Education Technology, Continuing Education
Article | August 8, 2022
Jeffrey Lee Funk and Gary Smith
Americans once believed that science was on our side. Radar, microwaves, penicillin, helicopters, magnetrons, and nuclear weapons helped win World War II and fight the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Vaccines for polio, smallpox, tetanus, measles, mumps, and rubella literally wiped out diseases that once killed millions. Televisions, polymers, radial tires, Velcro, vinyl, and freezers made our lives more comfortable. Nuclear power promised us energy too cheap to meter.
We celebrated the space program that sent astronauts walking on the moon and splashing back home again. The annual meetings of the American Association for Advances in Science were regularly covered by the media. New electronic products and medical technologies continued to astonish in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
How things have changed! The last blockbuster technologies were the iPhone and iPad more than ten years ago and they are, at best, indirectly linked to scientific advances. Nanotechnology, superconductors, quantum computers, and fusion still seem far away as do replacements for integrated circuits, silicon solar cells, and lithium-ion batteries.
A week before the 1980 presidential election, President Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald Reagan held their only debate—and Reagan sealed the deal by asking Americans, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Nowadays, too many Americans don’t feel better off than they were 10 or even 20 years ago and the elite are tempting targets.
Millions of jobs left the country while economists proclaimed that it was all for the best. Now experts predict that robots and AI will eliminate millions of more jobs—not just blue-collar workers, but accountants, journalists, lawyers, architects, doctors, and nurses. The predictions sound like boasts and make the ruling elite look like the enemy.
Bill Gates tells us to stop eating meat while he flies around the world in his private jet. Politicians tell us to wear face masks while they party in McMansions inside gated communities. Universities say they need more government funding while professors are paid more money for doing less work then most taxpayers. Scientists say they need more largesse while they live among the elite and well-connected.
The rapid development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in less than 11 months was an absolutely stunning achievement, done with real science applied to a promising but unproven type of vaccine called messenger RNA (or mRNA). Instead of nationwide celebrations, there was fear and paranoia. Here are some comments in response to a March 2021, CNBC news story on government guidelines for COVID-19 vaccinations:
I still haven’t gotten one, never will and no one is going to tell me what I can and can’t do vaccinated or not!!
Flu shots are proven to make you 38% more likely to catch another respiratory virus like Covid.
Easy way to target the elderly. Don't be fooled people.
Biggest scam in our lifetime.
I won’t vax I won’t mask I won’t follow mandates or guidelines and I’m armed.
Millions believe that 5G is being used to spread COVID-19 (and they have burned down cell towers to stop it) and that COVID vaccines are a nefarious plot (and they refuse to be vaccinated). A recent survey found that 44 percent of Republicans, 24 percent of independents, and 19 percent of Democrats believe that Bill Gates is developing a COVID-19 vaccine that will implant microchips in us so that our movements can be monitored.
Science was supposed to replace superstition and rumours with logic, reason, and empirical evidence. It still can.
How do we collectively resurrect the reputation of science? A starting point is better science education. Memorizing the names of the parts of a cell and then forgetting them after a test is not scientific understanding. Nor is deciphering the periodic table or memorizing trigonometric formulas. Science is fundamentally about being curious—about how things work and why they sometimes don’t work. Richard Feynman’s journey to Nobel laureate began with a boyhood curiosity about how radios work. He tinkered with them, took them apart, and put them back together. He fixed other people’s radios. He loved it.
He later wrote about his life-long curiosity:
When I was in high school, I’d see water running out of a faucet growing narrower, and wonder if I could figure out what determines that curve. I found it was rather easy to do. I didn’t have to do it; it wasn’t important for the future of science; somebody else had already done it. That didn’t make any difference: I’d invent things and play with things for my own entertainment.
Kids don’t have to become Nobel laureates to appreciate how science can satisfy their curiosity. Kids who appreciate science can grow up to respect science and become scientists.
Another part of the problem is that far too many superbly intelligent, voraciously hard-working scientists devote so much of their time to generating the papers and citations that are now required for promotion and funding. Anirban Maitra, a physician and scientific director at MD Anderson Cancer Centre, wryly observed that, “Everyone recognizes it’s a hamster-in-a-wheel situation, and we are all hamsters.”
