Introverts need more time than extroverts to process information and consult their own inner dialogues. The fast pace of a normal classroom environment can prove antithetical to this. However, educators have a chance to reach introverted students in online learning environments in a different way.

In fact, the right approach can turn online classrooms into safe havens for introverted students who may feel alienated in traditional learning environments.

Assure Introverted Students That Time Is On Their Side

The hustle and bustle of a normal class schedule can be troublesome for most introverted students. Not only can it be tough just to get to class, but the fast pace of lectures condensed into less than an hour leaves a lot of introverted students feeling overwhelmed.

Online learning administrators can combat this by uploading materials and lectures with plenty of time before assignments are due and examinations are conducted. This gives introverted students plenty of time to review materials, make key internal assessments, and then act.

Introverted students often complain of the frantic pace of normal classes, especially when they think of questions to ask a professor after the class is over and done with. Professors can sometimes be hard to access when students need these questions answered.

Ensuring introverted students have all of the information they need with plenty of time gives them the opportunity to contact their instructor at their own pace if a problem or question arises.

Value Introverted Voices Just The Same As Extroverted Voices

There are some who argue that extroversion is more preferable in human methodology, and therefore, higher education should work to spur introverts to get out of their collective heads.

However, such a didactic and insensitive way of looking at things will only serve to push introverts farther into themselves. Online learning administrators can level the playing field by valuing each student’s voice in the exact same way.

Rather than forcing interpersonal interactions that could serve to make introverts uncomfortable, online learning administrators can use forum functions and Frequently Asked Questions templates to moderate communication and provide information.

Furthermore, most introverts find it much easier to communicate by writing rather than talking. So, creating a collaborative chat environment could actually serve to benefit introverted students and get them to take leadership roles in an online learning environment.

Rather than treating introversion as a defect in need of correction, online classroom administrators can work with introverts’ strengths in order to benefit themselves and other students working with and around them.

Concluding Thoughts

Introverted students need time to process and time to respond. While these students may be compelled into quietude in a normal learning environment, they can spread their proverbial wings in an online classroom if supported with empathy and fairness.

The post The Silent Screen Supporting Introverted Students In The Online Classroom appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

Just the way a classroom or digital learning environment is laid out could mean everything in regards to your students’ ability to focus effectively. With schools everywhere now starting to transition their classrooms into blended modern learning environments, how these classrooms address accessibility concerns become more and more crucial.

In short, teachers and administrators need to do their very best to eliminate harmful distractions that could essentially make learning inaccessible for those students with certain challenges or special needs.

Less Is More When It Comes To Student Focus In The Classroom

According to recent studies, excess visual clutter and stimuli in the classroom can be extremely detrimental to overall student focus and concept retention. This is especially true for students battling the effects of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Attention Deficit Disorder.

The urge to decorate a classroom with bright colors and posters makes sense, especially when catering to the whims of a younger student populace. However, teachers and administrators must be mindful of how students with different needs could be adversely affected by such excess stimuli in the classroom.

Classroom walls don’t need to be barren, but a less cluttered approach to what’s on the walls will improve accessibility for students of all kinds. Less clutter when it comes to seating arrangements and stationary desks is also a good approach, especially when trying to make learning accessible for students with mobility issues.

If possible, teachers and administrators should look into alternative seating and layouts that increase space and decrease harmful clutter both visually and from a layout perspective.

Be Mindful Of Accessibility Concerns In The Digital Classroom

In a blended learning environment, accessibility in the digital learning space is just as crucial as addressing accessibility concerns in the physical classroom.

Administrators and teachers need to be mindful of the presentation of digital learning materials. Too many distractions and moving parts can serve to be just as detrimental as too much clutter in a physical learning space.

Educators must also vet the online assignments and worksheets they give to students, especially if those students need to use a screen reader. These students won’t be able to access embedded links, so it’s crucial that alternative text is provided to them to ensure they can access the necessary learning materials.

Those blended classrooms using Microsoft Teams or Google Classroom can look into the accessibility functionality of these particular applications to ensure that the particular needs of their students are addressed completely. Planning ahead for potential conflicts to student accessibility is crucial to ensure all learners are given a shot to succeed.

Concluding Thoughts

Educators must place student accessibility as a top priority when laying out both physical classroom space and online materials crucial to a blended learning environment. If one student is left out when they don’t need to be, it’s a failure. 

Just a little bit of forethought and an emphasis on simplicity/lack of clutter will do wonders for your students and their particular learning needs.

