For Adult Educators and Adult Learners
The introduction of technology in education has completely revolutionized the delivery of education. Gone are the days of complete reliance on print material. More and more educators are using digital means to deliver their lessons.
The 21st century students who are digital natives, have forced educators to move into their realm of comfort. The 21st century educator has to keep up with their technology proficient learners to keep them engaged in learning.
In this first post, I am going to share two emerging technologies that I think would be great for adult learners. They are Nearpod and Edmodo.
Nearpod
is designed and created for delivering lessons on ipads. The creators advertise this product as,
“all-in-one solution for the use of mobile devices in education” (www.nearpod.com). This is a free application with limited usage
capabilities, or can be upgraded for more advanced storage and creations. It can be used to create interactive multimedia presentations to fully engage the learners. After sharing the content, the educator or
administrator can follow the activities of the users. After the users receive the content and
understand their tasks, they can respond from any device, be it the ipad,
mobile phones or computers, through any browser. This allows them the flexibility of accessing
and submitting their work from wherever there is Internet connectivity. An educator using this platform will be
able to create and share all the content with the learners in real time. The updates posted by the educator and the responses from the
students will be immediate. This will allow the educator to monitor closely student
achievement, individually or on an aggregate basis as it happens. According to the web tools evaluation site,
Making Tech Simple, Nearpod, “provides the ability to upload existing
presentations as well as create new ones form scratch (www.makingtechsimple.com/nearpod)."
Another emerging technology that has
gained a lot of traction among educators is Edmodo. Edmodo is a great collaborative tool that is
secure and keeps the learners and educators connected (Rispin, 2011). Its interface has the looks and feel of the
Facebook that it is very popular among young adults. One of the best features of Edmodo is the
Edmodo Support Community that is there to share ideas and reach out for
help. Edmodo also has a wide community
sphere that you can ask to join according to your interest. There are special groups for teachers of
science, arts, languages and many more.
Edmodo is also very user friendly which would be a plus point for adult
learners. Edmodo can be used as the
to-go-to-place after content delivery. Educators can post videos, slides, announcements, notes, quizzes and comments. The learners will be able to post their
assignments, share comments, review other learners’ work and have the ability
to view videos, study for tests and even take the online quizzes or tests all at
one platform. There is even a mobile app
for the learners and teachers who are on the go.
While the possibilities of
incorporating technology to enhance students’ learning experience is limitless,
it is exhilarating to know that these 21st century options are
available for educators to make learning more exciting for learners.
References:
Making
Tech Simple. (2011). Nearpod, Retrieved on September 7, 2013 from www.makingtechsimple.com/nearpod
Rispin,
K,. (2011). Sober Thought in a World of Digital Delirium. Retrieved from http://www.keithrispin.com/edtech/edmodo/
I appreciate how you address the educational response to web 2.0 as, "...digital natives, have forced educators to move into their realm of comfort" but as educators, how do we address learners that have limited or no access to technology tools?
ReplyDeleteThanks Marie! Many of my ESL students could not participate in many web-based activities because they did not have internet connection. Many of their parents struggled to make ends meet, let alone buy their children a computer!
DeleteKamala