In 2019, how do we measure the effectiveness of education or of EdTech for that matter? Well, one of the greater goals of today’s teaching is to maximize student engagement by drawing on all the tools educators have available to them. Of course this includes technology in a number of different forms. There are online platforms, educational apps, and our favorite—hands-on STEM tools, which are perhaps the most engaging of them all. Whatever educators prefer to use in their unique classrooms, technology is a game changer when it comes to boosting student engagement. So, not only is technology great at equipping students with the skills for succeeding in the future, it’s also perhaps the best way to keep kids interested, engaged, and inspired in the classroom every day.
EdTech and Promoting Student Engagement
Technology can help educators accomplish a lot of things in the classroom. It can give them the opportunity to drive more meaningful learning experiences, help establish equity among different types of students, and, as you may have guessed, increase engagement on a variety of levels. It’s oftentimes tough to measure student engagement down to an exact, quantifiable number, but it’s also easy enough for teachers to perceive when a child is or is not engaged. With the regular integration of tech in learning, however, it almost guarantees greater levels of engagement. In a world in which so much focus is placed on equity and engagement, it’s tough to have one without the other and to determine which one should come first (kind of like a chicken-egg sort of thing). By reaching students at their level, teachers are able to use technology to grab their attention in many different ways and make sure they keep it at all points of the school day.
To determine the best ways of using technology to increase engagement, it’s first helpful for teachers to fully understand what it means for a child to be engaged. Engagement is a pretty broad term and there are certainly differing levels of it especially in education. One way to capture a working definition is to think of engagement as a simultaneous experience of thinking and acting. The best educational content gets students thinking about it from all angels and gets them engaged through hands-on actions or experiments at the same time. It also helps when kids start to share their ideas, offer new perspectives, and connect with their classmates while they work. Engagement is also contagious, so, once educators are able to find something in their classroom that works, it’s likely that it will soon rub off on all students and, if it’s a strategy that uses technology, well, then that’s even better.
True engagement in the classroom occurs when students of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities come together through beneficial dialogue on a pertinent topic. Technology can play a key role in this togetherness by allowing teachers to facilitate group work and other opportunities for kids to become more engaged. Technology also helps bridge both physical and intellectual divides among students while simultaneously enhancing that classroom engagement educators are after. Part of the reason for this is that technology helps kids communicate (they grew up communicating like this after all) and another factor is that, since they are so used to using technology, it becomes just an added dimension to their learning. After all, technology is a powerful tool for learning and students cannot truly be learning if they are not truly engaged with what is being discussed. It’s not just the content they are consuming—the way they receive it and their engagement levels are also very important.
Integrating EdTech for Purposeful Engagement
When technology is used in education, the intention is to have it enhance instruction in a meaningful and intentional way. Not only can technology enhance educational experiences for students, more and more educators are using it to also increase engagement. Technology should not only be seen as a tool to supplement classroom instruction, but should now be seen as something that can drive it. Both teachers and students are able to use technology in so many ways and this includes being able to create new and meaningful education experiences. Some would even argue that it’s best for teachers to take a step back and let students take control of their learning completely. While this sounds a bit unconventional, it’s certainly been made easier with the technology that’s been introduced. Not only can technology engage students on deeper levels, it can also engage them in entirely new ways.
Although it’s sometimes tough to seamlessly introduce new tech into teaching, a lot of the technology teachers use can be incorporated in a number of different ways. This makes it tough to use technology in a wrong way, especially when simply trying to engage students. STEM tools, for example, can be used in multiple classes and subjects rather than just at one time during the day. The versatility of today’s technology keeps it from getting stale and keeps students engaged from start to finish. Though technology is not 100 percent a part of learning today (and it probably shouldn’t be), EdTech still does a lot in allowing students to gain more academic and creative freedom, which results in boosted engagement. When technology use is simplified for both teachers and students, it becomes easier to recognize student engagement and possible for educators to recognize when it’s at its best.
These days, educating students is all about engaging them. Teachers obviously remain very important in this process, but they are important in different ways. Things are evolving so rapidly and, a lot of the time, teachers might not have a full understanding of all of the technology. That’s okay, though. Teachers should also not feel like they should only be using technology during certain times of the day. This limits student growth and impedes the engagement we are trying to attain. Rather, incorporating tech consistently can be much more beneficial for students. Also, many tech tools have a bunch of different uses—all of which amplify student engagement—so limiting the way they are used to one or two key things is not ideal. Ultimately, what it comes down to is not being afraid to try different things. One form of engagement might work well for one student and a different kind might be best for another. It’s about finding the best ways to use technology to teach with a purpose.
Increasing Student Engagement Through STEM
We know that a quality STEM education carries with it a good chance of kids being successful in our tech-driven economy. There is a strong connection between STEM skills and real-world success, underscoring the importance of developing those skills early and often. Like focusing on any educational initiative, educators need to be able to effectively engage students in STEM challenges in order for them to get the full benefits it can provide. Not every student is interested in STEM despite the possibilities it can provide them with in the future, however. This means that educators might need to work a bit harder to engage kids in hands-on learning and help them get comfortable with not always sitting passively in a classroom and taking notes. Early exposure to STEM learning is likely the best way to go since it allows for plenty of hands-on discovery and even playful experimenting by students of just about any age. And, with the enjoyment surrounding what they are doing comes higher levels of engagement.
