Advancements in technology in today’s fast-paced world have contributed to the fields of energy, health and business. Education is not far behind when
Advancements in technology in today’s fast-paced world have contributed to the fields of energy, health and business. Education is not far behind when it comes to combining the best technological tools with pedagogy.
The advent of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality has made it quite a dynamic playing field in the sphere of education. Newer gadgets and tools aided by state-of-the-art tech is helping classrooms transform into ones straight out of those sci-fi movies that we love to watch as children.
If you are all for making use of the great educational gadgets for learning, then here are some fun facts for you.
- 96% of educators of the current times feel that using tech tools for learning increases student engagement in classrooms
- 92% of educators want to introduce more tech tools for education in their classrooms
- Does technology have to do anything with student outcomes? 89% of educators believe, it positively affects a students’ performance.
Along with this, we have the factors of globalisation and the reach of education as well. State-led programs to bring kids to school and mass literacy drives all around the world are finally producing results.
For example, let us consider the case of the K-12 public schools in the USA. Studies reveal that there has been a remarkable change in the student population over the last 50 years in the American schools. The good news is that the studies also reveal a marked increase in the number of first-generation learners in the American schools. The diverse nature of students in the American schools also champions one of the much-debated issues nowadays as well: the matter of inclusion.
Coming from varied linguistic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, pupils of a typical middle school classroom are a mixed bag indeed. Some may proceed at a different pace when it comes to mathematics while some have difficulty picking out long words from English passages due to ESL issues. In order to combat all these problems effectively inside the classroom, educators are gradually seeking assistance from the trending tech tools for learning.
What is personalised learning?
Personalised education is a technique of designing a curriculum as per the needs of the students. It sheds the age-old philosophy of one-size-fits-all and takes on a futuristic approach to education. Personalised education works hand-in-hand with the modern-day technological advancements that help educators function way more effectively.
For example, predictive analytics model in an AI-aided monitoring system enables educators to find out the strengths, weaknesses, skills and likings for each student in the classroom. Analysing the data, the AI-aided lesson planner also suggests customisations that may be brought about as per the needs of every pupil in the class. Rather than handing out the same worksheet to 30 children of varied backgrounds, the educators can create 30 different ones that make the students bring out the best in themselves.
The perks of personalised learning: what it means for students
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the Software & Information Industry Association, and the Council of Chief State School Officers have met at a symposium to figure out and declare the ten essential policy enablers for personalised learning for American schools. More countries are soon to follow suit of the USA, and we may be looking at a future where students get a customised curriculum suited to their interests and strengths.
If you are wondering how does any of it helps students learn better, then here is your answer. The following are the perks of personalising learning to help pupils make the most of their educational resources.
- Increased classroom engagement
The whole point of personalised learning is to make learning fun. In the age of millennial kids growing up in homes filled with smart gadgets, using those for schoolwork is sure to get them excited. Using a stylus and personal laptops such as Surface Pros, classroom engagement rates are sure to shoot through the roof.
Pupils usually love to learn using tech tools that let them have an interactive outlook towards learning. Classroom engagement issues, especially for schools having a diverse student population of mixed races and ethnicities, can be tackled with ease through customisable ways of personalised education.
- Instilling values using personalised learning
For the teachers with a diversely populated classroom, bring in personalised learning coupled with some values as well. However, teaching pupils abstract concepts like tolerance, multiculturalism, and respect might be difficult indeed. Customised learning comes to rescue the day here as well. Arrange for a mock seminar in the class where the kids use the interactive board and atlas to locate the area that they are originally from. They might even couple it with a short write-up about their culture to read out for the entire class. Personalised learning helps students connect to their roots as well.
- Collaborative approach to learning
With personalised learning, it is definitely a two-way street for education. Teachers are as invested in the process as the students, and together, they create a collaborative approach towards conquering the lessons. If you are a teacher, you would be no stranger to days when the class does not seem responsive enough. Personalise your lesson plan, and you will see a marked improvement in this scenario.
Teachers can bring about customised curriculums designed in ways that help students grasp the fact that education is, after all, a collaborative effort. Make your pupils take part in classroom activities that help them understand the values of taking a collaborative path towards learning. Group them up to work on a project using the stylus and smart board together, for instance, and marvel at the results.
- Breaking the ice with pupils
Some pupils are socially awkward and pretty shy. It is hard to get them to open up in class, and as a teacher, this might be frustrating. Use the comments section in Google Docs to start a secret conversation with that shy kid in your class to break the ice. If you let them submit their homework in Google Docs, for example, you can ask them about their day and how they would like to get the task done making use of the comments sections.
- Setting and achieving learning goals
Students are able to set their learning goals for themselves in a classroom setting aided with the latest tech for personalising education. For example, some may take up a collaborative project to create slides using PowerPoint on igneous rocks with the target of finishing it by the end of the week. The teacher can set up a presentation schedule on Friday for those pupils.
Since learning using tools other than traditional notebooks and pencils is way more fun and relatable for the kids of this era, the goals that they set can easily be achieved with a little bit of motivation from the educator. Setting goals for education and making sure that they achieve each helps students to understand the direct relationship between learning and personal growth.
- Customising evaluative processes
Not all of us liked the elaborate worksheets for our weekly tests in class. Test days in schools are usually the worst of the week. Each week sees at least one student throwing a riot of tantrums over unsolved or difficult-to-solve worksheets.
Personalised learning enables pupils to choose the mode of evaluation that they wish to take. From creating slideshows to going extempore on a topic, students can use the tech tools for personalised learning and evaluation as well.
- Simplifying tricky tasks and tests
How we would have loved to be rid of integral calculus troubles as kids! Superb news for pupils today is that they actually can get rid of such woes in the age of personalised learning. Personalised learning lets pupils chunk up the lessons as they deem fit.
So if someone is having troubles with trigonometry, it lets them take it at a slower pace than the rest of the class, so they learn comfortably. There is no rushing into the lessons with personalised learning, and that is perhaps the best kind of education that kids these days can get. Personalised learning thus helps students to take in the concepts in chunks that they can easily comprehend.
Catering to the needs of each and every student, customised learning using the modern-day tech tools can help students learn in a much better way. It lets them proceed at their own pace. For teachers who keep worrying about how to help the entire class match steps with the curriculum, this is superb news indeed. They can now design lessons and evaluation processes for students as per the needs and skills of the students through a personalised curriculum. Here is looking towards a brighter future of education when combined with the best tech tools that enable personalised learning for pupils all across the world.
This article is written by John Mark, he is an academic professional with special expertise in academic writing. He has been working as a paper help expert at Myassignmenthelp.com. Johnalso writes Studydemic blog where he shares his experience with students and educators.