Category: Teacher Center

Best Practices In Teaching Students To Code

Posted on by Beth

Coding
Programming
Syntax

What do you think of when I mention those words?

Some teachers say:

“I have no experience, I could never teach coding/programming!”

“I teach science, not coding.”

“How can I teach something I know nothing about?”

My answers:

“You don’t need the experience to teach coding.”

“Science teachers, along with all core subject area teachers, can easily integrate coding into their curriculum.”

“Again, you don’t need the experience to teach coding.”

About eight years ago I started teaching coding. I was a “Computer Lab” teacher transitioned into “Introduction to Computers” again transitioned into “Computer Literacy” and lastly “Digital Literacy” teacher. Phew!!

It goes without saying that technology is ever-changing. Technology created yesterday will be outdated tomorrow. A new device, application, or website reveals their next best tool for learning this school year, and then next it is something else. My technology director always said to me, “Ask yourself, is it a new fad or is it engaging and purposeful across the board? Will the students learn and grow or will it be purely ‘fun’ with a one and done type scenario?”

When coding and programming became the main topic at a faculty meeting, I began to research.

I asked myself.

“Is it a new fad or is it engaging and purposeful across the board? Will the students learn and grow or will it be purely ‘fun’ with a one and done type scenario?”

I was instantly sold that this was a must-have in my classroom. We all know now the benefits of coding/programming.

  • Logical thinking
  • Problem-solving
  • Creativity
  • Perseverance
  • Resilience

However, how do I teach something I know nothing about? Everyone assumed since I was the “computer” teacher, I knew how to code. ABSOLUTELY, NOT!

I taught students K-5. I started with K-2 doing unplugged activities and for my 4th-5th we started with block coding. The unplugged activities were very easy to understand and I was able to easily create my own material. However, I didn’t know anything about block coding except the fact that you clicked and dragged blocks. What did the blocks mean, how did I order them, what is a ‘sprite’ – soda right?

When I announced to my upper elementary students that I was thinking about doing a unit on coding, the students immediately cheered. However, when the students found out that my idea of coding was block style the cheers turned into groans.

“Mrs. Renda, we do block coding all the time. We want to do more, like, create a video game or a website or an app!”

So we had a discussion based on what the students were interested in and what they already knew or wanted to know. We narrowed it down to HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

My brain:  “What just happened? I was okay with block coding but I didn’t even know what HTML stood for until a student in the class told me. My brain reminded my lungs to breathe. How do I proceed?”

Rule #1:  Learn with your students

I am a teacher, and no I don’t know everything. Say this to yourself in the mirror, and believe it! Yes, we are expected to know our content area but technology might not be your jam. That’s Okay! This is a great opportunity to teach a growth mindset, resilience, and perseverance. Be honest with the students.

“This is new to me, but I thought it would be exciting to learn it together. I am sure that some of you probably know more than me.”

This leads me to the next rule.

Rule #2:  Lean on the experts

When I say ‘experts’, I mean the students. Yup!! Giving students the power to become the ‘teacher’ is a sure way to go. By having your advanced students help with FAQs or your questions that are very frequent, you have your own personal IT department to help you along the way. Give the students ownership of a bulletin board to display how-to demos or those FAQs. This technique works twofold, not only is the student helping others (and you), but they are taking a leadership role and feeling empowered.

So you are learning along with the students, have your experts picked out, but now what?

Rules #3:  Interest drives the learning

Give the student the steering wheel! it’s okay, let go, give up control. Let the students figure out the gas pedal and how to control their speed. Letting them take the wheel sort of speaking will give them autonomy, ownership, empowerment, excitement, and the drive for hard play. You will love it when the students turn on their headlights and start driving on their own.

If you are interested in learning more, tune in to our upcoming webinar (or watch the recorded version) where we will share other practical tips and evidence-based methods for teaching students code. In the webinar, we will discuss the PRIMM method, Pair Programming, and how to use Worked Examples with code comments. All previously-recorded webinars can be found here on our website.

