Guest Blogger: Uzoma James Chikwem
There is no question that there has
been unbelievable technological revolution in recent years that has changed our
businesses, governments, travel and pretty much everything but our educational
system, which for the most part, is still stuck in the past. There has been a
silent but quick mobile apocalypse that have made most smart phone users,
especially millennials, become almost like mobile zombies, or social media
fiends, that live with an uncontrollable urge to be plugged into their smart
phones at all times. In education, we always observe that it gets tougher each
year to grab the attention or interest of students due to what’s trending on
social media or some new technological announcement like the new iPhone coming
out. Even after creating the best PowerPoint presentations or coming up with
simple but profound handouts that explains everything about a topic, a majority
of students will still be on their phones or passed out during class. The fact that students have the internet in
their palms on a mobile device that has more power and memory than some
personal computers, makes them feel like genuine geniuses. Students can find
out any answer or solution by asking Siri or Google or get the latest
information on certain fields by following pages on social media. I believe
this misleading intellectual feeling of being able to know it all by using their
second brain, their smart device, is hindering or distracting students from
paying attention or wanting to learn anything in the classroom.
With all the technological advances
that has happened just in the last year alone, for example the use of Virtual Reality
plus Augmented Reality on phones, students often feel like they are in an ancient
dungeon when they come to the classroom and all they see are desks, blackboards
or whiteboards; even books and smart boards seem old fashioned to them. When Apple coined the phrase, “There’s an app
for that” it literally revolutionized the way everything is done in our day to
day lives; instead of reading books we can now just listen to them using audible;
if one doesn’t know how to solve a math problem, they can simply take a picture
using PhotoMath and it will quickly
show the results and steps to solving the problem. These two simple ideas for apps are making
lots of money and made life easier for users but can ruin the fun of learning
and the challenge of understanding how to get solutions to a problem. Through
critical thinking, analysis, memorization and repeatedly practicing problems anyone
can learn any subject or topic by putting time trying to understand it. Even
though it seems like a lost cause trying to teach nowadays, I often get praised
for how fun my classes are or get to view the excitement of students when they
figure out a lab or project. All because I use technology to get students to
learn, and if I can do it, we all can.
Since the educational problem we
face isn’t just happening at Lincoln University but internationally, computer
scientists, web designers and others are teaming up together to try and tackle
this huge issue of lost interest in learning and education. There are tons of
resources out there to assist in getting the interest of students in different
topics. I would like to help by listing some programs and websites I use in my
courses but would like to hear from faculty or students if there are other
sites, apps or anything else they use to grab students’ interest in
participating and enjoying the learning process. First off, I’d like to mention that I am in Computer
Science and my focus is Educational Game Technology so I am already at an
advantage because most of my labs, projects and tutorials involve use of fun
technologies and hands-on learning. Although, I have had a lot of computer
science faculty just lecture the whole class and totally lost me because I
wasn’t practicing or being hands on with the topic, I have had some great
professors, like Professor Barimani, whose style of teaching I try to utilize every
time and add my own flavor to it. He made sure that in every class he left room
for students to practice what he just taught, then gave feedback plus projects
before ending the class. When using
technology for teaching, just don’t throw it at students and expect them to
pick it up easily; one should always give a tutorial or workshop on how it
works, what you expect them to accomplish; guide them by giving requirements,
labs and more and make sure they know it’ll be part of their final grade to
complete plus participate.
Here’s a list of apps and website that can help students to
Learn through Technology:
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Name
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Link 1
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Link 2
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Moodle rooms
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Khan Academy
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Google Classrooms
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Kahoot
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Quizlet
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Prezi
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Ted-ed
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Science360
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Google Hangout
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Please research the names on the list, click on the links,
download the apps and in Part 2, I will describe in more detail how to use them
in classes. Also, please leave a comment
on how you utilize technology in your courses and any other tips you might have
of grabbing student’s attention.
