Adapting digital tools to our teaching styles
Online and blended learning have become a crucial part of the education system after the outbreak of the covid pandemic. There are numerous tools that are adopted by educators at different levels to enhance the teaching and learning outcomes and these tools are not only becoming a part of our lives but now also cater to the unique difficulties of accessibility, engagement, the curriculum planning and delivery in a diverse educational settings. During my teaching practice, I was familiar with multiple tools like zoom, Microsoft teams, Kahoot, Moodle and google classroom that highly encourage interactive and collaborative learning in my classroom. Many digital tools have offered personalised instructions based on the individual’s learning styles that really helped my students to grasp the content more thoroughly and avoided the one-size fits all strategy.
In the case of the teachers, these tools are not only effective but also creative, and responsive to fulfil the diverse needs of the students, while these tools also focus on the teacher’s professional development. For instance, Google classrooms have a package of advantages that helps in managing all the administrative work that teachers have to do such as providing grades, tracking student progress, communication with parents or assigning homework.
I have experience of both offline and online teaching practice. While I was teaching in person, it was quite a difficult task for us to incorporate useful digital tools into the teaching pedagogies due to various factors like time constraints and a lack of adequate resources by the organisation in the classroom. However, when the pandemic hit really hard, the education system drastically shifted to online settings, and digital learning became a prominent part of the educational system. This transition significantly enhanced not only my teaching and learning experience but also my students’ learning experience too.
Using platforms like Moodle and google classroom have been very valuable and transformed my teaching practice as they allowed me to organise my course content, all students assignments, provide real-time feedback and provide them grades efficiently. Additionally, integrating tools such as Zoom particularly for the live sessions and Google Docs for collective learning projects has fostered greater engagement, team work and interaction among my students. This shift have made learning more accessible and have shown me the importance of being adaptable to digital tools to enhance educational practices and encouraged me to explore innovative teaching method
References:
About The Author
Hey, Gagan! I truly resonate with your thoughts on the impact of online and blended learning tools in the wake of the pandemic. It’s wonderful to see how tools like Moodle, Google Classroom, and Zoom have transformed both your teaching and your students’ learning experiences. You have well said about personalized instruction, which is a huge advantage of digital tools, allowing each student to engage in ways that suit their learning style. Your adaptability and willingness to explore innovative teaching methods are inspiring too. Well done!
Thanks for your post! I think a silver lining of COVID was that it helped most teachers expand their knowledge of educational technology. It also made us examine our teaching practices and incorporate new things. Even after moving back to in-person teaching, the lessons learned from online teaching have changed the teaching styles of many.
First I would like to mention I like how you mention in your blog how a teachers day is busy simply from the administrative aspect. Many people think that the majority of the day for a teacher is simply lecturing in front of a class. The public would be surprised if they new how much work goes into prepping, communicating with student, parents and colleagues. The correcting and entering of grades and tracking progress is a huge part of a teacher’s day. Lastly, I think what you are saying what online/distance learning tools have transformed is in the practice of instruction. I would agree that we can now let the students take in the lesson lecture from assignments, assigned readings and even videos. where you can leverage the most from the lesson is when a teacher can now focus more on breaking down those learning outcomes. You see this process evolve in more interactive environments where the students are working with other students and the teacher in a team approach.
Great post
Gerry