and interactive maps, accessing online software, and playing interactive games.

Teachers should encourage students to read local and international news online to be up to date with the real world. Let learners search for the latest news while discussing current events.

Students who can’t be present at the lesson should have an opportunity to study remotely. Teachers can set up a digital camera to record the lessons and send the video to a student. Students can also work on assignments at home online.

Voice assistants can be used to quickly find the answer to any question during the lesson, for setting timers, or playing games. Using a voice assistant is much quicker than searching for the right answer on the Internet. Working with an assistant can increase class productivity, and it’s also exciting and fun.

Contacting experts and lecturers around the world is a great idea to liven up the lessons. You can arrange a video call on Skype or Google Hangouts. The speaker can be an expert in a certain field and can give students a lecture on a particular topic. Students can get ready with some questions to ask the speaker.

Movavi Academic will come in handy to enhance the classroom experience. It can be used by both teachers and students. Create different types of educational videos for effective training. Record training courses and edit them as you like: add effects, filters, callouts, titles, and transitions. The app is suitable for making amazing classroom projects and presentations.

Use the screen-recording feature to record lectures and webinars. Share video courses with students all over the world.