The post Increasing Accessibility for All Learners in a Blended Learning Environment appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

Many students rely on their smartphones so much that they forget they have a smartphone right inside of their heads–their brains. Our brains are the fastest computers out there, and it’s a piece of organic tech, unlike any smartphone they can get their hands on. So, how do you teach children to maximize their own smart brain?

How to Teach Students to Use Their Brains Instead of Smartphones

Many schools today are too focused on what is happening with test scores and the like. They teach their students more information in hopes that they’ll score higher on tests. However, that’s not the best way to teach. In fact, it may be more harmful than good.

You overwhelm a child’s brain when you try to teach them so much information at once. They are unable to process it all, and a few short days later, they forget it. Why do this?

The real solution isn’t to teach students more information, it’s teaching them how to maximize their own brainpower. Require them to attempt to use their God-given computer, instead of making a smartphone or traditional computer device their go-to method for figuring out calculations or arriving at an answer to a history question.

For instance, in a math-related subject, teach students to complete problems in their head or with a traditional calculator, instead of using a smartphone to get an immediate answer. If you don’t, students will use apps like Photmath, to take a picture of a math problem and have it instantly solved. 

Or instead of allowing students to use an app like Grammarly to help them edit a paper or assignment, challenge them to learn the rules of grammar usage, and use them to edit their paper. As a final step, they could use an app to find any mistakes that they missed.

Concluding Thoughts

My point is that if students are reliant on smartphones to find answers, and we allow them to do it, we will soon have a nation of mindless automatons that don’t see the use in learning how to do anything. I mean, what is the use of learning history and geography, if the answer is always accessible through a smartphone? What’s the use of learning fractions, if I can take a picture and have an app to give me the solutions.

The post There is a Smartphone in Your Student’s Head, Teach Them How to Maximize it appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

Are you a little wary of YouTube’s reputation as an entertainment-first platform? We’re here to dispel that with a list of 8 important reasons why YouTube should be a major part of your continuing education.

1) Ease of Access

YouTube is instantly accessible on a wide variety of multimedia devices, giving you access to valuable learning materials when getting to a brick-and-mortar class isn’t feasible. You can continue your education when weather, funds, or other circumstances keep you from making it to campus.

2) Trade-Specific Training Videos

One beautiful thing about YouTube is that it’s a rabbit hole for pretty much any subject you can think of. This is especially helpful once your formal education is completed and you need supplementary education for your particular job field and the niches within. There’s a bevy of trade-specific videos that will only serve to increase your job efficacy.

3) Wealth Of Resources

YouTube is ever-expanding and teeming with new content hour by hour. If the learning materials you need aren’t on YouTube right now, there’s a very good chance they will be very soon. There simply isn’t a better free service out there for acquiring the knowledge you need when you need it.

4) Study Aids For Classes

If you’re continuing your education in a brick-and-mortar classroom, YouTube has a ton of study aids available for whatever subject you’re learning about. Usually, the videos on the service can break down key concepts in a much less dense way that suits the platform’s format. This can help you rethink how you look at a problem or subject.

5) Inspiration For Future Learning

Are you looking to continue your education but you’re unsure where to start or what you want to learn? YouTube can help! There’s simply so much content about so many subjects that you’re bound to find inspiration for future learning endeavors with enough time watching.

6) University Lectures

A bevy of top-tier universities posts videos daily of lectures conducted by some of the world’s most respected professors. You can take a class at an Ivy League university without having to front the costs! This is a fantastic way for those with continuing education aspirations to learn without breaking the bank.

7) Related Videos To Expand Your Net

Sometimes you simply don’t know what you’re looking for when it comes to learning about a certain subject. YouTube’s Related Videos function will show you top-rated videos correlative to the first video you watch on a subject. You may find inspiration and new learning with the help of YouTube’s algorithmic structure.

8) The Classroom Is Always Open

If you’re already working extended hours and there’s not much time in the daylight hours for you to continue your education, YouTube is a fantastic solution. You can pick up your education whenever you have a free moment, digesting things and learning new concepts at your own speed.

Concluding Thoughts

Your continuing education is just as important as your formal education. With YouTube’s help, your post-university studies will take you down amazing learning pathways that enrich your life and aid your job skills.

The post 8 Important Reasons Why YouTube Should Be Part Of Your Continuing Education appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

YouTube has become the primary source of entertainment for the vast majority of elementary-school-aged children. According to several recent studies, K-6 students spend more time on YouTube each day than on all other social platforms combined. 

With that in mind, we thought it would be beneficial to give you an overview of the YouTube channels your children are likely already watching. If you bring even one of the following channels up to your elementary school-aged child, you’ve likely found a conversation starter that could get them talking about their own viewing habits.