The public wants to see technologies that improve our lives, not long CVs filled with papers no one reads. We need scientific advances that are useful and affordable.
We also want stable jobs with decent pay. Semiconductor factories once provided good jobs but these were shipped overseas and new ones haven’t been created from new commercialized science-based technologies. Where are the American factories producing products based on nanotechnology, superconductors, fusion, quantum computers and new forms of semiconductors, displays, and solar cells?
American scientists are the best in the world and real science can produce useful innovation and good jobs, but these need to become our priorities.
Jeffrey Funk is a retired Associate Professor, most recently from the National University of Singapore and now an independent technology consultant. He received the NTT DoCoMo Mobile Science Award for lifetime contributions to the social science aspects of mobile communications. His research has been reported in the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.
Gary N. Smith is the Fletcher Jones Professor of Economics at Pomona College. His research on financial markets, statistical reasoning, and data mining often involves stock market anomalies, statistical fallacies, and the misuse of data. He is the author of The AI Delusion, (Oxford, 2018) and co-author (with Jay Cordes) of The 9 Pitfalls of Data Science (Oxford 2019), which won the Association of American Publishers 2020 Prose Award for Popular Science & Popular Mathematics, and The Phantom Pattern Problem (Oxford 2020).
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Education Technology
Article | July 14, 2022
2020-21 proved pivotal for online learning technologies. The sudden shift to remote classrooms pressed educators and parents to emphasize environments conducive to anywhere learning, creating anywhere classrooms everywhere. Classroom management has become integral to these new settings where learning has to be an extension of the physical classroom. Virtual classrooms may still be in their nascent stage, but this is the time to test better ways and establish smart classrooms that are flexible, advanced, and encourage knowledge retention.
What Makes a Classroom Smart?
A smart classroom will make extensive use of technology to engage and immerse learners. The tools will be designed to generate interactions between educators, learners, and parents through multiple media. For instance, laptops and tablets will complement or even replace books, and a significant portion of the curriculum will require online tools to implement the study plan. According to TeachThought experts, there are eight components to a smart classroom technology stack:
Integration of the digital and physical space in learning
Live feedback from teachers
Diverse technology usage, like smartphone apps and Wi-Fi
Workflows that are not linear
Customized learning paths and environments
Transitioning lessons with no beginning or end
A new approach to delivering learning
Availability of an immense amount of data
Managing a Smart Classroom
Traditional classroom management thrives on the ability of educators and students to create a robust learning environment that promotes an exchange of ideas and the creation of a learning ecosystem that is conducive to creativity and productivity. Managing a smart classroom with or without technology is about keeping learners engaged and focused on the learning outcomes.
A technologically-driven smart classroom only aids learners to develop self-initiative and act independently when it comes to presenting ideas and projects. Smart classroom management will focus on three things, namely: lesson and group organization; instructional approach, and optimization of technology and time. Passive learning isn’t something every student will prefer, so digital smart classrooms offer them the avenue to initiate learning, actively learning and get involved in class forums.
Smart classroom management also comprises addressing technology-based hurdles for accessibility and technicalities. For instance, issues like cyberbullying, data security, ransomware, and a breakdown in internet access can hamper lessons and cause interruptions.
What Are the Best Practices to Follow?
In traditional classroom management, the emphasis on student-teacher association is paramount. The point is to establish relationships, define boundaries and help identify the students’ strong and weak points in order to help them thrive. Educators and school administrators can follow a range of best practices to get the most out of smart classroom technologies. Here are some best practices to follow:
Do a thorough check of whether all technology is working as it should
Set a contingency plan for when something goes wrong
Determine protocols for providing students with the help and point of contact they need when something isn’t working
Set collaboration guidelines to avoid unnecessary back and forth
Provide teachers and students with an avenue to engage offline as well
Take regular screen breaks
What’s Next?
Today, technology is a playground of the youth and even the youngest school students are well versed with the use of technology. It is only a matter of leveraging this familiarity and affinity and ensuring that learners are making the most of these skills. Embracing a smart classroom fully will take tome but the possibility to create a springboard for richer learning experience using it is immense.
