Introduction to Assistive Internet Tools for the Classroom

Hello everybody! I am very passionate about the use of technological tools to enhance the learning experience of learners, thereby increasing the fulfillment for the educator in reaching their objectives. This is the first of many articles on this blog concerning the integration of technology in the classroom and thus enhancing teaching skills. I will also include teaching tips for the use of the technology discussed.

Overcoming the fear of technology

I've been in education for 15 years and one of the biggest observations I have made is that there are a lot of educators in the profession who are very much afraid of adapting their teaching to the changing times by incorporating technology in the classroom. There are a lot of great educators out there and they have taught in a certain way for ages and still achieve great results even with the more traditional teaching methods or teaching styles, but I wonder what sort of results they would achieve with the use of technology. Many of the teachers in question are in the older generation and without disrespecting them I'd like to suggest that they are afraid of technology because of lack of knowledge and experience in the use of technology. Many might say that their subject does not involve technology so why incorporate it into their teaching. The truth of the matter is that today's learners are more interested in gadgets such as mobile phones, video games, movies, laptops, the Internet and anything else that stimulates them visually, than in the more traditional methods of learning such as reading books or writing poetry etc., so why not use their interest in such things to enrich their learning.

A Simple Example

I suggest that a lot of difficulty for learners comes in learning when the topic being taught is not directly related to the mechanism of teaching or to anything that they can relate to. The use of technology allows one to apply the lesson to something relevant. Let's look at a simple example.

If one is trying to teach about the Second World War, the educator could stand at the front of the classroom and try to explain how Jews were rounded up and confined to concentration camps. Furthermore it might be difficult to get any interaction from students because they either have very little knowledge about the subject or because a lot of students feel that interacting in class is not the “cool” thing to do. The lesson might come to an end when you were just starting to explain how all their possessions were taken from them and then the bell rings. You might then ask them to read a couple of chapters for homework and then answer as series of questions at the end of the chapter or write a short essay. Although I have not taught History I imagine that this might be a typically boring lesson for a student who does not like to hear a droning voice and who does not like to read and is probably not interested in History in the first place (yes, there are students who might actually not be interested in the subject you teach. I know because I have come across a few in my subjects over the years).

However, still keeping things very simple, another approach might be to search on Google for a YouTube clip to introduce the topic and then start the lesson off with the students watching the clip, just to captivate them with something visual. Then after the short clip the students might be asked to access a previously prepared multiple choice quiz about the material they have just watched, via computers in the classroom or on their mobile devices through a wireless connection to the establishment's intranet.

After this the students might read a short interactive article on their devices about Anne Frank, a person of their age who experienced life in the concentration camps. For homework they might be asked to access some previously gathered electronic resources to find out further information about other people's experiences in the concentration camps and then asked to collaborate with other students in writing and producing a short play pretending that they were in one of those camps. Presuming that students have access to the internet at home, on their mobile devices or the school library, after classes each student could get access to the resources and read them and post their ideas to a collective document, webpage or blog, where students can discuss their ideas and come up with their short play. The students do not have to schedule a time when they have to physically come together to discuss their ideas. In the comfort of their own home (or wherever they might be) they could complete the assignment and only schedule a time when they can practice their short play in preparation for a later lesson, where they could act it out.

If you as the educator think it’s a waste of teaching time to have students act out their plays during your lessons you could ask them to make a video of their short play and post it to a blog or website. In this way students (and yourself) will have the opportunity to view all the videos at leisure and perhaps vote for the one they think is the best.

The next day's homework would be to create a poster, using one of the many online tools, similar to those produced by Nazis denouncing the Jews and blaming them for the downturn in the economy and submit it to the teacher by posting it to a blog that the teacher has created. The whole class could then be involved in discussion on the blog and perhaps voting for the best poster design.

This is just a simple example to illustrate how internet technology could be used to enhance the learning experience instead of the traditional lecture and reading/writing style of learning. In the example above students were given a visual introduction to the topic. A pre-prepared short quiz was devised to test the students' understanding. There was research required of them and collaboration required in the form of writing a short play and a video was made. If notes have to be issued then these can be issued via a download link or if the students are old enough they can be asked to make notes from the resources supplied. Learning activities were not confined only to the classroom and the lesson plan could have incorporated another subject such as English or Life Orientation/Life Skills.

Suddenly the student who gets easily bored by your droning voice is interested and involved in various skills and because his/her interest is stimulated by the different use of technologies and media, the student is more likely to retain, interpret and incorporate the learning experience. The different types of internet technologies used in the whole scenario are available freely provided one has an internet connection via a computer, laptop or mobile device. This particular lesson plan, including all the resources, can be saved and adapted for another lesson and it can also be shared with other educators in any part of the world. These are are just a few of the things that are possible but, as you can imagine, the list is endless and growing by the day (if not by the hour).

The Advantages of the use of Internet Tools to Enhance the Learning Experience

• The use of internet teaching tools will allow educators, despite having different teaching styles, to exhibit creative teaching and enhance their teaching skills.

• In addition to the classroom tools you already have you will be able to enlarge your “sphere of influence” by using tools that your students can have access to wherever they are.

• Although internet teaching resources might not become your primary teaching resources it would serve you to use them once in a while to add variety to your teaching methods so that you are not predictable to your students.

The Different Types of Technologies Available

The type of assistive technology I will initially focus upon is that provided by Google, called Google Apps for Education but I will also write about many different applications or technologies available which are included in (but not limited to) the following categories:

1. Activity & Materials Creators
2. Animation
3. Blogs & Blogging 
4. Collaboration & Brainstorming Tools
5. Communications Tools (Print & Electronic)
6. Course Management Systems
7. Clipart
8. Document Management
9. Educational Videos
10. File Management
11. Google Apps for Education
12. Group Projects
13. Instant Messaging
14. Interactives (for White Boards, or Powerpoint)
15. iPhone, iPad, and Android Apps
16. Lesson Plans
17. Literature Summary/Analysis
18. Mind Mapping
19. Note Taking
20. Online Interactive White Boards
21. Open Educational Resources
22. Picture, Photo, & Image Editing & Organizing
23. PowerPoint & other Presentation Tools 
24. Quizzes & Tests
25. Rubrics
26. Social Network Learning & Collaboration
27. Videos and Podcasts
28. Wikis
29. Web 2.0 for teachers

I hope this article has given you an idea of the amazing things you and your students can do while having fun at the same time. Although there are many types of technologies and tools I urge you to try a few at a time if you are new to this type of technology. From experience I have watched some of the older members of our profession who have struggled and felt intimidated by the use of spreadsheets, for example, and so I know how daunting it can be. I hope you will come back here often to check out the latest articles on the use of the many wonderful tools available for your use, if you are trying to give your students the best and varied learning experiences possible.

Stay blessed,

Sam