I remember that when I was a kid I never disliked school.
It was always a mix of really interesting lessons, which would inspire me to try and find out more and those less engaging ones. Now that I think of it, I notice that in most of the situations, when I was bored in class, it was not because of an uninteresting topic, but rather the way it was presented.
At the same time, we have already had a computer at home and whenever I had time, I would spend it lurking around, playing and learning new skills, many of which I’m still using nowadays. I always hoped I could use a computer for studying and connect the technology with inspiring teachers.
Does technology really help?
For many years the biggest problem for educational technology was the money to fund expensive hardware for schools. Even now, schools which are well equipped are scarce at best. For this and many other reasons, teachers weren’t given the chance to explore the technological advances, that could help their students. However, in those cases were schools could provide students with gear, like tablets, both students and teachers confirmed, that they help in the learning process. Data report from march 2015 shows that 65% of high school seniors said tablets help students study more efficiently and that 81% of teachers who think tablets can enrich classroom learning. Even more, the results show that 20% of students using tablets showed better Math scores over the previous year.
Still, not many schools in not that many countries can afford equipping all their students with good quality tablets. However, what many don’t fully appreciate nowadays, is the power we hold in our pockets. In 2013, 70% of Indian students were reported to have mobile phones. We can safely assume that this number increased over the last 3 years. I believe that we should also acknowledge the opportunity it gives us, as educators.
How could we make lessons more tech-friendly?
With growing mobile internet access (450 million users by June 2016), the opportunities grow bigger and bigger. From coordinating homework over an internet application, to submitting written work to a common online folder accessible only by the teacher and students. Many of those possibilities are available for free, at the moment. For example, a class could be split in teams and made work on the same project, given different internet sources. They could all explore other sources or ask friends, but they would need to list their sources in their projects. After the work is done, the projects are compared to see what different kinds of information they prepared, what interested them the most and whether the sources they used, were viable.
Similar approaches were tested in many schools already. As it turns out, the curiosity, which drives so many young people, makes them learn faster and remember more afterwards. Especially if they can then, pass their knowledge to their peers. It doesn’t only make them approach the problem from another perspective, but also makes them practice, what they’ve already learnt.
Let’s figure it out together!
Peer-to-peer learning, personalised challenges and educational equality. Those, are the three things we want to know more about, here at Brainly. With our, now, 80 million users strong community worldwide, we have been trying our best to understand the needs of students and teachers around the world. We would like to share what we found out with you and ask for your opinion. We are preparing an open, online discussing session for teachers, parents and students who wish to join. To find out more and hopefully, join the panel, go here.
Technology is more and more visible in our everyday lives. I am sure that we can make the most out of it by helping our students to grow because they are already using it and they are loving it! Their recommendations are all you need to hear – I love it. Real people from around the world help you step by step to understand what you are doing.
Isn’t that what a true collaboration means?