The Advantages Of Teaching Students How To Code

Posted on by Beth

My journey with coding began as a 6-year-old in the 90s with Logo. At that time, the computers in my school were still not connected to the Internet, so our teacher wrote all the commands on the blackboard, and we followed the instructions. 

One day a classmate & I got our hands on a library book and discovered we could change the screen color from dull black. It was a simple case of changing the RGB values. After a few minutes of playing around, the computer teacher happened to glance onto our screen, and oh boy, we were in for trouble. We got scolded for not following the instructions given in class. The logic was that we would not be ‘tested’ on this; hence it was pointless knowing it.

So, from the next class onwards, my friend and I would take the computer farthest away from the teacher’s desk and keep the monitor at an angle to block the teacher’s view. We did get into trouble, but we learned a lot more. I knew that RGB stood for Red, Blue, and Green and that the interior angles in a quadrilateral add up to 360 degrees. I figured that if the sides of a polygon are the same, the angles will be the same and vice versa. It was only about four years later that I learned that such a polygon is called a Regular Polygon, and someone called Euclid spoke about it years ago (becoming world-famous as the founder of geometry).

“Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. I think a lot of what people call intelligence boils down to curiosity.” -Aaron Swartz

This learning experience has left a long-lasting impression on me and continues to influence my work in education and technology. Here are a few things I have learned: 

  1. Learning to code is for everyone
    We know for a fact that not everyone will become a programmer or developer, but everyone will interact and build with technology. Due to this latter part, it becomes imperative that young people today understand how technology works and is developed. For example, I’m not a programmer, but my understanding of how it works helps me guide curriculum, product, and even business decisions. 

“Programming is not about typing; it’s about thinking.” – Rich Hickey.

  1. Learning to code is about thinking and exploring.
    Allen Downey, the professor of Computer Science at Olin College of Engineering, writes in this article for The Scientific American that “The ability to execute code makes programming a tool for thinking and exploring. When we express ideas as programs, we make them testable; when we debug programs, we also debug our brains.”
    Learning to think (clearly, critically, and creatively) is essential for children. It is the foundation of their future selves. Only when they explore will they truly know what they enjoy and are good at, paving the way to discover their careers and, hopefully, passions!
  2. Learning to code is about solving problems and being empathetic
    Ultimately, the purpose of using code is to create tools that solve problems or enhance the human experience. To solve problems, no matter their complexity, one is required to think deeply and ask “why?” multiple times. So coding doesn’t only help develop problem-solving skills but also teaches us to be empathetic.
  3. Coding makes you resilient.
    “Bugs” have become a common term now. It refers to a problem with code or software. For example, while learning to code, all children (and even seasoned professionals) will make mistakes, resulting in bugs. To solve these problems, they will have to “debug” their code and find ways to fix it. So, debugging doesn’t just make you resilient it also helps one improve their attention to detail.
    PS: Read about the world’s first computer bug here.
  4. Coding is a medium of creativity!
    I believe that creativity manifests diverse ideas bonding together in our minds. Coding helps people express their creativity by creating tools like websites, apps, online platforms, or experiences in VR/AR or showcase their mathematical creativity by storytelling with data visualizations or pushing the envelope of art. Check Google’s project called DevArt, a showcase of “people using technology as their canvas and code as their raw material.”

Now, you’ll be wondering how to dabble in code. We’ve got you covered with seven free projects on BSD Online! So do check them out here.

I’d love to hear your experience around teaching students to code, tips, and what tools you use to develop digital skills, including coding in your children.

Exploring Computational Thinking in the Classroom

Posted on by Beth

Educators have frequently discussed computational thinking (or CT for short) as a critical component of 21st Century Skills. Computer scientists like Seymour Papert, Alan Perlis, Marvin Minsky, and Jeannette Wing have envisioned an essential part of every child’s education. This article will explore Computational Thinking and some ideas on how every teacher can bring it into their classroom. 