1) PewDiePie

PewDiePie has the single biggest subscriber base on the entire YouTube platform. If your child has any interest in video games, they likely follow PewDiePie. Be forewarned, though – PewDiePie has gotten himself into hot water on multiple occasions for controversial videos and off-script moments. 

2) NigaHiga

The 28-year Hawaiian YouTube sensation does his very best to keep his comedy skits “PG” for his younger audience members. Boasting a top-30 subscriber base on YouTube, Ryan Higa’s hilarious antics are the talk of many an elementary school playground.

3) Zoella

Zoe Elisabeth Sugg has become an icon of the beauty-lifestyle YouTube genre. This is especially true among older elementary school children and middle schoolers who empathize with her open approach to discussing her own personal battles with anxiety and body issues. 

4) Shane Dawson

A viral sensation who caters extremely well to younger viewers, Shane Dawson has parlayed a popular set of music video parodies into his own music career. His comedy sketches and celebrity impersonations have been shared countless times by elementary school students all over the world.

5) AsapSCIENCE

The most popular educational YouTube channel when it comes to its subscriber base of elementary school students, AsapSCIENCE succeeds where others fail by making science palatable for a younger set. The channel does this by approaching things in a simple and appealing way that takes the boredom out of learning for young viewers.

6) Joey Graceffa

A nominee for an American Teen Choice award, Joey Graceffa’s vlog-based approach is a hit with older elementary school students. Mention his mini web series, “Storytellers,” and watch your child’s eyes light up! He’s also gained a viral following for his challenges with other popular YouTubers. 

7) KSI

The second biggest gaming channel behind PewDiePie when it comes to cultivating an elementary school-aged audience, KSI is a true YouTube sensation. He’s used his cache as a YouTube star to conduct viral interviews with some of the most famous celebrities in the world, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

8) MyLifeAsEva

Originally a DIY video haven for younger viewers, MyLifeAsEva has morphed into a one-stop-shop for entertaining videos. This includes a wide variety of music videos, comedy sketches, and lifestyle videos that resonate with elementary school students. 

Concluding Thoughts

The above list of YouTube channels is a who’s who of YouTube celebrities, especially in the eyes of elementary school students. Name drop a couple of these and you’ll undoubtedly learn a lot more about what your children are watching on YouTube and why.

The post What YouTube Channels Are Elementary School Students Watching? appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

While digital learning has its limitations and flaws, it can also be used as a powerful tool to stimulate critical thinking in students. In fact, there are plenty of ways to induce such propensities for critical thought without a student even being aware of it!

Your student may simply be enjoying themselves and enjoying the outlay of the course. However, intuitive educators can use this to the advantage of the students by basically tricking students into thinking and thinking efficaciously!

Gamification Can Turn Traditional Learning Into Fun For Your Students

The process of gamification adds gaming concepts and structures to inherently non-game environments. Digital learning environments are rife with opportunities to gamify content and interactions in order to stimulate learning (in a sneaky fashion!).

Whether it’s interactive multimedia that posits the students as a player in an important game rather than a student just reading materials or leaderboards that allow students to work with and against each other for recognition, gamification elements can do wonders in online learning.

The best part about these gamification elements is that it can also serve to get your students to think critically without all the normal dissonance. Because they’re legitimately having fun doing the work and putting in the thought necessary to succeed and outstrip their competitors, students likely won’t be aware that they’re accessing the same critical thinking structures that would help them succeed in a traditional classroom environment.

Approach Things In Creative Ways That Spur Thinking, Engagement

In a lot of ways, digital learning environments are a blank slate. Such environments remain in their nascent stages of implementation, even if they’re proliferating widely and becoming more and more essential to institutions around the world.

Such a blank slate means a wide array of possibilities for administrators and educators looking to spur critical thinking and engagement within their student populace. 

It behooves those creating these digital learning environments to think outside of the box. Perhaps bringing in pop culture materials and memes from around the internet to reinforce key concepts could help increase student interest and engagement.

Maybe there’s a really entertaining video on YouTube that can be uploaded/embedded to help students parse through high concepts and see things in a different light. 

In short, digital learning administrators can use the accessibility and depth/breadth of the Internet of Things to augment the courses as they go along. This allows educators to tailor the digital learning experience to the students in the class in an intuitive fashion.

Such intuition and forethought will compel students to think about things in ways they perhaps wouldn’t in a traditional classroom. When done effectively, you can actually cultivate critical thinking capacities in a way perhaps unseen in most brick-and-mortar classes.

