Imagine a classroom where every student is engrossed in learning new things, is receptive to the knowledge shared and is proactive in sharing his views and opinion. This utopian dream has now become possible, all thanks to technology. Taking away from the traditional norms of passive learning, technology has enabled educators to create a student-centred approach, thereby producing a holistic and growth-led learning environment. The approach puts the teacher in the role of a facilitator while the student becomes an active participant.
If you are an educator who is planning on inculcating this manner of teaching as a part of your curriculum, here are a few tips to get you started and divert your efforts in the right direction.
Personalized Learning Experience: Each student is different and so are their receptive abilities. As an educator, your first step should be towards understanding the student’s ability and laying it down as a marker while designing your curriculum.
Create a small survey using tools like Google Forms or Typeform with relevant questions. For instance, your survey could contain questions like:
What’s your hobby?
What classroom activities do you enjoy the most?
How would you like to learn more? Is it through videos, audio or text?
Do you read often? If yes, is it a physical book, on the phone or Kindle?
These questions will help you understand your students on a personal level and you’ll be able to draft a more personalised curriculum, keeping in mind their learning abilities.
Empower the students: Let the students become a judge of their own capabilities through interactive online assignments and self-assessments. Additionally, online assignments give students the liberty to learn at their own pace and they become more responsible.
You can create an online quiz using Kahoot quizzes. It has an extremely easy user interface offers quick, fun and easy knowledge-based games that are extremely interactive. Gamify the learning experience with Quizizz, where you get a chance to explore over a hundred new topics to choose from. It will also inculcate a healthy competitive spirit that will motivate students to learn better and score more.
Another way is to create an online presentation using Google Slides and then eventually hold a group discussion over Google Meet. Students can be encouraged to hold healthy discussions with their peers which will help them absorb the information better and also inculcate confidence.
Use Effective Evaluation Tools: A student-centric approach will always put the student at the centre of learning, but it also doesn’t effectively remove the teacher from the game plan altogether.
While it is important to let the students take responsibility for what they learn and receive, as an educator you need to be equipped with effective tools for evaluation. Google Forms offers the best solution for online assessment. It lets you grade quizzes and assessment in a quick and efficient way. Also, the tool is simple with a bump-free interface.
Evaluation can also be done on a one-on-one interaction where the students can be told on ways that they can improve or can be encouraged to keep up with high performance. This also saves the students from the embarrassment of getting evaluated in front of their peers.
Keep the evaluation regular, short and simple. More importantly, keep it positive and motivational.
This three-step approach is a great way to get you started. Arm yourself with the right tools and the right mindset and make your classrooms future-ready.