Jeannette Wing from Columbia University defines it as, “Computational thinking is the thought processes involved in formulating a problem and expressing its solution(s) in such a way that a computer-human or machine—can effectively carry out.” In other words, CT allows us to take a complex problem, understand what the problem is and develop possible solutions. We can then present these solutions so that a computer, a human, or both, can understand.

Frequently CT is divided into four components (sometimes referred to as cornerstones or techniques):

  1. Decomposition – breaking down a complex problem or system into smaller, more manageable parts 
  2. Pattern recognition – looking for similarities among and within problems 
  3. Abstraction – focusing on the important information only, ignoring irrelevant detail 
  4. Algorithms – developing a step-by-step solution to the problem or the rules to follow to solve the problem

An easy way to visualize CT in action is to think about making a simple breakfast. Next, imagine making peanut butter and jam sandwich with tea. You now have the end goal. From here, you work backward and make the dishes by putting together the ingredients and most minor manageable actions. 

Source: Barefoot Computing

Computational thinking in the classroom is not limited to the Computer Science lesson. It can be integrated into various subjects, for example: 

  1. Language Learning / Literature: In younger grades or for students learning a new language, make word/phrase cards about a story or sequence of events and ask the students to use logic and their general awareness to put together the jumbled story in the correct order. Older students can “program” a story with alternate pathways, i.e., create a Choose Your Own Adventure game. 
  2. Mathematics: Use decomposition to solve word problems and express generalizations (as algebraic representations) by identifying and recognizing patterns after analyzing data. 
  3. Business Studies/Economics: Making a decision tree for business decisions/choices, making financial models, business plans, and exit plan scenarios, or getting students to develop menus and recipes for a restaurant. 
  4. Social Sciences: Study data and Identify patterns/trends in wars & other historical events, then create visualizations of these patterns and trends. 

With computing becoming ubiquitous in all walks of life, industries, and organizations, it is of critical importance that educators infuse Computational Thinking across the curriculum. This will help students develop a strong foundation for 21st-century skills and the ever-evolving and rapidly changing world of work. 


We’d love to hear from you if you’d like to learn more about using BSD Education’s Digital Skills Curriculum to bring Computational Thinking into your classroom.

Digital Citizenship: How Should We Approach It In Education?

Posted on by Beth

A couple of years ago, I wrote an article about the true meaning of digital citizenship. I spoke about being a digital citizen and what it means to be a ‘good’ digital citizen. As of January 2021, almost 60% of the global population are active internet users (4.66 billion people). I was recently with a friend’s 15-month old who can’t walk but knows how to scroll on a smartphone.

How often are children really using technology?

CHILDWISE estimates that between September and November of 2020, children between 7 and 16 spent an average of 3 hours and 48 minutes online each day. The time increased as they got older, with 7-8-year-olds reporting they spent an average of 2 hours 54 minutes online. In contrast, the 15-16-year-olds spent 4 hours and 54 minutes. Living in a global community of digital citizens that is more connected and younger than ever before, means the time spent online only going one way. 

But is this community always spending their time using technology to make the world a better place for themselves and others? Is everyone a ‘good’ digital citizen? Of course, we know the answer is, unfortunately, no.

To name a few of the challenges, we’ve all seen the impact of fake news, hacking, and cyberbullying. For example, almost 80% of consumers in the US reported having seen fake news on the coronavirus outbreak, 80% of reported fraud in the UK is cyber-enabled. In addition, a survey of more than 6000 10-18-year-olds from June to August last year found that about 50% of children had experienced at least one kind of cyberbullying in their lifetime. 

There is a huge need to teach students about digital citizenship.

Given this, there is a huge need to teach students about digital citizenship. But I think it’s vital to dive into what should be covered in this space and how. All too often, digital citizenship is another box to tick. Lesson on internet safety? Done. Or it focuses on the cons of being a digital citizen. But digital citizenship is so much more than that. The world is a digital place with huge potential, and our digital lives aren’t separate from our everyday life. That’s why at BSD Education, all of our curriculum is infused with learning opportunities in digital citizenship so that students see how it is a natural part of interacting online and in virtual communities instead of a solo practice. 