Concluding Thoughts

Digital learning has so many possibilities that completely outweigh its inherent limitations. With the right approach and the right tools on hand, digital learning administrators can get students thinking critically without knowing they’re doing so!

The post Using Digital Learning to Trick Students into Thinking appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

Rather than just perusing what the big tech companies have to offer, it behooves district and school administrators to do their homework on what small tech companies have to offer. In fact, the creativity inherent in keeping these companies afloat may provide the golden ticket for classrooms in need of a powerful digital rethink.

What Can Small Tech Companies Offer That Big Tech Companies Cannot?

While big tech companies have the resources to outspend and outstrip small tech companies in the fight for market share, small tech companies often have a level of versatility and on-the-spot intuitiveness that is cultivated by the philosophies that keep them afloat.

Whether it’s providing digital textbooks with groundbreaking multimedia features and capabilities, or creating essential upgrades of tried-and-true classroom devices such as projectors, small tech companies are doing some amazing work in the shadows.

In addition, small tech companies usually have something to prove because of their stature as a small fish in a giant tech pond! This desire to be seen in a marketplace filled with competitors forces them to think on their toes at all times.

This leads to some amazing developments borne from people simply trying to put food on their families’ tables. These developments are gold for school and district administrators who put the time and effort in to find them. 

In short, small tech companies can be much farther ahead of the curve than bigger tech companies because they have to be and they don’t have tons of red tape to rip through to get there.

It’s Much Easier To Work Closely With Small Tech Companies

While the customer service experience with big tech companies varies on its own accord, there’s simply not much of a personal relationship to be had between educators and these companies.

With small tech companies, it’s much more likely that educator concerns and ideas will be heard and taken into account right away. Small tech companies need any and all accounts they can get to survive and thrive.

Because of such need, small tech companies are likely to bend over backwards to ensure that educator needs are being met and exceeded. Therefore, educators have a chance to really have their feedback valued and perhaps initiate changes to devices that could provide huge benefits to their classrooms.

Such interpersonal interaction with small tech companies ensures that teachers and students have a chance to get the very most out of the tech devices and applications being used in their classrooms. 

Concluding Thoughts

There’s a place for both big tech companies and small tech companies in classrooms, but the possibilities with small tech are much more varied and colorful. Educator awareness of advancements being made by small tech companies will undoubtedly pay huge dividends for their teachers and students.

The post Small Tech Can Make a Big Difference in the Classroom appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

Without face-to-face instruction and reinforcement to snap them into focus, students can unwittingly lose accountability for their role in the learning process. While it’s hard to spot this and act accordingly in an online learning environment, it’s essential that teachers and professors work hard to cultivate a culture of learner accountability in these courses.

Unless learners are held responsible for putting the time and effort to get the most out of the online learning environment, these courses won’t live up to their potential. In fact, they’ll just be time-wasters for both the teachers and students involved.

Set Expectations And Hold Your Students Accountable For Meeting Them

For an online learning course to succeed, students must be held accountable for engaging in all essential and required course requirements. Whether that participation is time-stamped by the eLearning application itself or the honor system is employed, students must be held to a standard of complete engagement and nothing less.

In addition, a set of ground rules must be laid out for how students conduct themselves in an online learning environment. These rules should run the gamut from engagement to the quality of discourse. These rules should be laid out in plain language and posted on the site for easy access at any time.

In order to enforce these expectations, instructors must be diligent in giving feedback to students both meeting expectations and those lacking in certain areas. Constant feedback and reinforcement are huge when it comes to translating expectations into truthful accountability.

Empower Your Online Students As People, Not Just Avatars

One crucial aspect of facilitating accountability in an online learning environment is finding a way to appeal to your students’ humanity. This can be achieved in many ways, but it almost always requires an extraordinary effort on the instructor’s part to outstrip the constraints of the online learning environmental dynamic.

Instructors can do anything from developing an incentive plan for meeting and exceeding expectations, to assigning real-world breakout activities that send students out into the world to apply the things they’ve learned in the greater sphere of things.

In addition, instructors can add activities to the course workload that allows students to customize their own learning paths based on their own particular learning efficacy areas and weaknesses. Anything that gets a student out of read and react mode and into a true measure of engagement will empower them as people.

Empowering your students to look past the limitations of the online classroom and view it with a more human bent will force them to hold themselves accountable for their own learning. The more they are required to engage outside of normalized online learning activities, the more the experience becomes humanized and worth being held accountable for.

Concluding Thoughts

For an online learning environment to be worth its weight, students must be engaged with the same level of vigor as they would in a brick-and-mortar classroom. This is only achieved by setting expectations and holding students accountable for them, along with giving students a reason to be motivated into true accountability for their learning experiences.