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Education Technology
Article | July 27, 2022
As many colleges and universities make the decision to offer online instruction in fall 2020 due to COVID-19, we’re quickly reminded of the Saturday Night Live (SNL) episode that aired during the spring commencement season. “Congratulations Class of 2020! You will now pay full price for your college experience at a University of Phoenix Online without the tech support,” joked Kate McKinnon. She was portraying the principal at a COVID-19 graduation at St. Mary Magdalene by the Expressway High School. Unfortunately, this skit from SNL wasn’t only humorous, it also reflected the reality for some. These people have been thrust into a version of remote teaching that, while developed with the best intentions of faculty and administrators, was more emergency triage than true online learning.
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Education Technology
Article | October 7, 2022
Modern classrooms have evolved into digital learning spaces. Even though schools have re-opened, online education is gaining pace. Anywhere classrooms are not just limited to higher education courses and educational institutes need to be able to keep up with the demand for hybrid learning.
However, even though online learning models aren’t new, they haven’t been implemented extensively like never before. Hundreds of learners are empowered to attend classes. This in turn has made the student-to-teacher ratio redundant. Modern education is now underlined by the need for accessibility, and online learning tools are making it easier to help retain knowledge. It still begs the question, are schools and high-ed institutes fully equipped for this new phase of education? Smart classroom management is now a need of the hour.
At any rate, technology is at the helm of this transformation for the education industry. Edtech has contributed massively to the transition towards mass hybrid learning. With so many tools, teachers and learners may just be able to achieve the ideal learning environment online that simulates the interactivity, collaboration, and social elements that traditional classrooms are known for. One way to accomplish a richer anywhere classroom is by implementing a classroom management solution. Classroom management solutions assist educators in delivering a meaningful classroom experience.
How Classroom Management Software Address Learning Challenges?
eLearning has become a mainstream educational concept. In the age of remote learning. Today, students are accessing the classroom through a multitude of devices, and educators must be able to accommodate, encourage, and foster learning in the face of the many challenges that come with it. Classroom management tools ensure that the learning experience isn’t hampered. It offers tools that enable teachers to keep attendance, plan courses, draft lesson plans, and implement teaching strategies, track student progress, and so much more.
In this article, we explore how the right classroom management platform enables smart classroom management. We also talk about the benefits of classroom management software, the features of classroom management software that are must-have for effective learning, and what tools address the most common hurdles in online learning.
Eliminate Paperwork
Paperwork is a big challenge for many educators and administrators. From documenting student information to managing and storing student grading, assessment, and exam information, paperwork takes up a significant portion of day-to-day tasks. Classroom management platforms enable educators to reduce paperwork and any repetitive tasks associated with documentation.
Manage Overuse of Personal Gadgets
Excessive screen time is a major deterrent to engaged learning. Even though screen times will increase due to eLearning, teachers will have the ability to manage distractions during classes with classroom management platforms.
Evaluate Students
With the increasing gap between teachers’ to students’ ratio, there is no doubt that the educators are burdened and stressed. Evaluating each student and giving her the attention she needs to perform well is affected. Classroom management comes in to assist teachers to monitor students with classroom management and review details like their attendance, leaves, assignments and more.
Maintain Class Records
Maintaining class records and class progress is just one of the many responsibilities of a teacher. It isn’t wrong to say that it takes up a huge chunk of the teacher’s time. However, these records are essential in order to track student progress and keep an eye on individual as well as group performance.
The 7 Best Features that Address Classroom Management Challenges
Student Performance Management
How students perform, their attendance details, grade and assignment history are all administrative duties that good educators understand they must track. Classroom management platforms offer easy and digitalized access to all this information. It allows educators to track their collective class progress as well as individual performance. This in turn helps in managing the class better and enhancing learning activities. Teachers and professors can store the data and access it at any time. This also allows them to identify individual students who are lagging, areas of learning that the class finds difficult. It empowers educators with the information they need to bring them up to speed while also encouraging other students to improve.
