[EdTech Insight] Role of Parents in 21st Century Learning

This calls for the need of your adjusting to this rejuvenated environment with satisfaction in your heart that technology is most reliable and will benefit the learning of your child and you must help him adapt himself to this modern era of 21^st century learning.

You as parents must now really cope up with the changing times and provide your child with all the support he needs to keep pace with the learning practices of the 21^st century. It’s true that technology eases everything around us, but to derive most out of it, we must know how to utilize it efficiently such that any negatives it may have are minimized and all that’s left is benefit coming out of it. All this certainly reforms your role of being a parent in this new century’s learning. This article aims to guide you on how you can successfully fulfill your duties of being a modern parent of children studying in and around technology. Here’s a compilation of some suggestions which you’ll find handy for the purpose:

• Technology has brought to you many solutions if you’re a parent who mostly stays away from home or travels a lot when work or other duties call. One of the solutions is Skype, which is a free service that uses the Internet for voice or video conferencing. This will make your child stay connected to you, even when you’re far away and across continents from him. Provide all the guidance and support he needs from you with his learning. You can even interact with the teachers of your child to be up to date with his learning activities and progress.
• When your child is involved with project-based learning, he would often need your consultation from time to time. Volunteer to be of help to him and share what you know. Always promote learning through projects since it helps your child collaborate with others, keeps him engaged and deepens his learning on the subject.
• Encourage your child to use collaborative tech tools like, Edmodo , Google apps or Wikis. These tools will offer you a window into your child’s classroom activities. You can also comment on the blogs of your child or his teacher to maintain interaction.
• Make your child participate in summer camps and other learning communities during school holidays or whenever he can find time. This will keep intact the creative spirit in him and he’ll find learning more interesting and fun. You can also engage him with online game-based learning and motivate him to earn badges in various subjects, take quizzes and compete with other learners in multi-player learning games.
• Encourage your child to be a part of social networks like, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and more, which concern his learning network at school and beyond. Be a part of these networks along with your child and connect with conversation happening in the classroom. This builds your child’s 21^st century skills of communication, collaboration and critical thinking.
• Make digital media a part of the resources that your child learns with. Videos, audios, images add the interactive and engaging element to a subject which keeps your child engrossed in his learning. Inclusion of digital media had shown remarkable improvement in the academic grades procured by students.
• Provide your child with the best and quality learning resources from the expansive collection of MOOCs available online. MOOCs have resources for any subject you want, they are comprehensive and are the works of the best educators around the world. Focus on improving the quality and diversity of your child’s learning.
• Let your child have tech devices such as tablets or laptops which can be carried in and out of classrooms and anywhere he wishes to take his learning along. With this you’ll also help the schools to implement the teaching practice of BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device). Make sure unless your child is of the suitable age, these devices are solely meant for the purposes of education for him.
• Make your child take online courses, apart from the courses included in his regular academic curriculum. These courses on successful completion will bring certificates of merit to your child, which are always useful in his future learning and can even vouch for his extra-curricular achievements. These courses can also cover up the things you’d like your child to know about which aren’t included in his school’s curriculum and enhance his knowledge.

EdTech plays a significant role in helping your child become a successful learner. Technology in education leaves a vivid impact on whatever your child learns and makes studies all the more meaningful and interesting to him. All the same, it helps the teachers and parents to cope up with their children’s modern needs of learning and helps them stay connected with each other and be up to date with all the learning activities of their child.

I conclude this article with the hope that it will serve your purpose and increase your awareness on EdTech. I also hope that it makes you realize your responsibilities of being a 21^st century parent of a learning child. We’ll keep you up to date with everything that’s latest about EdTech. Share your views and knowledge with us through the Comment Box below.