The post Revisiting Accountability in Online Learning appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

In short, university administrators have to strike a balancing act between budgetary concerns and the ethical concerns potentially raised by knowingly (or unknowingly) offering substandard learning opportunities to those enrolled in online learning courses. 

It’s up to those putting these classes together to find a way to lower costs and maximize impact in these classes, all while displaying the essential heart that truly takes a great class over the top.

Get Your Best Professors On The Case

There is a worrying trend with university-sanctioned online courses where such courses are assigned to professors who simply need to have their course schedules filled out. Rather than assigning the best professors to the job, university administrators treat these courses as secondary concerns.

In order to maximize the impact of an online learning program, administrators need to up the professorial quality quotient. A great online learning course needs to have a great teacher behind it. Hiding behind the digital dissonance gap and providing substandard instruction just doesn’t cut it.

By assigning some of the university’s top professors to these online learning programs and giving them the tools to translate their gifts to the digital medium, universities can give their online learning programs a needed jolt. Great teachers will do great things in any arena.

Use Social Media As An Example To Build A Sense Of Community

The heart of a class is the thoughtful discourse from student to student, along with from student to teacher (and vice versa). Online learning courses can stunt such discourse due to archaic application structures and lack of intuitiveness.

University administrators need to implore their professors to use the forum functions and communication structures in these online learning courses to their full capabilities. An online learning course with heart has a sense of community at its core, after all.

Professors need to engage their students with thoughtful discussion questions and guide those discussions in such a way as to enrich the overall learning experience. This is just the same in brick-and-mortar classes, but it’s perhaps even more crucial in the online environment.

It’s easy for the heart to be lost in an online learning program. There are just too many things to hide behind and not enough face-to-face interaction to reinforce the humanity of the learning experience. Powerful discussions with engaged students will serve to do just that, regardless of the inherent dissonance of an online learning platform.

Concluding Thoughts

Online learning courses are all but guaranteed to lower costs for cash-strapped institutions, but they can lower the quality of instruction as well if conducted improperly. With the right mentality and the right professors in place, university administrators can shift online learning courses from afterthoughts to essential can’t miss courses.

The post Creating a Low-Cost, High-Impact Online Learning Program With Heart appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.

Without such applications, Google Classroom is a fine standalone service. With such applications, the possibilities within the Google Classroom platform are nearly endless!

We’ve curated a list of eight top-quality applications to start with. Educators looking to get more out of Google Classroom both on an administrative and teaching level would do well to at least look into the following add-ons.

Alma

Alma allows teachers to completely synchronize homework, examinations, worksheets and the grading that comes with those. In addition, district and school technology departments can batch create Google Classroom classes with ease.

GoGuardian

This is a handy Google Classroom tool that gives teachers the power to fully mirror the different classrooms they’ve set up on the educational platform. In doing so, teachers can sync class periods, subjects, and student enrollment across the board.

Classcraft

With Classcraft, teachers can turn students’ Google Classroom experiences into a game where their results on the platform are translated into points. Everything from grades to simply turning in assignments on time can earn students points and up their position on an in-platform leaderboard.

Pear Deck

Pear Deck is a fantastic synchronization tool that allows teachers to connect many devices in the room for an immersive, interactive lesson experience. Rather than students having to access a URL on their own accord, this application brings every student onto the same page who has Google Classroom access.

BrainPop

BrainPop keeps students’ attention with a wide variety of learning games, animated movies, activities, and tools that make learning fun without sacrificing educational quality. If you want your students to really love what they’re learning, Brainpop is a huge third-party app get.

Edulastic

K-12 administrators who want to assess their students in a variety of formative capacities will love Edulastic’s intuitive platform. It’s an easy way to get information about where your students stand in a variety of different areas, thus allowing administrators and educators to adjust accordingly.

OpenEd

OpenEd provides a vast online database of homework assignments, examinations, multimedia, games and lesson plans that align perfectly with every Common Core standard and a variety of other standards. It also contains the only open source formative item bank available to educators.

Newsela

Newsela’s stated mission is to “supercharge engagement and learning in every subject.” They do so by curating digital content from hundreds of trusted and vetted sources, using this content to lead to effective formative assessments that get students thinking and give educators plenty of information to work with.

Concluding Thoughts

The above eight applications are a fantastic starting point for turning Google Classroom into an absolute in-classroom essential. There are many more third-party apps to explore, but definitely start with these ten if you’re looking to completely enhance your Google Classroom experience.

The post Creating Powerful Learning Experiences in Google Classroom appeared first on The Tech Edvocate.