How to improve student engagement in a Smart Classroom?

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A smart classroom is a podium to enable students to learn smarter, faster and in an efficient manner. Unlike the traditional classroom, this kind of a classroom boasts of student engagement forums and activities like no other. The idea of the smart classroom is in fact based on blended learning techniques like flipped classrooms and such. These techniques focus on the students and cater to the different needs of different kinds of students, making a classroom an inclusive environment for all pupils.

So be it engagements in classrooms, attendance issues or even concerns pertaining to performance, smart classrooms tend to address and fix these challenges.

Below are some suggestions for harnessing the potential of a smart classroom:

BYOD:

Bring your own device or popularly known as BYOD, is a new practice in ambitious classrooms in which students, even shy ones, are encouraged to align their device of choice with the wi-fi enabled technology in class in order to engage in an efficient manner. All the spark products interact in-class interactivity. So, with BYOD, all students who connect to the in-built WI-FI, which is a feature available in all Spark products, they’ll be able to access the digital board on their devices and contribute to every class from the comforts of their seats.

Worksheets Online:

Teachers spend a lot of energy getting students involved in classroom activities by creating worksheets in their off time, printing them, handing them out, timing the students, collecting them, carrying them back to the staff room or home, correcting them, carrying them back and handing the papers back to the students. This causes this activity to be the most under-used tool of engagement in class. However, worksheet creation and evaluation can be swifter and made a more frequent activity with digitalising the process. With eins powered Spark products, teachers can create and disperse worksheets to students in a jiffy and the technology helps them in assessing these worksheets as well. This way students can keep up with the curriculum, both in class and at home.

Virtual Flashcards:

Using virtual flashcards in class is found to be a very effective classroom engagement activity. It usually gets students excited and makes them think on their feet. Be it simple multiplication or complex scientific names, flashcards are always engaging and fun to answer. Flashcards convert concepts into a quick question and answer round for students and even the meekest of participants respond well. Virtual flashcards save the hassle of teachers carrying around sets of flashcards in their bags or keep turning over cards to see the question. Virtual flashcards have a set time limit per card and flash the answer as soon as it is guessed, or time runs out, whichever is first.

Visual concepts:

There are so many times when a concept is better understood when it is seen. Be it the concept of a how Venus rotates around the sun clockwise or how a cyclotron runs. Teachers can teach with the help of visual aids after the initial explanation of the logic behind a particular concept or providing a background about the topic being discussed. It is believed that students remember better when they visualize an idea or the evidence surrounding it. eins powered Gallileo ONE enable teachers to access secure visual content online for the students in class without hesitation as the algorithm used in Spark products make the internet a safe space for teachers and students to teach and learn, respectively.

Fool proof attendance solution:

A smart classroom is an environment which enables teachers to invite students who are absent from class, or have enrolled into a long-distance learning programme, to attend their on-going class. It also allows students who are sick or on leave to contribute, ask queries and collaborate with the students who are attending the class in the classroom. With the remote access feature available in all Spark products like SparkHUB, students can be in sync with the teachings in the classroom from anywhere at any time. A teacher can even save their own sessions for future reference.

Classroom projects:

What a better way to engage students by putting them into groups, let them research about a topic pertaining to the curriculum and help them explain it themselves in class through an engaging show and tell session. With Spark products, it is easy ad safe for students to put together a thorough classroom presentation which they’ll like to share with the class. In a smart classroom setup, students can access pictures, videos, audio clips, relevant documents and reports online, seamlessly, to support their opinions in class. This not only engages students, it also teaches them teamwork, helps them with conversational skills and aids their confidence levels.

Revision with MyCloud:

MyCloud can save any on-going class session for future reference. Perks of a smart classroom is that teachers can share their classes with students who are absent and have missed out on the lesson discussed during that particular class. Teachers can also share their classes with students who wish to revise for an upcoming test or exam. Group revisions with such material is usually a hit as students can go back and forth in the saved session and learn concepts at their own convenience. MyCloud, which is also a free search engine tool, allows teacher and students to search for any educational content online. Since MyCloud restricts searches to educational contents only, guardians needn’t be worried about unsolicited use of the internet by students. It also allows teachers to drop all their hesitation and use the internet freely during class for audio visual engagement. With My Cloud’s drag and drop option, educators can now pull out any image or video and showcase on the bright Spark interactive touch display.

These are a few tips and tricks to bring out the best in students. Whether they’re outspoken or timid, students can learn and grow in a fun and interactive smart classroom environment by engaging efficiently. These suggestions can be easily implemented by ambitious mentors without trying too hard.