Embracing electronic devices, rather than forbidding them in the classroom (and consequently making the students use them behind your back for texting and distracting activities), can be a great addition to the classroom and a way to get students engaged, be more active participants, and use the devices they love to use in a productive manner.
Whether it is an elementary classroom or even a college classroom, technology can be a great addition to your classroom if integrated in a seamless manner.
Blogger and Tech teacher, Mary Beth Hertz, explains in her blog that seamless integration of technology is where “Students employ technology daily in the classroom using a variety of tools to complete assignments and create projects that show a deep understanding of content.”
The question here becomes for many teachers about the practical way that they can seamlessly integrate students’ electronic devices in the classroom. It is hard to find one definite answer to this question because smart devices have so many, and ever increasing, features and things you can do with them but some ideas may be to use apps that are already available in the android and Apple application stores.
Among those, is a very cool student response system called Kahoot! Using this online resource, the teacher can create some questions for a quiz, class participation, a review session, or any classroom activity that can be completed with a question-multiple choice answer format, before asking the students to take out their smart devices, go to the Kahoot.it website to enter the game pin, and let the fun begin.
Another idea is to have the students use their devices to create Quizletsto use them as a practice for an exam or when prepping for standardized tests; or take collective notes and come up with their own study guides in aGoogle doc.
Other resources may include using gaming such as the ones found in theedugames.com to transform a boring math class into a fun, interactive learning environment. Languages classes can also have that gaming option with the cool gaming options that mind snacks.com provides.
Really! There are tons of free apps, websites, and resources that can help you as a teacher integrate technology in your classroom to get your students to use their devices productively while maintaining an interactive, fun, and content focused class session.
Eager Educators 