5 Ways Collaboration Tech Is Transforming The Classroom
The classroom is one area where advancing technology continues to make learning more efficient. Collaboration is one of the most important tools for learning that modern educators have available. Fortunately for students and teachers, there are several ways collaboration tech is transforming the classroom to make working together easier than it has ever been.
1. Improving Group Work
Group assignments that students complete together are commonplace in classrooms of all levels, from elementary school to college. Collaboration technology makes it easier for students to work together, whether the students are sharing a single device or are using their own tablets or computers. Collaboration tools on these devices, like Google Apps, allow students to share files, pictures, and answers to group problems with each other.
2. Making Presentations More Interactive
One of the biggest problems traditionally faced by educators is the challenge of keeping the attention of students. Allowing students to provide input or opinions on classroom presentations is one of the prominent ways collaboration tech is transforming the classroom. Jacques Steinberg at the The New York Times published a story about a professor at Northwestern University who gave every student in his class a palm-sized wireless device that can be used to check attendance and answer multiple-choice quiz questions.
3. Enhancing Parent Interaction
Parents play a critical role in classroom learning, especially for children going to school in their formative years. One of the ways collaboration tech is transforming the classroom is by allowing parents to get a closer look at the way that their children learn. Some classrooms will allow parents to remotely observe all or part of a classroom lesson, for example, so that they can witness teachers in action and determine how their child is responding to lessons.
4. Incorporating Guest Lectures Into The Classroom
Just like presentation software has made it easier for businesses to hold joint presentations, collaborative technology in the classroom helps teachers and professors get input from other educators during presentations. This is especially valuable for professors that are looking to create a hybrid lecture or teach a course that involves concepts from more than one discipline.
5. Enhancing Remote Learning
Remote learning is a growing trend in today’s classroom. An article in EdTech states that between 1998 and 2008, the number of students that chose remote learning classes as a part of their college curriculum increased 150%. With the right collaborative tools, educators can make it much easier for students engaging in remote learning to grasp the concepts taught in classroom lessons. Thanks to software tools that complement hardware like video cameras and microphones, distance learning students can complete coursework and offer their opinion about classroom material as if they were present in the physical classroom.
These are just some of the ways collaboration tech is transforming the classroom. Inventive teachers and school administrators will undoubtedly continue to come up with ways to use this type of technology to make teaching easier for educators and learning easier for students, in an effort to use technology to help contribute to society as a whole.
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