Technology continues to evolve even at the classroom level. In 2019, we had Big Data, Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) as the most significant educational technology trends. But above all these, distance-learning takes the trophy home. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic came to change everything more so the way we teach and learn.
With the universal rule of social distancing, students now have the new norm of distance learning via digital platforms. Though some regions are re-opening schools, this trend is likely to continue for an indefinite time.
The modern EdTech trends in 2020 and more into 2021 continue to be innovative, focusing on versatility, connectivity, and student-centered learning.
For this reason, below are the latest top tech 10 blogs in EdTech.
Tech for Teachers Blog Edtech
1. The Innovative Educator
Most students claim school to be boring. But, worry not as ‘The Innovative Educator’ by Lisa Nielson understands how you feel. Because she experienced a total let-down from teaching in public schools, she now shows other teachers how to use freely available resources and technologies.
Moreover, Nielson also deals with implementation details, so teachers will have an easy time using her ideas without restrictions and struggles.
2. The Daring Librarian
Gwyneth Jones, the Daring Librarian herself, proves that librarians can also have a great time. She is the author of a blog that entertains while informing using a sense of humor and cartoons.
Apart from the fun stories that crack ribs, she also provides excellent content on new apps and tips on using regular websites as learning opportunities.
3. EdTech RoundUp
With weekly posts on technology matters in education, EdTech RoundUp is the best go-to place to find the newest news connected to education tech. The widespread coverage of news and just released apps and gadgets enable you to know the latest happenings from one place weekly.
While this blog may not contain several original ideas like some other blogs in the field, the RoundUp offers you the best place to stay informed on growth.
4. MindShift
Reading the same information from different blogs can be tiresome and boring. Thanks to the MindShift, it always provides something unique. MindShift focuses on somewhat edgier, more marginal topics in the educational technology field, opening your eyes to entirely new ideas.
With its vast scope and commitment to distribution all exclusive opinions on education, MindShift will give you so much to talk about with your colleagues.
5. Free Technology 4 Teachers
Even with great ideas, putting them into practice remains the most significant challenge for several teachers. Some states support some of these technologies. But there’s still an inadequacy of resources and tools in many schools. This, therefore, only makes it more problematic to use technology in the classroom.
Richard Byrne, the author of Free Technology 4 Teachers, addresses this issue in his blog. His well-ordered site is a treasure basket for free apps, software, videos, and graphics that educators can use in the classroom instantly. Even better, teachers who know so little about using any technology have nothing to worry about. Byrne gives practical and straightforward suggestions for all educators to use.
6. Cycles of Learning
Well, everybody agrees that a good life hack always comes in handy. Ramsay Musallam identified the benefits of hacks in classrooms, so he came up with Cycles of Learning to share useful education tech hacks to make teachers’ lives somewhat more manageable.
After watching his TED Talk on sparking learning, you won’t be able to resist more content from him. With an emphasis on simple ways of inspiring actual learning in students with technology in the classroom, Musallam shows us that it is possible to hack even learning.
7. Edutopia
Founded by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Edutopia has much well-arranged information on the proper use of technology in classrooms. The indexing of data by age group and topic makes it easy for teachers to access practical ideas. This way, the views are relevant to their current curriculum without walking through many ideas that won’t relatively work for their particular situations.
With an abundance of videos and fun quizzes, Edutopia becomes a fun destination to browse even if you are not searching for anything specific. While at it, make sure you click on their “Trending Topics” section to get the hottest topics currently in education technology.
8. Steve Hargadon
Don’t let the straight layout and lack of flash fool you because Steve Hargadon’s blog offers lots of valuable present-day information on educational technologies. A proper Ed-tech leader, Hargadon is the manager at the Web 2.0 Labs, host of the Future of Education interview runs, head of the Social Learning Summit and the Learning 2.0 Conference, and assistant chair of the yearly Global Education and Library 2.0 worldwide conferences.
Because Hargadon is one of the leading experts on educational technology, rest assured that reading his blog will provide you with many progressive ideas.
9. EdSurge
EdSurge is a vibrant society of education technology filled with educators and entrepreneurs. It’s a fantastic blend of teachers, storytellers, and tech-experts. The founder is a long-term journalist called Betsy Corcoran, who also worked as EdSurge’s chief executive.
EdSurge draws attention to the future of learning, where you can get into topics emphasizing PK-12, Higher Ed and Education Business.
10. ISTE
ISTE is possibly one of the leading tech education establishments in the world. It’s notorious for bringing together large events for educators in technology annually. Although the membership calls for a fee, their blog on education and technology is free and easy to access.
Tech Resources for Teachers
Use educational technology resources to improve your lessons and engage your learners. You can as well present topics and start a conversation with about fifteen-minute mini-lesson PowerPoint Slides. To slot in technology into your classroom, you need to get the listings for the digital books, best videos, websites, and online games to link both the subject matter and a lesson on computer skills!
