Fundamentally, technology is here to connect ideas to people, people to ideas and help turn\u00a0ideas into reality. \u00a0Students have ideas and when given the freedom to choose their own medium, their engagement increases leading to better outcomes.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s classroom, educators are now more likely to be required to act as guides and facilitators giving students the freedom to use technologies that are most suitable to source out and disseminate information and present this information to their audiences. \u00a0On top of that, students must select technologies\u00a0they feel would best deliver their message, technologies they are most comfortable with, and technologies they most enjoy using. \u00a0With this approach, their cognitive capacity is used to get their message across, and in an enjoyable and stress-free way.<\/p>\n
NMC Horizon Report (2017) Higher Education Edition says, \u201cEducators are increasingly expected to employ\u00a0a variety of technology-based tools, such as\u00a0digital learning resources and courseware, and\u00a0engage in online discussions and collaborative\u00a0authoring. \u00a0Further, they are tasked with\u00a0leveraging active learning.\u201d This seems a daunting responsibility for instructors. \u00a0Let\u2019s turn this claim around and say that \u201cStudents are increasingly expected to employ\u00a0a variety of technology-based tools.\u201d \u00a0This reflects\u00a0what students do outside the classroom and on the job, and this connection with the real-world motivates and sparks engagement.<\/p>\n
Giving students free-reign in using applications of their choice allows them to run wild with their ideas and get creative with an otherwise mundane task of creating paper after paper.\u00a0 Generally speaking, students know that video and graphics are today\u2019s\u00a0medium of information and enjoy incorporating them into their education whenever possible. \u00a0Although putting ideas down on paper is an essential skill, submitting content in a format of their own choosing tends to motivate and leads to exciting unintended outcomes.<\/p>\n
On top of the engagement factor, the common task of communicating through various technologies found in today\u2019s workplace should be an option in every (online)\u00a0classroom. This doesn\u2019t demand a huge toolbox of technologies, just the freedom to choose one\u2019s preferred method to communicate ideas.<\/p>\n
Where to start? We at ETS can introduce you to a number of technologies that we\u2019ve seen other faculty and their students use in the classroom, technologies that have increased engagement and have improved learning outcomes.<\/p>\n
Technology is useless sitting on our ETS shelves. \u00a0Come on in, grab something, and make it work for you and your students. \u00a0We can also demonstrate how you can use Blackboard to open the doors to technology allowing students to submit assignments in formats of their choosing. \u00a0Who knows, instructors may soon be accepting all formats\u00a0except<\/em>\u00a0Word documents greatly reducing the need to read forty 2000 word essays.<\/p>\n And yes, Blackboard does allow for all formats to be submitted. Let\u2019s sit down for a coffee and discuss how.<\/p>\n So, why am I writing this? Good point. I could have as easily put it in an equally-compatible fun and engaging MS Sway presentation. Have a look!<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fundamentally, technology is here to connect ideas to people, people to ideas and help turn\u00a0ideas into reality. \u00a0Students have ideas and when given the freedom to choose their own medium, their engagement increases leading to better outcomes. In today\u2019s classroom, educators are now more likely to be required to act as guides and facilitators giving … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":674,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions\/674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/tlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}