When classes are not that interesting to them, students’ interest in them naturally declines. This is no secret, but it is still important information since educators are always looking for ways to make their teaching more appealing and engaging. One of the popular ways to increase learning through STEM engagement is by employing inquiry-based learning. Not only is STEM beneficial because of its hands-on nature, it also brings along other benefits for students, including the fact that it promotes self-directed learning and helps them see the real-life connections between what they’re learning and the world around them. And, you guessed it, this tends to result in them being more engaged throughout the entirety of the school day. The great thing about STEM learning is that it can also be deployed in the curriculum during the school day or after school. In either case, educators can do a number of things to increase the engagement levels of their students starting with what we just mentioned—promoting self-directed learning and creating recognizable, real-life connections.
When encouraging kids to direct their own learning, teachers should provide them with the ultimate goal of their project and requirements they should adhere to and then get out of the way. This helps them discover the real-life connections on their own, which is something that really resonates with kids in this day and age and amplifies their engagement in what’s going on in the classroom. The hands-on element of STEM learning also naturally encourages students to communicate with one another, which is directly related to engagement with what they are doing. Plus, STEM is all about teamwork and collaboration and you can’t have either of those without increased levels of engagement. Obviously, we love STEM education and truly believe that is abundantly impactful on students not only for the engagement opportunities but also the long-lasting benefits it leaves them with as they continue to grow.
Examples of How EdTech Can Improve Engagement
There is so much potential for increasing student engagement with technology and, now, we’re going to get into some specific examples. As more technologies arise, classrooms are starting to overflow with new learning opportunities and teachers are finding new ways they can use them to connect with their students and connect their students more deeply with the material they are covering. Since EdTech can unlock so many beneficial learning opportunities, it’s made a home for itself at the forefront of education and it doesn’t look as if it will be going anywhere. For starters, EdTech makes coursework more accessible for students of all ages. Whether they’re in first grade or their second half of college, technology has been playing a role in keeping students engaged for years. Only now, they’re actually using it in a way that’s more geared towards increasing access and student-instructor connections rather than just for the sake of using it.
Technology in the classroom also improves on student engagement by improving the student-teacher relationship. It helps centralize the experiences of students, helps educators maximize their time, promotes a more flexible curriculum, and helps ensure that engagement is long-term and not just short-term. When it comes to flexibility, technology is key because it allows teachers to try so many different things with students in their classrooms. They could be using STEM kits in a science or social studies class, but the versatility of these tools also creates the option for using this tech in another subject, like math, English, or history. Plus, teachers can make note of how students engage with a new piece of technology and how long it’s able to hold their attention. Using what they learn, they can apply it to future technology decisions and share the results they find with other educators throughout the school.
Using technology can also boost student engagement by helping teachers create an enhanced learning environment. Technology is known to be able to stimulate conversations among students and can play a key role in helping them establish effective communication with each other. Whereas traditional learning consists of remembering what is taught in class and then analyzing those concepts and trying to remember them for a test, learning with hands-on technology ensures higher levels of cognitive learning because students are much more engaged when they are actively learning. As technology starts to become a ubiquitous and necessary component of 21st century teaching, there is a concrete connection established between higher levels of engagement and higher levels of student achievement. It all comes back to the same basic theme, though. Any piece of technology that can enable deeper engagement for students is more than likely something that belongs in the classroom.
EdTech Trends that are Influencing Student Engagement
You know the drill. Some trends in the education world are good for students while others are not so much. A lot of trends come and go quickly while others beat the ‘trend’ label and become more of a viable option for the long term. The one thing about technology is that it is able to be used by educators to make these classroom trends possible in a lot of cases. Typically, it’s the trends that carry the greatest possibilities for engagement that stick around the longest, especially if educators have a say in whether or not they stick around. Whether you label them trends or fads (remember fidget spinners?), the truth is that some of these trendy ideas for enhancing engagement certainly do work and might only lose steam due to the fact they they have run their course. If you’re looking for some of these tech-influenced engagement trends, you’ve come to the right place. To cap off this week’s blog, we’re going to highlight some of them and explain a bit about why they’ve remained relevant.
One trend that teachers are using to increase engagement with technology is the emergence of game-based teaching and learning. Since technology already helps teachers keep the interest of their students, combining it with game-based lessons and challenges helps them do so even more. Plus, a lot of the games educators can create with tech tools allow them to assess students from multiple angles and provide real-world opportunities for understanding for the kids. Another trend is what is referred to as adaptive learning, which is basically learning that changes with the child. Since they don’t need to feel pressured to master a concept at the same time as everybody else, students are able to slow down their pace when they need to and won’t miss out on anything thanks to the technology they have available to them. If you’re already doing this in an effort to boost student engagement or retention, that’s good, but adding technology can help speed up and solidify the engagement process in the classroom.
To wrap things up, here’s a trend that we’re very much on board with when it comes to using technology to boost classroom engagement. Virtual reality is one of the most cutting-edge and polarizing technologies available to educators at the moment and it is only going to continue getting better. It can be used in a number of ways—the most compelling of which is to supplement instructional content with up-close and immersive visuals so the key concepts really stick with students. It’s pretty much impossible for them to not be engaged when VR is in play since it captures their complete attention with a completely 360-degree view of whatever concepts they are covering in class. So, whether it’s something brand new or anything that’s been around for a little bit, if it can help engage students in the classroom, it’s something that teachers should be looking into trying. To find all the tools, ideas, and supplies you need to amplify engagement in your classroom, be sure to visit the Eduporium store!
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