Bangkok--1 Aug--Four Hundred
With increasing access to new technology and available online resources, the opportunities for teaching and learning are growing by the day. The amount of educational websites and online learning tools and applications available on the click of a button can even seem overwhelming. Therefore, as teachers, we should be asking ourselves, “Is it possible to leverage these opportunities to positively influence student achievement?And if so, how?” I would like to answer these questions by sharing my techniques and experience with online resources.
There is certainly not a ‘one size fits all’ solution for utilizing technology inside and outside of the classroom. What works from some teachers might not for others. However, I would like to discuss two specific online resources that I have found to be particularly effective for the teaching and learning process, both of which I use on a regular basis. The first resource is a ‘social learning platform’ called Edmodo. Edmodo allows teachers, parents and students to connect with the classroom online. It’s similar to Facebook, but its sole function is education. Edmodo allows me to post homework reminders, create new assignments, upload notes for absent students, communicate school notices, or just write friendly notes of encouragement. Furthermore, Edmodo allows me to embed videos for my students to watch at home. This brings me to the second resource I utilize – Khan Academy. Khan Academy is a free, educational organization that provides over 6,000 tutorial videos and 100,000 practice problems for a wide variety of subjects, all through its website. My method for using Khan Academy is to post videos of an upcoming topic on the class Edmodo page so that my students can watch the videos before we discuss the topic in the classroom. This allows the students to learn at their own pace as they can pause or re-watch the videos as much as they need. Furthermore, since the students are already familiar with the concept by the time they come to class, I can dedicate more class time to areas in which the students are confused or areas that require more in-depthdiscussion. The outcome for students is twofold. First, they are able to gain a deeper understanding of new topics. Second, they gain extra time in the classroom to practice and receive feedback. The end result is higher student achievement.
As you can see, I have answered the questions originally asked – “Is it possible to leverage these opportunities to positively influence student achievement? And if so, how?”The answer is yes, we can leverage these opportunities to positively influence student achievement.