Last Updated on April 22, 2023 by Uncle Pat Ugwu
Technology as we know it today has been a supporting tool in all areas of human endeavor, education inclusive. In this post, I will share with you how to Integrate Technology into Classroom. One of the reasons why technology is used in teaching and learning is because it provides instant information to learners. You can check our article on the importance of technology in education.
Technological tools such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. are omnipresent elements. Both students and teachers are already using these tools. Therefore, it is natural to explore technological devices in the classroom to create meaningful learning experiences for students at all levels.
Integration of Technology in Education provides differentiated instruction that will help to meet up with students’ unique needs
Integrate Technology in Classroom
Integrating technology in teaching and learning activities simply means using technology to enhance the learning experience. There are different types of technology that can be utilized in the classroom.
These include lesson presentations, virtual classrooms, open educational resources, automated result grading, and so on, these can foster the educational growth of our society.
Let us now discuss their technological applications in detail.
1. Lesson Presentation
Lesson presentation can be boring at times, in Nigeria, teachers in primary and secondary schools are mandated to write daily lesson plans for their lesson activities. This is a huge task and most times overwhelming for the teachers as they manually write this in exercise books.
Using a technological tool as basic as Microsoft PowerPoint or any other presentation software can go a long way to help teachers. With this, teachers can type their notes in MS PowerPoint and use it to teach. The same note can be reused in the future by the teacher or another teacher. This can be presented with a projector or interactive whiteboard.
Improving the note will be easy and will not give the teacher the stress of writing the note again from the scratch. The PowerPoint files can also be transferred to the students or hosted publicly where they can access them. This method was witnessed among several schools during Covid-19 lockdown.
2. Virtual Classroom
It is true that we are accustomed to the traditional classroom, and moving to another form of learning may not be easy for many. Virtual Classroom for teachers is another good way of integrating technology in the classroom. It provides almost all the activities you may find in a conventional classroom but in a digital way.
Virtual Classroom like Google Classroom has features like classes, lessons, student addition, grading, and so on. This is an awesome way of teaching students virtually. There is other virtual classroom software that can be employed.
Delivering lectures or lessons in real-time is also a good idea. This will help students to give immediate feedback to the teacher and ask questions in an area where they are confused. There are also good numbers of technological tools that can be used for live-streaming or conferences.
3. Open Educational Resources
In this age of the internet, students do not find it interesting to visit the library for information. They prefer to use the internet to certify their curiosity or to do their assignment.
Today, there are several internet learning resources where students can learn different subjects. Good enough, many of them are freely accessed. Schools and of course teachers should direct their students to good Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) or Open Educational Resources (OER) where they can obtain information that is relevant to their studies.
Wikipedia, Alison.com, pdfdrive.com, Akanne Academy, and so on are examples of online educational platforms where students can freely access good information. Schools can as well develop their own OER with the help of Learning Management System (LMS) technology.
4. Assignment and Collaboration
Group learning has proved to be very potent. Giving group assignments to students which trigger collaboration among them is very useful.
Some students best understand new concept from their fellow students than from their teachers. – Pat Ugwu II.
Technological tools like social media or online forums can help bring out the potential of the students. During group discussions, students find their voice as they share ideas together. This same tool can also be used by teachers to give and receive assignments. Here is a list of messaging tools teachers can use to collaborate with students.
5. Testing and Grading
An examination is said not to be the true test of knowledge, we must have to test students’ abilities at different times. Using Computer Based Test (CBT) can help to smooth the process.
There is CBT software in the market that schools can purchase and use to populate their questions, then administer it to students. Schools can also develop their own web portal from the scratch.
The web portal can also be designed in a way that it can mark students’ tests, and scores, and also grade them. It also has the ability to store this information for future use.
Final Thoughts
The importance of technology in education cannot be overemphasized. As technology gives students the opportunity to perform at their own pace. It also gives voice to introverted students and there are other benefits of technology integration in the classroom.
If we correctly integrate technology in the classroom, we will use it to create, deliver, test, score, grade, and store student information. This indeed is a welcome development. Government at all levels, education stakeholders, teachers, students, and parents should embrace technology for the betterment of our society.
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