Technology in the Classroom
Even before COVID-19 hit, the technological revolution had well and truly reached the classroom. In today’s new home-school, online learning reality the challenge is to figure out how to ensure technology at home delivers results, rather than distraction. Finding the right balance is the key to success for the parent, the teacher, and the students.
The argument has been made by some that technology at school is more of a distraction than anything else. Because of this, when advocating for new tech, teachers have come up against some serious resistance from concerned parents. Now that the COVID pandemic has changed the way that children interact with learning an technology, parents have been forced to embrace technology as part of their child’s learning experience.
So, does technology at school and online learning enhance your child’s learning?
Digital Literacy
According to Western Sydney University, Digital literacy is “having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to information is increasingly through digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile devices”. Basically, digital literacy is knowing how to conduct yourself in the digital world, for example while online learning with your teacher and classmates.
Your child’s future employers will expect them to have the skills needed to survive in today’s digital environment. So, when preparing kids for the “real world”, digital literacy is crucial.
There are some simple ways educators have already been including digital literacy learning in to every day classroom activities. The use of applications like Google Classroom, especially at a time like this, sets students up with an introduction to social media, its capabilities, and most importantly, how to behave in a social online environment.
Encouraging online research for projects also teaches students effective ways to evaluate the quality and credibility of information, as well as learning strategies that will bring them better results.
Entertainment and Education can Co-exist
Educational games and apps have been around for a long while but in today’s age of online learning they’ve grown more sophisticated and easier to use. The lines between education and entertainment have been blurred, making them more appealing to kids and transforming the way they learn. Games have always been an excellent way to engage kid’s minds, and online games and apps can further help to support them in developing new skills, without it feeling like homework.
A great example of this is Reading Eggs, a spelling app developed by Australian Primary Educator Del Merrick. Reading Eggs features fun spelling games as well as games covering literacy skills, such as proofreading, vocabulary, encoding and plurals, all allowing kids to practice in an entertaining and interactive environment.
The use of these types of games and applications not only helps kids to learn and understand complex ideas, the fact that they’re fun and played at their own pace also takes away some of the pressure of learning and is another great tool when introducing digital literacy.
Online Learning as a Skill
The internet is one big library, allowing us the opportunity to learn about any subject at all, with just a few quick searches.
Our kids’ teachers have a unique opportunity to act as “curators of the internet” by introducing these online learning resources to their students at a young age. Teaching kids how to properly use the internet for research and learning gives them the tools they need to teach themselves, and that is a skill they will use for life.
As students move forward in their schooling collaboration becomes more and more important. Online learning tools like Google Apps allow students to collaborate from anywhere in the world, easily bringing the classroom in to their homes and allowing easier sharing of information, making research for projects and exams that much easier, and broadening their horizons for future learning.
