Educational Technology

As educators, people often assume that teachers just know what to do and how to do it. However, integrating educational technology into a classroom is a lot of hard work. It can feel overwhelming and out of reach, but there are some resources that will help you tackle that task.

#1 : EdSurge

This website is often used for faculty and staff to follow trending news and to be up to date on the role of technology in the classroom. It is imperative for educators to know what technology is available and how to integrate it into daily classroom activities. EdSurge eases the burden teachers feel when they are trying to figure out the best practices of educational technology.

#2 : eSchool News

This website is specifically designed to focus on educational technology. It not only covers things like litigation and legislation, which we all know is a BIG component in education, but also informs teachers about new products that may be beneficial. They offer a wide array of third-party content and lessons that teachers can utilize in their own classrooms.

#3 : eLearning Inside

This website is imperative because it takes a deeper look at education and electronic learning. It has resources to provide relevant solutions and news to teachers looking to add educational technology in their classrooms. It also provides this information in several different ways, such as news stories, profiles and videos.

Although there are many tips, tricks, strategies and methods to integrate technology into any classroom, below are two that work really well.

#1 : Flipped Classroom

Yes, you apply this almost exactly how it sounds. Instead of using the age-old chalkboard and lecture approach from beginning to end, teachers can utilize online resources to introduce the material before starting a lesson. This allows students to learn at their own pace, by introducing it individually online before beginning the lesson. By doing so, this allows for the student to have a basic understanding that they can build on and participate with during the lesson, instead of trying to cram everything in during the lesson without any previous knowledge. Instead of teachers being the instructors, they are able to guide the class and clear up any confusion that may arise. This also allows teachers to be able to spot students who are struggling and may need more assistance, as they are only a resource, not the instructor, giving them more time to observe the students.

#2 : Stations

A tried and true learning strategy has always been centers/stations. However, by adding technology into the various stations, teachers are better able to monitor progress amongst their students. When you have multiple stations and a wide variety of educational abilities, it is often difficult to be everywhere at once, monitoring progress and setbacks. By adding in technology via iPads, tablets, computers and apps, teachers can pull up the various data to get a better understanding of where their students are academically at each station.