Educational Computing
Beaver County school districts embrace technology in the classroom by Katherine Schaeffer
This article highlights the changing face of the Beaver Area School District. Schools in these are using one-to-one iPad programs to replace bulky textbooks with sleek and light iPads. For most middle and high schools in the area, classes have become paperless, and teachers have allowed students to read, complete assignments, type them and take notes using iPads. This approach to replace the traditional classroom and conventional teaching methods is a welcome move to innovate new learning methods for modern students. Education has become more instructional and fun, and the curriculum has been modified to create digital content and personalize lessons. The teachers recognize that the internet has become more equipped with knowledge and are appreciating the need for students to browse and research beyond the classroom.
Fifth-Graders Soar in the Blogosphere by Cara Bafile
When you think about what makes blogging one of the most useful tools in teaching, it’s because blogs are easy and simple to setup and maintain and encourage students to learn purposely to share with others. Gillian Ryan, the teacher, referred to in this case, thinks that blogging reinforces grammar skills, answering and sharing questions and practice revision, spell-proofing, and editing responses. It also makes the teacher’s work easier in monitoring student’s comprehension of various topics and continue with discussions outside the classroom. Students can participate from home too and express themselves in endless ways that would have been otherwise impossible in the traditional classroom.
Nao the Robot Teacher Becomes Newest Edition to Kansas School's Teaching Staff – the Huffington Post
The innovation of robotic teaching aids in the classroom is a step further for students to engage with and get to understand technology. The Kansas Career and Technical Education Academy has done just that. Students can feed the robot with all sorts of queries, and in turn, the robot replies almost every query in the best way it can. For programming and electronics students, this is a great addition to their resume because they are taught how to feed the programmable humanoid with information and how to develop prototypes like it. The trend is picking up in various universities too which use the robots as lab assistants and to perform delicate experiments that require high precision and accuracy.
Study: Emerging Technology Has Positive Impact in Classroom by Ryan Lytle
Technology innovation has brought goodwill in the classroom. In this article, Stacey Roshan, a Calculus teacher at Bullis School highlights the changes that Camtasia Studio, a recording, and video editing program has brought about to her calculus lectures. Using the software, she uploads the lectures on iTunes and assigns them to students when they are back at home. In class, they work out problems together and engage in lively discussions. The scores changed starting that year, and her class had the highest marks compared to the other classes and lectures that used traditional methods of teaching. Using technology to transform the way teachers teach and students learn is the most recent trend, and it’s only inevitable that this trend should be embraced by all stakeholders to advance and make learning easier.
Odeum Role-Playing Games for Education for Critical Thinking by Monica
One of the best and fastest way to develop critical thinking skills in students is by using interactive games. Odeum, confronted with this challenge, decided to innovate role-playing games for some subjects such as language and arts, social studies, mathematics, and literature. These games cover various topics and provide children with opportunities to think and make critical decisions that develop their style of thinking. They also promote active classroom participation and an interactive outlook at various characters in literature texts such as Macbeth and Anne Frank. When faced with similar situations that call for smart decision making, the students will be able to apply the skills learned in the classroom and adapt skilfully to real world situations.
References
BAFILE, C. (2016). Fifth-Graders Soar in the Blogosphere. [Online] Education World. Available at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech253.shtml [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].
LYTLE, R. (2011). Study: Emerging Technology Has Positive Impact in Classroom. [Online] US News & World Report. Available at: http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2011/07/14/study-emerging-technology-has-positive-impact-in-classroom?int=96e908 [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].
MONICA, (2016). Odeum Role-Playing Games for Education for Critical Thinking - Class Tech Tips. [Online] Class Tech Tips. Available at: http://classtechtips.com/2016/02/24/role-playing-games-for-education/ [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].
SCHAEFFER, K. (2016). Beaver County school districts embrace technology in the classroom. [Online] Timesonline.com. Available at: http://www.timesonline.com/progress/2016/beaver-county-school-districts-embrace-technology-in-the-classroom/article_27255a9c-cb69-11e5-85b6-ef53516fbf67.html [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].
The Huffington Post, (2016). Meet Nao, One High School's New Robot Teacher. [Online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/nao-robot-schools_n_2994863.html [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016].
