Attention spans grow shorter by day. Students face too many distractions, and maintaining their attention can be challenging for the instructor. To teachers, their satisfaction is seeing students engaged in the classroom, which is always a priority. As such, they are regularly looking for ways to keep students actively involved in the regular classroom, making it easier to maintain their teaching energy. One way of increasing engagement in the classroom is through the use of technology. Since modern students are growing up in the digital era, it is time we viewed technology as an engagement tool rather than a distraction. Teachers need to integrate technology with meaningful learning. Let us look at the ways in which instructors can integrate technology in learning to make it more engaging.
Writing Assignments in the Form of Blogs
Writing assignments and submitting them in the form of blogs is one way to make learning more engaging using technology. Blog posts are short and precise online articles that have rapidly spread in the digital world. Blogs allow the writer to express their thoughts in an engaging way allowing the reader to learn something. When used in the class, it can enable the learners to express their ideas and grow their academic writing skills. Posting the work publicly means that the students learn from each other through comments, and they will put in extra effort to create quality work. It also allows students to learn more writing skills from write my paper resources and platforms.
Present Assignments in the Form of Podcasts and Videos
Podcasts and videos can be integrated into the classroom to allow students to showcase their creativity and presentation skills. Podcasts are audio files that can be played through a media player. Many students do not possess the courage to present assignments or project work in front of their peers in a classroom. It puts them through stress, fear, and tension. Podcasts and videos are a way to help such students as they will not face a class and worry about being laughed at. A teacher can also record lesson sessions and avail them to the students for revision purposes and help students who missed a lesson.
Interact with Classrooms in a Different Geographical Place
Another way to use technology to students’ advantage is by allowing them to interact with other students from other parts of the world. The internet allows people from every part of the world to interact. This is suitable for subjects such as geography and history, whereby students can interact with the students from the exact region they are learning about to share cultural experiences. Digital learning allows a classroom to accommodate students from different parts, and students can learn a lot from other students from completely diverse cultures and backgrounds.
Through Online Discussion Boards
Online discussion boards are another strategy to make learning more engaging. A teacher can form an online discussion board for a particular subject, initiate a conversation on a topic prompting the students to discuss. The best way to make that fruitful is by not restricting the type of answers students should give. That way, even students who are shy to raise their hands in class will happily contribute to the discussion without any fear. An open-minded prompt by the instructor gives way to thoughtful online discussions, and students can post as much as they like learning more from each other.
Using Resources Such as Cloud Documents
Unlike a shared paper between two or more students in the classroom, digital resources such as cloud documents allow students to work on a similar item simultaneously from their devices. That allows every student to voice out their opinion and eliminate unlimited resources in the classroom.
Integrating Social Media and Learning
Social media has previously proven to be a helpful tool in the education sector if the right strategies are used. For instance, when students are doing research work, they can use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to source opinions of different people from diverse geographical places. Other ways in which social media can be used in learning include:
- Students can receive feedback about their academic blogs from people outside of their class.
- Organizing useful courses such as fundraisers as a class or excursion trips.
- Create awareness groups to raise issues facing society.
- Find out what it takes for something to go viral on social media and use it to expose their talents and skills.
Using Tech Options in Research and Project Work
Students face great challenges when it comes to research and project work. However, there is a way they can integrate technology to make project work more engaging and easy. The teacher can allow the students to come up with new ideas of integrating technology with their project work, such as:
- Animating art pieces.
- Using online graphic tools to create presentation posters.
- Creating mini-documentaries of research work.
- Creating short films of narratives.
- Publishing essays and written pieces as online articles with integrated images etc.
The Final Words
A good way to motivate students to learn more is by integrating technology in the classroom. Through the right strategies, technology can help tutors transform learning experiences to engage students more.