Ushering in the Digital Classroom with Educational Technology and Interactive Learning
The use of educational technology and interactive learning in classrooms is on the rise as administrators recognize the benefits of this new way of learning. With Samsung's digital devices and educational technology, students will be part of a digital learning space where they will get hands-on experience with technology that is increasingly crucial to the world we live in.
Jan 19. 2023As the adoption of technology continues unabated, it is only natural to see educational technology incorporated into the classroom. Yet, prior to the pandemic, the inclusion of educational technology in classrooms was negligible, with school districts continuing to rely on traditional educational tools to teach. However, since the resumption of in-person learning, school administrators are now much more cognisant of the improvements educational technology brings to the learning experience, as well as the benefits interactive learning and digital tools provide for teachers and students, ensuring they thrive in the digital classroom.
With schools using digital devices and educational technology, students will be part of a digital learning space where they will get hands-on experience with technology that is increasingly crucial to the world we live in, ensuring students develop digital literacy and familiarity with digital technology to better prepare them for their future. Yet, the adoption of new educational tools cannot be done haphazardly, instead, educators must understand how best to combine educational technology with the classroom and how the merger between the two fits into the school’s digital learning plan for long-term success.
Educational technology and tools to empower educators and students
In a traditional learning environment, students require multiple books, binders, and folders daily to ensure they have the necessary materials to engage in their studies. Yet, forgetting one’s maths book or history binder can hinder a student’s learning capacity for the day.
With digital mobile devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8, students and teachers will have a powerful educational tool to access all of their school materials from one platform, erasing the need to carry books or other printed learning materials. In addition, the S Pen, which comes with the Galaxy Tab S8, lets students work out mathematical questions involving formulas or drawing graphs without breaking a sweat.
With increased storage space on tablets, students and teachers can store e-textbooks, access cloud-based lesson plans, and more from a single device, ensuring no more forgotten books or lost notes. Investing in educational technology, schools are empowering their staff and students by giving them the tools they need to be successful in the digital classroom and beyond.
For teachers, having an all-in-one educational device will enable them to take advantage of the convenience provided by the device to create or assign work and quizzes to their students. Furthermore, the results of these activities will be recorded online on a single platform, allowing educators to monitor individual progress, helping them evaluate a student’s understanding of the material and giving them the necessary support.
Educational technology ensures the digital classroom is everywhere
Integrating lightweight mobile devices into a school’s digital learning plan means students can use them at school, at home, or even during their daily commute. The flexibility to utilise the device outside the classroom will increase inclusion, ensuring that students can seamlessly review assignments, class notes, and other educational materials wherever connectivity allows.
Aside from being able to access lesson materials anywhere, mobile digital devices also give students the ability to learn from anywhere, further democratising the educational environment and ensuring that all students, regardless of their learning abilities, can utilise educational technology to complement their learning style. Through augmented reality (AR), learning is made more interactive and enables students to interact with the world around them through innovative apps. For instance, AR allows an object to be captured, show up in the augmented environment, and render searches about it.
In addition, using digital devices in classrooms can also benefit students with learning disabilities by allowing them to access class materials tailored to their needs. This approach helps accommodate their learning requirements and improve their overall educational experience. For instance, those who excel with self-paced learning or who struggle in a traditional classroom environment can access lesson material in a manner that suits their preferred learning habits. For students with hearing impairments, the choice to pause, rewind, or slow down lesson-related multimedia on their tablets helps them hear and comprehend the material taught.
Additionally, the devices are highly mobile. Students who cannot attend class due to reasons outside their control can still access learning materials shared by their teacher, ensuring learning is not disrupted by their absence.
Interactive learning starts with interactive whiteboards
The adoption of educational technology does not solely mean mobile devices. Interactive whiteboards will replace traditional whiteboards, giving teachers a key tool in furthering a school’s digital and interactive learning plan.
With interactive whiteboards, teachers will have all the advantages a traditional whiteboard provides, but with added features such as internet connectivity, giving educators a host of resources to draw from in real-time, access to digital tools such as a ruler or protractor, or even saving files to share with their class later.
Interactive whiteboards, as their name suggests, will also bring more intuitive and interactive learning to the digital classroom as teachers will be able to craft more captivating lessons keeping students engaged with highlights, zooming in on material, and sharing multimedia content such as videos, images, and more¹.
Furthermore, interactive whiteboards, such as the Samsung Flip Pro Interactive Display, can support up to 20 touch points allowing groups of students to work on the display concurrently increasing collaboration and class cohesion².
Educational apps to complement the digital classroom
As schools adopt technology to improve learning outcomes and academic performance, teachers can utilise various interactive educational apps to ensure digital devices can be seamlessly integrated with existing teaching materials.
Educational platforms, such as Google Classroom, enable teachers to communicate with students, post and grade assignments, create quizzes, and more³. With a host of useful features, educational platforms enable interactive learning and help educators bring the digital classroom to life.
Educators have a wealth of interactive learning platforms to choose from to facilitate learning in a fun, innovative way. Applications such as Kahoot! can also easily be incorporated into the digital classroom in conjunction with other educational technology. As today’s primary and secondary school students are digital natives, many interactive learning platforms have easy-to-use navigation allowing students to quickly familiarise themselves with them. Additionally, these apps offer a more dynamic way for teachers to teach subjects while helping students retain important information and testing their knowledge on given topics in a collaborative environment.
Manage your new educational tools intelligently
As the adoption of educational technology proliferates and digital devices become commonplace in schools and classrooms, school administrators will need a way to ensure these new educational tools do not become distractions that hinder academic performance.
To assist in ensuring digital devices are learning enablers, school IT admins can utilise enterprise mobile management - EMM - platforms to manage and track mobile devices providing accountability and security to school administrators. With Samsung Knox, IT administrators can:
Remotely lock devices that are reported as lost or stolen to prevent misuse.
Automatically install educational kiosks and content across all student devices during boot-up.
Manage devices by prohibiting and allowing certain device functions and features, ensuring that only appropriate content is accessible to students.
Access devices remotely for troubleshooting, tracking, or recording device location data
Educational technology is expected to change the classroom setting into an interactive learning experience. As digital devices become an evermore ubiquitous aspect of our society, introducing devices into school systems will improve not only digital literacy, ensuring students understand the digital nuances guiding economies, but also academic performance as learning becomes more interactive and easily tailored to different learning styles.
Explore the newest classroom technologies from Samsung and see how educational solutions are transforming classrooms into digital learning spaces here!
References and disclaimers
- ¹https://insights.samsung.com/2022/09/07/what-are-the-advantages-of-smart-boards-for-schools-2/
- ²https://insights.samsung.com/2022/03/29/8-ideas-for-using-an-interactive-whiteboard-in-the-classroom/
- ³https://insights.samsung.com/2022/03/02/google-classroom-for-digital-learning-a-comprehensive-guide/