Since the COVID-19 impact, the world has taken a different toll on technological advances that have driven globalization and digital transformation. Tech affected every discipline, from eCommerce to manufacturing, and especially education.
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As a research resource, technology proves to be highly beneficial in education. To benefit from its many advantages and enhance the teaching and learning process, teachers must embrace digital tools. Yet, while some school teachers are more open to incorporating digital solutions in the classroom, others present higher levels of resistance to technology integration.
Hence, this article highlights why teaching with technology is necessary and five tech tools every teacher should use in the classroom.
Why Bother Teaching with Technology?
Most teachers are critical of integrating technology into their classrooms. They often incorporate technology by making it an internal part of their technique or use it as an add-on, a treat, or a reward. But the fact is, whether you use a traditional instructional model or a contemporary one, technology needs to be better integrated into the educational process to yield effective learning.
Teaching with technology can help create a rich learning environment, increase student engagement, help review and improve teaching methodologies, facilitate personalized learning, and boost student performance.
This potential depends on your ability as a teacher to integrate technology into your everyday classroom activities, which is no small feat. However, with the right digital tools, delicate skill, and determination, it’s as simple as it gets!
5 Tools that Enhance Teaching with Technology
- Mentimeter
As a teaching tool, Mentimeter helps teachers collect live feedback from students. These feedbacks are either in rankings, word clouds, or scales. It integrates with presentation software like Slido, Microsoft PowerPoint, Zoom, Hopin, etc., and allows for interactive presentations.
- Flipgrid
Flipgrid (now FLIP) is one of the most effective tools teachers use to inspire social learning. Teachers like you use flipgrid to provide students with problems and options to suggest a solution in a voice or video recording. Flipgrid is available for use in different cadres of Learning (pre-K to College).
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Some of its benefits are:
- It provides flexibility when it comes to students having a platform to submit assignments,
- It is a platform that allows for a shared learning process and expert discussions,
- Schools can have a gallery of some sort where class news, school events, council votings, etc., on flipgrid,
- It is a multi-educational institution tool.
- Socrative
Socrative derives its name from the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. Like the personality its appellation is derived from, Socrative helps you modify your teaching methodologies by evaluating your students’ knowledge and using this information to style your teaching.
Teaching with Socrative helps you:
- Engage with students effectively,
- Assess student’s understanding with on-the-fly questions, and
- Adjust your teaching methodologies with the results from the assessments.
- Class Dojo
Class Dojo makes teaching interactive by actively engaging everyone in the growth and development of a student. It also eases communication preferences amongst families and teachers, etc. As a teacher teaching with technology, Class Dojo is one software you shouldn’t forget to improve classroom activities and students’ performance.
Some of its benefits are:
- It gamifies classroom activities,
- Students gain/lose points according to class behavior and other soft skills agreed upon between the teacher and students,
- It’s an efficient, personalized learning tool that helps teachers modify teaching methods to suit students’ needs,
- It promotes flexible, remote learning.
- Bakpax
Bakpax, also known as the assignment autograder, is an AI tool that auto-grades students’ activities and gives immediate feedback on assignments.
The following are some benefits of Bakpax:
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- It helps teachers adopt remote learning,
- It saves your time by helping with the administrative aspects of teaching while focusing on the cognitive/creative areas of education.
With the digital era taking over, it’s imperative to start teaching with technology by including digital and online tools in the classroom. There’s an endless list of such tools, but you’re off to a good start with these five.
Remember to use these tools to ease your workload and make your teaching process more effective.
