Advanced technology can transform completely the way people learn. Today’s modern classrooms no longer have traditional chalkboards, but white boards and markers. Also, many kids learn on their laptops or computers, and pens and textbooks are no longer the norm. Most education product available in the market are meant to help the system; make it better and compel students to learn faster using technology. Schools and colleges around the world are finally realizing that collaboration and creative thinking are fundamental concepts that have to be assessed from up close.
The flipped classroom concept
There’s a problem with century-old pedagogical methods – parents don’t like them, because they don’t want to make guinea pigs out of their kids. Whether we like it or not, we live in an era of technological change. Kids read less and they spend too much time in front of a screen than in the classroom.
The good news is that we’re witnessing the creation of a whole new world; a world filled with innovation, imagination, creativity, and digital wisdom. At this point, we are compelled to create an education system of the future. The mere idea of a “flipped classroom” has gotten quite a lot of attention lately. Changing the way teachers teach and ditching traditional methods for newer, more ingenious ones might be a great way to compel pupils and students to learn more, and with a lot more pleasure and determination.
Teachers become guides
A teacher’s role in the classroom is slowly changing. They’re becoming guides and their purpose is to help a student learn at their own pace, without feeling any pressured. It is important for more schools to understand that teachers must become facilitators. Rather than stand in front of the class and tell kids what to do, they should just check them out and see how they’re doing; whether or not they’re progressing.
Kids can excel on their own. But in school, they’re often not allowed to express what they truly want to say. Flipped classrooms allow them to do just that, play around and put their creative thinking to good use.
Classroom games
They say video games are violent, addictive, and that they don’t provide any educational merit. But there’s more to games than meets the eye. Some platforms have proven to be extremely useful to kids. Even though most attempts to integrate video games into the teaching mantra have failed, Classcraft has still managed to stand above the crowd. With Classcraft, learning is an adventure. It is centered on student behaviour, and it uses motivation tools to engage.
Classcarft is an educational role-playing game designed to transform any classroom into an adventure that plays out over the course of a school year.
Video games are an excellent tools that awakes an interest in technology from a young age. They teach them standard technical skills that might come in handy later in life. For instance, as surprising as this may sound, Angry Birds now teaches players basic coding principles. Furthermore, video games hone reasoning, spatial thinking, problem-solving, and perception. All of these may come in handy in a wide-range of tech-related industries.
How grownups can use technology to hone their learning abilities
For many adults, technology is like the coolest thing ever invented. However, there’s more to a smart gadget than meets the eye. Many adults can use it to learn. There are programming courses people can take online, many public speaking tutorials they can listen to and develop self-confidence, and lots of DIY projects they can try out. Technology should be used to make our lifestyles better; rather than focus on the negative aspects (e.g. a distraction) we have the power to use technology to our advantage.
We can learn with technology, but we must find a way to steer clear of information that has no use to us and our children. Youngsters are difficult to control; they’re rebels and the only thing they want to do is play mobile games and live their lives on social media. As parents, we can do more. We need to use technology the right way and learn more about parent mail and parental control. Buy your toddler a tablet, but use it to download e-books. Read them together and help develop their reading abilities. This is how things should go, not the other way round.
Cited Sources:
- http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30814302
- https://journals.tdl.org/jodi/index.php/jodi/article/view/90/89