Approaching EdTech in the Classroom in 2021
One thing the COVID virus has made educators learn quickly is how valuable technology can be in education. Of course, many educators already knew this. However, remote learning brought about a crash course on using tech for education, and teachers were either forced to sink or swim during the last year.
In any case, everyone now knows how tech can be used in the classroom (since the vaccine will soon be available to most of us) during 2021. If you would like some helpful tips on incorporating even more technology, follow these suggestions below.
Use Video Conferencing Every Week
While it can be difficult to get guest speakers into the classroom since you can only contact people who live within proximity because no one wants to travel too far, you are no longer limited by location anymore.
Reach out to people worldwide that can help you with lessons or topics in the classroom by asking them to do a video conference with your students. It doesn’t have to be super long, either. The classroom teacher can introduce the lesson for 15 to 20 minutes, the guest speaker can do the video conference for 15 minutes, and then the teacher follows it up with some project or assignment for the last part of the lesson.
Don’t make it overly complicated and keep the video conferencing time length relatively short. You will be able to talk numerous people into participating!
Make a Full Commitment to Google Docs
From middle school grades and on up, teachers can accept assignments and essays entirely through Google Docs if they so choose. I did this with my third-grade students a few years back, and they enjoyed it. We also used Google Slides as well for presentations and projects. And if you want to eliminate many grammar and spelling mistakes, have the students use Grammarly to assist them.
No longer will you have to lug around all those paper assignments. Students won’t say they had the work finished but lost it on the way to school. Google Docs uses the cloud, is free, and allows students to get their documents off of practically any computing device in the world. Share the form, include a scoring rubric, and students and parents will access the information, so there should be no questions about grades from here on out.
Student Podcasts
Podcasts have been the newest rage for a couple of years now. Most are free and can be about any topic under the sun. Play a few podcasts for your students in the classroom and then ask them to make their own on specific issues covered in your curriculum. There are quite a few apps to choose from when putting together podcasts, so let them explore and choose the one they want to use.
Explore Educational Apps with the Students
There are about a million educational apps available out there, with many of them being completely free. Rather than take hours and hours every week investigating them to see if they will work with your students, assign the students apps to check out themselves. They can then present their findings to the rest of the class. This saves you time, and it also gets the kids excited because they will have a voice in which apps should be chosen.
You Are Not in This Alone
If you struggle with incorporating technology into the classroom or knowing someone who does, iAchieve can be of assistance. Professional development in technology can be provided to the whole teaching staff if needed! Together, we can turn a weakness into a strength in no time.
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