As well as integrating digital citizenship across students’ learning, we can also think about the content in three key areas: 

Using digital technologies positively for yourself

Topics include:  

  • Digital footprint
  • Data security 
  • Online safety
  • Vetting sources & citing information correctly 
  • Digital wellbeing
  • Building network and connections

Making a digital space safe for others

Topics include: 

  • Creating long-lasting, positive relationships online
  • Cyber-bullying 
  • Communicating online and engaging respectfully with others 
  • Safeguarding
  • Community guidelines
  • Safe-spaces agreements 

Using digital technologies to make positive change in the world 

Topics include: 

  • Digital literacy and digital skills  
  • Freedom of speech 
  • The power of virtual communities and online movements 
  • Open Source Software
  • Blockchain
  • Decentralized media
  • Censorship 

By focusing on using digital technologies positively, infusing the learning across topics and subject areas, and broadening the conversation beyond personal responsibility, we show our students the possibilities of operating in the digital space and being active digital citizens. ISTE summarizes it brilliantly – ‘Digital citizenship is about more than online safety. It’s about creating thoughtful, empathetic digital citizens who can wrestle with the important ethical questions at the intersection of technology and humanity.’ So let’s think about any opportunities we have to excite our students about using digital technologies to bring about positive change for themselves, others, and broader society.

Four Things To Consider When Developing EdTech Curriculum

Posted on by Beth

Major world events frequently act as a trigger and catalyst to rapid innovation. As we experienced with Covid-19, schools and families have seen a surge in the adoption of different educaï»żćšè€Œé‹Œ tional technologies. These include video conferencing tools, online learning platforms, and classroom management tools, etc. We’ve also increasingly seen innovative and effective teaching and learning activities created by educators for EdTech curriculum. 

Here at BSD Education, when we design our curriculum for our learning platform, we consider Student Engagement, Flexibility, Student Agency, and Simplicity when we design the content and activities across our content library.

Let’s explore each of these areas: 

Student engagement 

One of the most significant concerns with online learning is the level of student engagement. We know that when students are engaged, they are more likely to take away something from that time you spent together in class that day. To overcome issues of student engagement, just like designing any other products or services, we have our end-users in mind, and that’s our teachers and students. We ask ourselves, “What do they want to know about?”, “What can we share with them?” I firmly believe that engagement and enthusiasm are infectious in the classroom. If the teacher is engaged with the content and can connect and see the topic’s relevance on a broader scale beyond the classroom, students will be more likely to participate, lean in, and see how it connects to and impacts their lives. 

Flexibility

A flexible curriculum to allow for unexpected situations is another factor to be considered. Sometimes, classroom discussions may also lead to incredible learning opportunities. When we develop our curriculum at BSD, we allow room for teachers to design their lessons with our activities. We present bite-sized content to enable teachers to design their flow. The way they design their curriculum depends on the needs of their students. For example, in our TechFuture offering, resources for discussions, hands-on activities, and topical content are presented separately to allow our teachers to create a learning experience that suits them. In addition, education technologies and tools have allowed for more flexibility in course delivery.

Student agency

Closely linked with student engagement and flexibility in the curriculum is student agency. Through education technologies, we as educators can set up classroom activities to encourage student agency by offering pathways of exploration and learning new skills and topics. When designing the EdTech curriculum, we leverage the ease of information sharing capabilities and access to knowledge through learning systems. Our task as teachers is to become a facilitator of learning and exploration to create room for student choice and ownership in their learning journeys.

Simplicity

Curriculum resources should never be overly complicated. We set straightforward learning goals to help our teachers achieve their objectives regardless of topic, project, and activity as they develop the curriculum. Simplicity brings ease of use (better user experience) for teachers to focus more on the students rather than figuring out the tech or the content.

