5 Ideas For Using School Laptops More Effectively

When I started my current job ii years ago at a i:1 schoolhouse, I believed laptops were going to transform the way my students acquire and how I teach. It turns out information technology wasn't so unproblematic. At the beginning of the year, nosotros jumped right in, and I had them use their laptops to create websites and market ideas to an outside audience. We would accept the English content we covered in class and use it in a way that was authentic and exciting for my students!

Just so, static.

My students stared blankly at their screens, unsure of what to exercise side by side. I had fabricated the assumption nearly the so-chosen tech generation: Surely they know everything nigh computers. I causeless that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and iPhones are preparing them for a technology-centered career world. Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth. So much of their time using laptops in school is only spent give-and-take processing, sending emails, or weighing down their backpacks. It's our job to get students set for increasingly tech-savvy jobs. We need to provide students with opportunities to use laptops and other devices in ways that build their skills. Here are five ways schoolhouse laptops can positively impact educatee learning if used correctly.

1. Apply school laptops to create movies.

No, students don't only take to scout movies—they tin make them! Having laptops in the classroom allows students to bring course fabric to life. For instance, in English class, students can create a visual representation of a novel they're reading and put their ain spin on the plot. Or why not have students film their experiments in scientific discipline form to prove anybody the magic of learning? Accept students recreate iconic scenes from history that they are exploring. It doesn't matter if you lot apply iMovie, Windows Moving-picture show Maker, or free online software, students will love showcasing their learning by making a picture.

2. Make presentations come alive.

When students have access to laptops in the classroom, they can take their presentations to the next level. Currently, my students accept access to iMovie, iBooks Author, the Adobe Suite, SketchUp, GarageBand, and so much more. This is thousands of dollars worth of software waiting to be used. It would be a waste material not to let them use it!

I recently asked my students to write a piece of satire inspired past the novel we are reading. One musically talented educatee wanted to write a song parody. She wrote the lyrics, and I encouraged her to take it to the next level: Sing and produce the song. Using GarageBand, she put everything together into a wonderful project and even uploaded her song to YouTube. Another student wanted to write a verse form. When she was finished writing it, she took all of her poetry and used the e-pub extension on Apple tree Pages to create an e-book. These students produced polished, professional person-looking products. And they learned the content and valuable 21st-century skills.

iii. Utilize the Internet for deeper learning.

I don't know if there is anything improve than when students offset geeking out over the content. During a philosophy unit, I was talking to my class about paradoxes. My plan was to familiarize them with the concept, explain a couple of the popular ones, and and so move on to some other concept. However, my students were so captivated past the paradoxical bug that they wanted to dig deeper and inquiry more. What began every bit a 20-minute lesson turned into a two-twenty-four hour period mini-enquiry unit complete with students presenting their findings to the class.

When you have laptops in the classroom, students have the capability to take content and become further with it. This could be with single lessons, entire units, or even in-depth Saturday practices on Khan Academy. Students struggling with finding correlation coefficients, for example, could utilise laptops to get more practise. Whatever is being covered in course, students tin use their laptop to work independently and research more if they need to or if they are excited about the content.

4. Learning does non terminate when they leave schoolhouse.

When used correctly, schoolhouse laptops give your students lots of opportunities to learn and review. Ever pick upwardly an advanced algebra book, await at the pages and say, "Oh, now I get it!"? Of form not! That's why our best teachers are in those classrooms solar day later on day breaking information technology down for students. But what happens when a educatee misses something or was absent? Using a document photographic camera, like Paradigm Mate, or online services like Screencastify, teachers can record their lectures and upload them to their online classroom so that students take admission to the information 24-seven.

5. Use school laptops to check for understanding.

Always wonder if students are actually learning anything? (I promise y'all answered yes.) Past using laptops, you lot can perform simple checks for understanding and get immediate feedback. No newspaper, no grading. Simply use Google Forms, Edulastic, or Kahoot! to see exactly where your students are and then you tin can reteach, move on, or know which students to pull for small groups. Technology tin can make assessments truly determinative, as the data is instant and educators tin react accordingly.

At the terminate of the mean solar day, we can't just expect students to start finding new and creative ways to use their laptops in the classroom. When used only for word processing or to check electronic mail, schoolhouse laptops are but substitutes for a pen and paper. However, when used to their full potential, these machines can help accept learning to the side by side level.

Join the great conversations going on about school leadership in our Facebook groups at Principal Life  and High Schoolhouse Principal Life .

Plus, check out this commodity near flipped classrooms.

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Source: https://www.weareteachers.com/school-laptops/

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