Virtual Whiteboard
A whiteboards is a classroom essential. Online classrooms may not completely accommodate them, but they can be a powerful fixture. Many smart classroom management tools offer virtual whiteboards that simulate the classroom setting. They are known to be an effective aid in helping students retain information and concentrate in class better. Virtual whiteboards go one step further. They can be downloaded, saved, and even printed. Some tools also allow educators to gamify the classroom experience through quizzes, videos, and other interactive formats. Traditionally, whiteboards were used to project images, presentations and even movies to keep the class engaged. Today’s virtual whiteboard help in doing the same but without restricting a classroom to four walls.
Browser and mobile support
Accessibility is fundamental to online learning models, and making classroom management tools easy to use on basic systems is key to ensuring inclusivity. If they are too complex or cause technical difficulties, they aren’t serving their purpose. Mobile support is one way to enforce accessibility. Remote learning classroom management solutions that take cross-device support into account offer a classroom experience for both educators and learners that isn’t hampered by technicality. Since they are designed to integrate smoothly with any device as well as the most popular browsers, they ensure parents don’t have to configure their systems or buy new devices for their children to learn online. Being able to use their existing devices allows both privileged and underprivileged students to easily continue their education.
Course Planning and Management
Digital tools have been able to change the game completely for educators. Some smart classroom management platforms boast features like course planning and management that encompass lesson planning, course content management, grading schema creation, assessment scheduling and much more. It allows for teachers to better plan their course as well as individual lessons. In addition, it empowers the assessment process and scheduling by ensuring one is conducted at regular intervals. The resulting grades reveal insights on the class’ progress and retention of the course material.
Communication and Collaboration
Classrooms offer the ability for learners to interact with their peers and their educators. The easy collaboration allows for ideas to thrive and facilitates them to grasp difficult concepts quicker while retaining information. The one-on-one interaction with educators is significant for many students. A collaborative classroom management platform that offers seamless ways to communicate provides a thriving environment where all parties are able to discuss new ideas, spark conversations, share feedback, team up with peers, and learn social and interpersonal skills. While some students may have more questions than others, teachers are better able to spread their attention across the class while answering, to individual queries. Unlike in a traditional classroom, one student’s question doesn’t keep the whole class waiting but provides a controlled forum for such discussions to take place.
Blended Learning Options
Hybrid models are becoming common in education and especially so in higher-ed. With both online and offline learning in the mix, flexibility and enrolment is off the charts. Blended learning allows students to interact with the coursework in a myriad of ways. Many classroom management tools provide support for tracking both online and offline learning journeys. This ensures students overcome stagnation and monotony, while teachers can follow their students’ progress. From registering for classes to conducting workshops and other interactive sessions, support for blending learning lets students and educators take control of their learning journey.
Reporting and Analytics
Data analytics is one of the best areas of tech to have happened to decision making. With digitalization, classrooms are now a huge source of data that empowers educators with the information they need to enhance the classroom and the remote leaning classroom management approach. Reporting capabilities combined with data analytics tools, educators are able to uncover insights at a granular level and make informed decisions about the course, lessons, grading, and assessments. Some tools offer dashboard functionalities that allow both students and teachers to be on the same page about the class, assignment submissions, deadlines, and exam dates.
Conclusion
Education is evolving as the cradle of learning, and classrooms need to follow suit. Now that learning is rapidly becoming a hybrid experience, classroom management software is more essential now than ever. With the complete classroom sometimes accessing lectures online, educators and school administrators have a responsibility to ensure that learners have the right tools, resources, and know-how to attend online classes. In addition, they must ensure that all technical abilities receive troubleshooting in time.
A remote learning classroom management software will contribute to an anywhere classroom that enables learning no matter where the educators and learners are located. With documentation, tracking of student progress, lesson planning, attendance mapping, and other features of classroom management software, educators and administrators can save a lot of time and money. With an abundance of options to choose from, the features in this article will help schools find the right classroom management platform for them without making a dent in the school’s technology budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does classroom management software cost?
Many classroom management systems offer pricing on per-seat basis. This means schools can easily scale their software as required by adding one or more seats whenever students enrol.
How is a classroom management platform implemented?
Classroom management platforms offer custom implementation as well as standard implementation of their software.
Do classroom management platforms integrate with other classroom software?
Most classroom management platforms are designed to integrate with a host of other classroom solutions used for communications and collaboration, like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and more.
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