We have discussed some technical factors to curriculum development, but there are many other factors in consideration. The diversity of your students’ needs should always come first when designing and implementing a curriculum. The best approach is to try it out! Utilize education technologies to support your curriculum little by little, and always know you can reach out to your community to discuss all the creative possibilities!

Curriculum Design: Three Practical Ideas to Implement Today

Posted on by Beth

As an educator, I have used several forms of curriculum design, from traditional textbooks, government-mandated curriculum. I have even used non-curricular approaches with un-schooling my children. However, educators can tell you, the way the curriculum is written is often used differently in classrooms. This is especially true for rigid and traditional curriculum. Educators need to craft their nuance into the curriculum and modify it to fit local needs. For example, while teaching middle school science in rural Texas, we used a science textbook that gave examples of rainforest ecosystems.

My students hadn’t seen a rainforest, but they knew the ecosystems in their backyards, farms, and ranches. So, naturally, I adapted and used examples that students could relate to instead of the textbook examples. This made the rainforest examples more relatable once we looked at them with our local ecosystems having been learned first.

At BSD Education, it is my role to oversee our curriculum development process and define a vision for our curriculum. After years of being a Learning Experience Designer, here are three practical ideas that you can use for developing a curriculum:

  1. Decide on a pedagogical foundation.
  2. Use learning standards or a learning framework.
  3. Design for flexible learning environments.

Decide on a pedagogical foundation

An often overlooked aspect of curriculum design is pedagogy. At BSD Education, we design our curriculum on three pillars of pedagogy: Constructionism, Project-Based Learning, and the Pedagogy of Play.

The pedagogical approach that you use will depend on the values that your curriculum is trying to convey. It includes the styles of learning that you want to immerse your students into, and the age of the students. Try exploring some different pedagogical approaches to see what might best suit your needs.

Use learning standards or a learning framework.

Every teaching subject will have a set of guidelines, frameworks, or standards that outline the actual learning material and objectives. For example, at BSD Education, we lean on the ISTE Standards for Students and the CSTA standards for computer science.

Pre-existing frameworks or sets of standards are vetted through a rigorous process, making them a great starting point. When adopted by governments, schools, and other education providers, it gives them greater credibility and reliability.

Design for flexible learning environments

In recent times we have learned just how important flexibility in the curriculum is, whether it’s teaching online, face-to-face, or in a blended environment. Designing the curriculum with this in mind allows for maximum flexibility that can benefit both students and teachers. At BSD Education, we create our curriculum and platform so that lesson delivery can happen virtually, face-to-face, or even self-paced.

Designing for this type of flexibility can be difficult, which is why we also include educator and student feedback as a part of our design process. Then, we take the feedback and explore ways to improve and make our curriculum more flexible and valuable while maintaining consistency to the standards and alignment to our pedagogical foundations.


Bonus: How to Design a Culturally Relevant Curriculum

For more on Constructionism, watch our BSD Learn webinar over on our YouTube channel today

Frequently Asked Questions about Professional Development at BSD Education

Posted on by Beth

At BSD Education, our Professional Development focuses on providing teachers with the confidence, skills, knowledge, and material needed to bring technology education into their classrooms. In this article, we will answer some of the most frequently asked questions by teachers worldwide.

How long does the Professional Development session last?

Every professional development session runs for three hours. By the end, teachers are prepared to bring technology and digital skills to their students. However, it’s not required for the three hours to be completed in one session, and the training can be split into two sessions of an hour and a half each.

When are BSD Professional Development sessions held?

While our sessions can be scheduled at any time, it is recommended to schedule your Professional Development sessions two to four weeks before your first class to allow enough time to explore the platform and run through the curriculum and activities for students. To schedule your BSD Professional Development sessions, please speak with your school’s BSD representative.

What are the topics covered in the BSD Professional Development? 

