Interactivity And Engagement Blog Post
Target Audience and Sector | The audience focus for this blog post is Middle School teachers searching for ways to increase interaction and engagement in their classroom with the help of technology. As far as students' age is concerned, the targeted group is middle school students who are 11-14 years old; this is the period of essential educational influence when interest and interactivity can significantly impact achievement and motivation. | |
Applications Selected | Name of Application | Link to Application |
Quizizz | ||
AnswerGarden | ||
Blippar | ||
Blog Post and Hosting Service | Name of Blog Hosting Service | Link to Your Blog Post |
Wix | ||
Link to the interactive asset you created to use with your learners |
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Blog Post | ||
The Use of Interactive Learning in Middle School Classroom An interactive and engaging education environment is now considered crucial for the education process in the contemporary world. The integration of technology in the classroom has made teaching and presenting lessons in front of students more interesting and creative (Bygstad et al., 2022). This blog post will explore three top educational technology applications that can enhance interactivity and engagement in the middle school classroom: Quizizz, AnswerGarden, and Blippar. The Role of Interactivity and Engagement Interactivity and engagement are imperative for many reasons. Active students are better placed to learn, involve themselves in learning, and gain insight into the course content. Computer-aided instruction can also address different learning modalities, thus allowing education to embrace more students (Benavides et al., 2020). These tools can give teachers and students immediate feedback on what aspects need to be developed or changed. Advantages and Challenges of Educational Technology Tools Advantages 1. Enhanced Engagement: Applications like Quizizz, AnswerGarden, and Blippar help make a dull lecture exciting and adventurous. For example, Quizizz is an application that enables students to answer real-time quiz questions and makes learning fun and challenging. 2. Personalized Learning: These tools provide an environment where instructional objectives can be designed according to the needs of each learner, that is, providing differentiation that would enable all learners to learn effectively. 3. Immediate Feedback: Immediate interaction through Quizizz informs the students of their mistakes and enables the correction immediately. 4. Collaboration: AnswerGarden promotes students’ group discussions and allows every learner to share one’s ideas with others (Tuma, 2021). 5. Immersive Experiences: It has been found that the augmented reality of Blippar can be used in a way that allows for teaching in a way that is not possible with normal teaching methods. Challenges 1. Technical Issues: Technology can sometimes be a bit problematic, for example, with poor connectivity, hardware failure, or other issues. 2. Learning Curve: Teachers and students may require time to familiarize themselves with change tools brought about by integrating technology. 3. Cost: Most tools have standard, basic, and premium versions; although basic versions are free, some other extra services may be paid for (Alzahrani, 2020). 4. Distraction: Technology can indeed be one of the biggest advantages, but if not controlled, it can also cause distraction. Top Three Educational Technology Applications 1. Quizizz Quizizz is an online quiz-making platform that enables the teacher to create quizzes that students can take on their devices. It provides specific elements like a scoreboard, countdown time, and even memes in the quizzes. Advantages for Engagement: Quizizz enables learners to make learning a game, which is likely to encourage more learner participation. This averts timewasting, as the students are corrected on the spot, reducing cases of repeating mistakes in subsequent questions. Implementation Aspects 1. Connectivity: To incorporate Quizizz, there is a need for a strong internet connection, either from the teacher's or students' side. 2. Integration: Windows, iOS, and Android are compatible and support integration with Google Classroom to embed the tool on their site. 3. Cost: One tool that is free to use with limited functionality is Quizizz, which is paid for with more functions. 4. Support: The platform is easy to use, with numerous guides, and the help desk efficiently attends to customers' needs. 5. Classroom Design: As an online tool, it can be adopted in both face-to-face and online instruction classes and, hence, can be easily implemented into any teaching model. 2. AnswerGarden AnswerGarden is a tool for creating real-time feedback and brainstorming sessions. It allows teachers to pose a question, and students can submit short text responses that appear as a word cloud. Advantages for Engagement: Promotes collaboration and active participation. It visually represents student responses, making it easy to see common themes and ideas. Implementation Aspects 1. Connectivity: Requires an internet connection. 2. Integration: Works on any device with internet access, including tablets, smartphones, and computers. 3. Cost: Free to use. 4. Support: Simple interface that requires minimal training to use effectively. Online resources are available for additional support. 5. Classroom Design: Suitable for both face-to-face and online classrooms. It can be used for live sessions or as an asynchronous activity. Blippar An augmented reality (AR) app that provides supplemental educational content more engagingly. It becomes possible for teachers to develop AR experiences that students can engage in using their mobile phones or tablet devices. Advantages for Engagement: Blippar's teaching and learning tools help teach concepts in a realistic way. This is especially beneficial for content that can be visualized, such as topics related to science and history. Implementation Aspects 1. Connectivity means that a person needs a device connected to the Internet and the Blippar application. 2. Integration: Works for both Apple and Android smartphone users. 3. Cost: Provides a Basic plan that does not cost money but only has limited capabilities and Premium plans for additional functions. 4. Support: It also includes elaborate instructions and customer care services to assist users in creating augmented reality content. 5. Classroom Design: Asynchronous learning, in particular, is suitable when students can engage with AR content at will. It can also be applied in face-to-face settings as a supplement to conventional learning resources. Closing Thoughts It is just remembered that it can boost interactivity in the class and help the teacher. The worth of any application or technology, and educators agree, is based squarely on how they are employed within the learning scheme of things and how well they contribute toward achieving learning goals (Thomas & Hamid, 2020). Teachers should give time and effort to making valid, relevant, and purposeful learning environments that would make use of technology as much as possible (Cochran-Smith et al., 2019). Ultimately, the quality of instructions and the chemistry flow between a teacher and the learners contribute the most to students' learning process. |
References
Alzahrani, N. M. (2020). Augmented reality: A systematic review of its benefits and challenges in e-learning contexts. Applied Sciences, 10(16), 56 https://doi.org/10.3390/app10165660
Benavides, L. M. C., Arias, J. a. T., Serna, M. D. A., Bedoya, J. W. B., & Burgos, D. (2020). Digital transformation in higher education institutions: A systematic literature review. Sensors, 20(11), 3291. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113291
Bygstad, B., Øvrelid, E., Ludvigsen, S., & Dæhlen, M. (2022). From dual digitalization to digital learning space: Exploring the digital transformation of higher education. Computers and Education, 182, 104463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104463
Cochran-Smith, M., Grudnoff, L., Orland-Barak, L., & Smith, K. (2019). Educating teacher educators: International perspectives. New Educator, 16(1), 5–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688x.2019.1670309
Thomas, M., & Hamid, S. (2020). Teacher educators’ perception of technological pedagogical and content knowledge on their classroom teaching. New Horizons. https://greenwichjournals.com/index.php/NH/article/view/430
Tuma, F. (2021). The use of educational technology for interactive teaching in lectures. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 62, 231–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2021.01.051
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