There are also tips and tricks regarding internet safety and the best strategy to enable your learners to avoid cyberbullying, cheating, and online hazards with the resources.
Some of these standard tech resources for teachers include;
- Smartboard mini-lessons
- PowerPoint resources
- Digital books
- Word processing resources
- Best of the web
- Internet resources
- Videos
- Integrating technology
- Internet safety
- Online games
- More technology resources
When technology integration in the classroom is unified and thoughtful, students become more attached and start to control their learning. Useful tech addition changes classroom activities, inspiring student-centered project-based learning.
Technology for English Teachers
There are several educational technology tools accessible to use in the English classroom, and they’re growing at a fast rate.
Whether you’re an expert tech classroom user or fresh to the idea, below are some convenient tools for you to dive into.
Google Drive
Google Drive is an open online storage cloud that contains Google’s version of in-built Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. It lets students make documents for free anywhere and anytime. They can create and edit these files on a tablet or computer from numerous locations with their Google account login.
Moreover, students can share the files they are working on with fellow students or work in one document simultaneously to co-create workpieces. Still, they can share the documents with their educators as they work or once they are through to get prompt feedback.
YouTube
One way to organize the videos from a screencast tool is to open a YouTube channel and upload everything therein. Because it is your YouTube home page, you can design the background, upload profile data, and subscribe to other channels of interest. Also, you can make playlists in your channel to sort out videos into topics and let students find them with no trouble. If it’s a challenge to create your videos, you can make playlists of videos out there already as long as they relate to your learning topics.
Blogging
There are several blogging platforms accessible, but the two that are most common are WordPress and Blogger. If you’re looking for the more user-friendly of the two, then Blogger from Google is your best shot. However, if you require a more refined platform, WordPress is possibly a better pick.
A straightforward blog will allow you to have a rolling front page informing posts and still pages retrieved via tabs, regularly along the page’s top. It is an excellent record of the year for the students to revise from.
Screen Casting
There are plenty of tools around that capture your computer or gadget screen and enable you to record your voice while in progress. The two often used are ScreenR, which is free to obtain, and Explain Everything, which is relatively cheap.
You use either by merely taking a picture of your gadget or computer screen and then record your voice beside the website or pre-prepared PowerPoint. If you organize these in one spot, you will have a series of tutorial videos.
Edmodo
Edmodo is an open social learning platform for students, educators, and parents. It looks somewhat like Facebook, so it is a standard format for students to use. But wait, it is also very different from Facebook in that the teachers manage it equally and precisely designed for educational purposes.
Moreover, it features a shared timeline as a homepage that allows the teacher and students to interact or interact with one another as they desire. Both teachers and students have an archive where they can store files share them with others, preferably. Also, it is a platform that allows the teacher to set assignments, students hand over projects, and teachers give feedback on the work.
Two distinct useful roles are the tests and polls. There’s also an in-built grade book that supports the teacher-assessed scores and quiz results for every student.
Why Is Technology Important In Teaching?
There are many reasons why teachers are now using the EdTech system instead of the old-fashioned paper-and-pen methods. So let’s see some of the advantages here. Read on.
Advanced Teaching Methods
Technology is an invention of humans, so when a teacher applies technology to teaching, it becomes innovative. EdTech enables teachers to offer multiple media to address various learning styles, like animation, live video, and more. EdTech helps teachers to produce online courses where students can learn in their own time and space.
Improve Interactive Teaching
Technology has made it very easy for everyone to stay connected. More so for students and their teachers, they can now connect, discuss, share their views, and act upon circumstances collectively.
For instance, eLearning is an educational device that enables students to share and discuss altogether. Rather than being in a classroom and paying attention to teachers speak for as long as 30 minutes, eLearning students can be part of an online group that enables them to learn together by interacting with their equals.
In such a case, teachers are more available and act as mentors to help students grow themselves. This collective learning method has joined the gap between teachers and learners and builds up their interpersonal skills.
Teaching and Learning Process
To begin with, EdTech improves how teachers teach, both online and offline. Without always attending a particular lesson at a specific time, learners can now learn anytime from wherever.
Secondly, EdTech improves the way students view learning. EdTech makes the learning experience become more fun and exciting for learners. When we feel attached to learning, we know and remember better and use the knowledge better.
Lastly, technology enables education to be smarter, more effective and satisfying learners’ requirements more. Proper educators ensure they deliver valuable information to learners, both in theory and in practical life. But keen educators are those who can create teaching elements from what learners need to learn.
To summarize, EdTech doesn’t necessarily require teachers to become IT, specialists. But teachers can indeed achieve these impressive skills only with technology, hence the need for EdTech in life.
Parting Shot
In the long-run, we know that there is a lot to digest when discussing educational technology trends. However, bear in mind that technology has leaked into education and transformed its entire teaching and learning system. Particularly with eLearning also popular as an educational tool that has increased the convenience and usefulness of education and converts the learning behaviors and learners’ yearnings for learning.