Our Professional Development focuses on three main areas:

a) Orientation to BSD Online – This is where teachers are shown the various features of our BSD Online platform. For example, teachers are trained to create a classroom, manage student progress, and view student work through the portfolio feature. 

b) Skill learning – Through our guided projects, we introduce teachers to coding languages such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and the basic syntax and functions of these three languages. 

c) Curriculum familiarization – Teachers are shown where they can find the courses they will teach in the classroom. In addition, teachers are shown how to use the lesson plans, slide decks, and project customization guides. Through this demonstration, they better understand which activities need to be assigned to their students. 


Does Professional Development need to be held in person, or can it be done virtually?

In most cases, the Professional Development will be conducted by a BSD instructor on Zoom. Training sessions are also recorded, and a copy is sent to all teachers attending to view after. 

However, if a BSD instructor is available in your location, we can arrange for the session to be held in person.

What do I need to have for a BSD Professional Development Session?

All teachers need to have a laptop or desktop computer with the latest version of Google Chrome installed. Teachers also need to have an active email account sent to their BSD representative two working days before the session. The email address is used to create an account on our online platform. 

I don’t have any coding or programming experience. Is this training for me? 

Whether you are entirely new to using technology and coding in the classroom or have prior experience, BSD’s Professional Development has been designed with a low threshold and a high ceiling. We begin by taking small steps into the coding world and sharing tools that empower you to make the BSD Online platform your own.

Do I receive a certificate after I have completed the BSD Professional Development? 

Yes! After completing the BSD Professional Development, all teachers are eligible to receive a certificate. Our team will send a PDF copy of the certificate to you by email to use professionally right away. 

Does BSD leave me with any material after the Professional Development training?

We will provide you with videos and practice exercises to reinforce all the coding concepts taught during the session. All teachers will also have access to our BSD Community, where they can find articles on using the different features of the BSD Online platform. 

How can I reach BSD if I have questions after the session?

Our world-class support team is always striving to provide the best support to all our teachers. You can contact them for any questions on our platform and curriculum. Here’s a link with all the details on how you can get them. 

You may also reach out to your BSD representative to schedule 2 free coaching sessions per year with a BSD instructor. 

What do I need to do after my Professional Development and before my first class with BSD?

Before your first class with BSD, you might be feeling excited and anxious in equal measure. You may hesitate and ask yourself, “Will it be easy to teach students using BSD?” The answer is YES!

Don’t worry; we’ve put together a handy checklist to help you get started.

——–

I hope that you found these answers helpful. If you have a question not covered in this blog post,  please reach out to BSD’s Professional Development Lead in Asia, Karan Vaswani, at kv@bsd.education for more information.

Student Flexibility: How to Navigate When You Have Limited Resources

Posted on by Beth

Earlier this year, a great example of navigating student flexibility was when I taught an online course called “Introduction to Digital Design.” Students made several different digital artifacts in class, like a Personal Webpage, a Blog, and a Video to share on the blog. The course was open to students all across Asia and the Middle East. Twelve students signed up for the class that met once a week for six weeks. The program’s intent was an after-school enrichment course. So I didn’t anticipate the wide variety of resources available to the students.

Two students from Hong Kong had their mini recording studios with green screens, stage lighting, and high-end laptop computers. Three other students living in Northern India were all siblings. They used one mobile device and did not have access to any other technology or devices. The rest of the students had a laptop at the minimum. As a result, I had to reconsider approaching the expectations for student flexibility, delivery, and final project outcomes.

Designing for Student Flexibility

Since that experience, I developed strategies focused on student needs and the different resources they may or may not have. Here are my top three techniques in designing for student flexibility.

Survey ahead of time

It can be helpful to gather some data about the resources available, skill ability, and limitations that students may have. I now send a survey ahead of time to collect information which helps me plan how to approach their needs. The survey also helps me plan which curricular materials to use and if I need to find alternatives before the class.

Provide Voice and Choice opportunities

In my example, where students had limited access to laptops, I had to help students find digital tools and resources that fit their needs. Allowing all students this same flexibility allowed more student choice in the tools and software they wanted to use. For example, this allowed the advanced students to use OBS studio with a green screen, while other students used a simple mobile video editor. This student flexibility approach empowers students to choose, allowing them to share their unique voices effectively.

