The Driving Force in Your Classroom: Success Driven by Technology Adoption for a Future in Remote Learning
The world is changing – fast. Developments in technology, advancements in communications, and the global pandemic have impacted our lives drastically.
Upskilling will remain critical for everyone, not just for individuals but also for all academic institutions including universities and schools. Remote learning has turned classrooms upside down and inside out, but teachers have remained agile; by consistently improving their digital skills to adopt more digital tools in their classroom, whether in person or remote.
However, some teachers, administrators, and educational leaders believe that online and remote learning is temporary, and once the pandemic passes, we will return to the old ways of teaching.
- Make soft skills the driver of your instruction: which refers to cultivating emotional intelligence and relational leadership skills.
- Partner with businesses, non-profits, and community colleges to develop internships, mentorships, certificates, or dual credit opportunities: these organizations have the industry-specific knowledge and tools that can be applied to your learning experiences.
- Invest in teacher capacity for creativity and innovation by supporting them in upskilling through online courses and certifications.
Organizations like Knowledge Pillars offer cloud-based assessment and evaluation tools that promote and can improve remote learning environments. Tools like these help to validate the successful transfer of skills in the classroom. “Specifically, our live-in-app practice tests support test-takers in preparing for the popular coding and web-editing Knowledge Pillars certification exams,” says Ana Macri’ Chief Technology Officer, Knowledge Pillars.
“These Practice Tests were extremely helpful in getting my students ready for the Python Coding Specialist exam” – Moya Langford
Taking a deep dive into the Tech
How Does Technology Prepare Students for the Future?
Technology has seeped into every part of our lives. It has created entire industries and improved the efficiency of pre-existing professions.
Technology is here, and it is not going anywhere. In truth, it will only advance, further changing the structure of your work and the lives of your students. The question is: how will this technology prepare your students for the future?
The argument is this: academics pre-Google era that learned solely from lectures and textbooks face challenges when adopting tech within the classroom. Educators regularly hold onto what worked in the past without considering the long-term effects of their student’s learning experience.
Educators regularly hold onto what worked in the past. This implicates a student’s learning experience which can lead to a student not being prepared for the future of work.
A Primary Years Program Coordinator from a top international school shares that technology is a driving force in education, opening up many doors and preparing students for what lies ahead, not behind. This indicates that teachers are adopting forward-thinking approaches to their digitization efforts in the classroom.
The GoGuardian Team lists four benefits to using technology in the classroom:
- Technology gamifies static lessons.
Using technology in the classroom allows for less static and more dynamic learning experiences for students. To provide more interactive learning experiences, many teachers are now using gamification as an instructional tool to motivate and engage their students. Online learning games such as Quizlet offer the ability to create digital flashcards, self-made quizzes, and online study tools. Teachers are having such success with digital learning apps and games that they are becoming increasingly popular.
According to GoGuardian’s Benchmark Report, which analyzed the mixture device usage of 5 million K-12 students across the country, there has been a meteoric rise within the gamification of education.
“Growing evidence suggests that this kind of professional development not only makes teachers feel better about their practice, but it also reaps learning gains for students, especially in the kinds of more challenging learning that new standards demand” – (Darling-Hammond 1997, NFIE 1996)
- Technology supports self-directed learning.
With technology, students can learn at their speed, review challenging concepts or skip ahead if they have to. Self-directed learning is often as diverse as simply discovering new information and thinking critically about it.
With technology, students suddenly become the builders of their learning path, and that they experience a greater sense of independence and autonomy from using digital tools to enhance their understanding.
At Ransom Everglades, students use the APP Inventor software developed at MIT and the Alice programming software developed at Carnegie Mellon University. Students in eighth grade may choose a computer science elective: Python Programming and Music.
Pine Crest School uses Schoology for online learning. Middle School students write programs and applications in coding languages like Python.
- Technology encourages collaboration.
In peer learning research conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, educators reported that technology-facilitated and positively impacted the sort of peer collaboration necessary to accelerate academic achievement.
Technology also allows students to collaborate in the same classroom, same school, or even with other classrooms across the globe. Technology integration empowers students to partake in screen-sharing and grouping, which further engages them in their educational goals.
Brandon Petersen, a 3rd Grade Teacher at Altitude Elementary, said he had a blast last night learning and experiencing OneNote and Skype in the Classroom Student Global Collaboration projects with epic educators. It is incredible what our educators and their students are doing today to learn. It is authentic and out of this world! – @Den_Petersen
- Technology enables differentiated instruction.
Differentiated instruction helps make lessons relevant to each student – no matter the learning style, educational background, language, or ability.
There are many software tools available to streamline and enhance differentiated instruction within the classroom.
The future of technology within the classroom is about preparing students for their technological future.
A 7th-grade teacher at Grafton Middle School in York County, Virginia, says that students who once sat in the back and did not participate in class activities have gained the confidence to get online and share what they are learning. They want to teach others, and they feel like their voice matters.
Conclusion
We are committed to keeping up to date with technology trends and changes. Remote learning and the experience of the learning environment remain one of the key topics on the agendas of academic schools and universities worldwide.
While teachers and school districts focus on implementing the latest technologies and tools into their classrooms we are working on developing the most in-demand state-approved coding and web-editing assessment and evaluation tools in the form of certification and practice tests.
These certifications and practice tests bring creativity and innovation to your classroom. The exam syllabus/outcomes are very generic, covering 90% of online learning content. This means that very often, the curriculum you are teaching in your classroom will most likely align with our existing list of certification exams. As a result, you can validate your students’ skills and set them up for future success.
Here are some great resources that might be useful in your digital classroom: