-Morgan Dorsky
With funding for new hardware often hard to come by in K-12 education, I wanted to research simple and cost-effective ways to upgrade the hardware within a classroom in order to have a big effective on teaching and learning. Since many of our classrooms are now 1:1, we are now dependent upon students having charged devices in order to successfully facilitate learning. Therefore, charging towers can have a major impact on learning within the classroom, as they allow students to have access to outlets to charge their devices no matter where they are in the classroom. This helps to minimize classroom disruptions and aids in smoother transitions when utilizing technology in daily lessons. (Here is the link to the charging tower that I use in my classroom and highly recommend!)
Another simple way to upgrade hardware within the classroom is by investing in quality headphones for student use. This allows students to work at their own pace and allows educators to incorporate technology based learning into student centered learning. By having quality headphones readily available, educators can differentiate assignments using education technology sites such as EdPuzzle and Nearpod where students can work independently on differentiated assignments in order to work at their academic level and own pace. (Here is a link to relatively inexpensive, quality headphones for student use)
Finally, another simple way to effectively upgrade your classroom hardware is by utilizing a classroom tablet for simple every day tasks in order to improve and streamline everyday routines and procedures. Having a tablet that is open to a quick google form that students must check in on when they arrive to class tardy will easily help educators to track student tardies without having to stop instruction or create classroom disruptions. Similarly, a google form could be utilized using a tablet for students to sign in and out to use the restroom, again minimizing classroom distruptions and leading to more uninterrupted instructional time for students. A classroom tablet could be used for everything from VR field trips, to checking out books from the classsroom library and with only one per room needing to be purchased, it is a simple, cost effective way to upgrade hardware in a way that will have a major impact on teaching and learning. (Here is a link to some of the best tablets available for teachers!)