Celebrate the differences

Instead of seeing a problem with students having limited resources, we turned it into an opportunity to share more about their circumstances, how they learn, their day-to-day lives, and how they know at home, leading to a cultural exchange between them. They became fascinated about the lives of their peers, and some even became online friends throughout the course. We learned about the customs, foods, and lives of people in India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. In the end, students shared their final projects, and everyone celebrated the achievements of each individual.

My highest priority is to meet each of the students where they are and with what they have while providing a high educational value to each student. But, unfortunately, I couldn’t follow traditional teaching practices where I simultaneously teach the same content to the same students.

As a result, I confronted some changes to my course design and became flexible in my teaching practices. Each student completed the course work and produced fantastic results because I tailored the content to the needs of each student and allowed them the flexibility to choose their digital tools and outputs.

What Are The Benefits of Technology in the Classroom?

Posted on by Beth

You might be asking, what are the benefits of technology in the classroom? It’s fair to say that when I was in school, the use of technology in the classroom wasn’t widespread. There were no personal laptops for each student, no digital planners, no classes on coding or programming. I remember when the teacher would pull out the overhead projector for lectures. My school certainly wasn’t set up for the level of technology use that teachers were faced with recently.

It’s exciting to think back on how much has changed in the educational landscape since then! Since my high school graduation, social media use has skyrocketed, video conferencing has streamlined and improved greatly. Most students have personal laptops but also smartphones, iPads, watches, and Alexas provide any information they could possibly want to know.

Technology changes on a dime. As education continues to systemically evolve, we’re going to see the many benefits of educational technology come to fruition over the next few decades.

Read on!

Students are more engaged

“Bueller?” This scene from “Ferris Bueller” has to be the epitome of a bored, disinterested classroom. Whether out of a lack of interest in the topic or distraction, two things are happening here. They aren’t paying attention and they aren’t learning.

It’s been 35 years since that film came out and the classroom looks entirely different. Now teachers compete with a myriad of distractions that continues to evolve. So you may be wondering, how can teachers engage their students more effectively in the digital age? Well, I’m glad you asked! There are many ways to harness the positive power of technology and capture your student’s attention at the same time.

Meet them where they are – on devices, social media, websites, games – and bring this technology into your lessons, homework, projects. For example, their five-paragraph essay can become a blog. Now, not only are they more invested in what they’re learning but they’re building essential digital skills.

Part of increasing student engagement in any class is giving them an applicable reason for being there. Something they can relate to. Utilizing the interconnectivity of technology in the classroom helps you reap the benefits. Plus, your students are more likely to retain the information.

Incorporates different learning styles

There’s a big debate in education between the use of more personalized learning vs. a one-size-fits-all approach and it’s valid. When you have 30+ students in your class, it’s more difficult to create unique lesson plans that engage each student. Especially when you’re already overworked and underpaid as it is. We get it.

One of the many benefits of technology is that it provides an easier way to reach each student’s unique learning styles, playing to their various strengths and respond more intently to you.

  • If your student is more aural, it means they retain information better by hearing it. Some ideas for using technology to your advantage here:
    – Record your lessons! You can turn these into a private podcast that they can re-listen to as they study at home, use audiobooks. This helps you as well for any student that misses a class, they can be directed to your “podcast” and quickly get caught up.
    – Students can use an app like Me Book that allows them to listen to stories and record themselves reading.
    – Language teachers can make use of AI robots and chatbots to speak to students in different languages so they can practice as if talking to a real person.
  • Visual learners respond more to things they can see and are prone to retain more information if they can read/watch it rather than listen.
    – Try incorporating more graphic visuals aids to make the connection, or using more interactive videos in your lessons.
    – You can use technology like coding to allow student to visually code a website, or apps like Canva and Photoshop to create graphics that underline their classroom comprehension and level of engagement.\

Improves Collaboration

There are multiple benefits of technology is that it fosters a higher level of collaboration, not just within your classroom but on a global scale. It’s now easier than ever for students to work together with project management tools, video conference breakout rooms, social media, and even as simple as AirDropping files to someone in under a few minutes. This collaboration also works to the teachers’ benefit! If you’re grading papers, students can now see all of your notes and all communication can be kept in one space. Thus giving you more access to teaching students even outside of the school walls and time.

Embracing the global reach of the internet offers up exciting new possibilities for your students as well. Similar to pen-pals, maybe you have a sister school in a different country, and not only can the students communicate with each other as friends but they can also work remotely as teammates in completing a project. This would take a lot of planning of course, but the possibilities are endless!

Prepares Children for the Future

The single most important benefit of technology in the classroom is that it prepares students to be future-ready. We know that all students will need digital skills for their futures, but there are also many challenges when it comes to teaching digital skills.

At BSD Education, our goal is to prepare students for their undefined futures where artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and data privacy are all emerging topics with tremendous impacts on society. To accomplish this, we embed four approaches into our curriculum that have been identified as future proof and fundamental:

a) Computational Thinking
b) Design Thinking
c) Coding/Programming
d) Digital Citizenship

These are just a few of the many benefits to utilizing more technology in the classroom but I’d love to hear from you on how you use technology to boost student engagement or substantiate a lesson plan? Send me a message at bd@bsd.education or leave a comment below! We’d love to hear from you!

Bring Technology Into Your Subject in Five Ways

Posted on by Beth

Last year saw a heavy reliance on technology to provide education and continuity to the classroom experience. But, as life gradually returns to normalcy, you might wonder how technology fits into your school structure as schools return to in-person. In short? Schools are getting back to normal but technology isn’t going anywhere. Bringing technology in your subject area doesn’t mean that you need to be an expert in coding or designing websites as a side hustle. Instead, it’s about innovative thinking and putting yourself in your student’s shoes.

A few more questions for you:

How are your students already using technology to understand the world they live in?
How can you, as an educator, provide the context digitally?
What are some strategies to bring more technology into your subject area to engage students?

We’re here to help! We’ve asked our Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Nickey Khemchandani, to share some of his favorite ideas to engage students with technology. Read on to see what he said!

Pick something your students don’t like.

For example, if students are disinterested in writing another five-paragraph essay, turn those essays into a classroom blog! They can share this not just with family/friends but in college portfolios and job applications, students can share. They’re building something that they can represent themselves with using a computer, but they’re also more engaged with homework.

Find an easy win that can be interactive.

Another great way of bringing technology in your subject is with math. Let’s say you’re teaching probability to your students – building a dice game online adds a layer of fun to the lesson while also teaching them critical mathematics and technology skills.

Look for a student who’s already an evangelist with technology.

You do not have to bear the burden of carrying all of the technology weight into your classroom. Usually, your students are already pushing for it. Find an evangelist in your classroom and have them bring technology into their assignments. For example, using technology to build a website instead of writing a paper will inform how to start implementing more tech across your subject.

Talk about social media in your classroom.

Your students are already involved and having conversations about it, so you should too! They’re using platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram, and how they potentially create social media posts around your subject areas will give you insight into their understanding of the subject. One of the best ways to interact with social media is to have them build a campaign, just like you see with Coca-Cola or Netflix, to get them to create a movement around your subject topic.

Build online portfolios

One of the best things a student can do in your subject is to represent your subject with technology. If they start taking pieces of the topic, they learn and add them into a shareable portfolio. So you can have essentially a handbook of all of the issues they’ve engaged with and can now share as notes for future students taking that class or (depending on the topics/skills) they can add to an online portfolio that prepares them for collegiate and professional futures.

Want to build something different for your school?

BSD Education partners with educators to bring technology education into classrooms through our learning programs, online platform, and professional development training.

Contact our team and we’ll show you how we can transform your tech curriculum and get your students ready for what’s next.   

 
Contact our team
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube
Copyright © 2025 BSD Education | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | FAQs