Integrating technology into teaching

  The integration of technology into teaching is the most challenging modernization nowadays. Although it is highly useful and effective as it saves class time, saves teachers' effort, and makes teaching and learning easier as well as more enjoyable and fun, but there are many difficulties and obstacles that hinder such applications. Using technology in classroom for explaining lessons using google slides or powerpoint with the aid of projectors is highly efficient as teachers can use many useful tools and present content in an interesting way to students which keeps them more engaged and on-task. Many applictions such as poll everywhere, quizziz, nearpod, padlet and many others can also be used in classroom with students to complete exercises, review materials, and assess students understanding of the lessons explained. The use of technology in class allows teachers to have more control over the teaching process as they can monitor students behaviors more efficiently while completeing a task online and gives them the oppurtunity to correct errors in explanatory videos before introducing them to students. For students, the use technology in classrooms makes learning more exciting and interesting for them as they use it daily at home and find it entertaining and enjoyable. Teaching with technology increases students' engagement in the learning process, enhances collaboration and interaction between them, and keeps them focused. However, as we mentioned, many problems prevent the use of technology in classrooms mainly the lack of technological tools as computers, projectors, white boards... In addition to this is the unavailability of internet connection in schools which is necessary for the success of such applications and projects.

Tools that can be used in online assessment

  In the last few years, and as a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of schools and universities shifted to online learning to complete the educational process remotely. As a result of these desicions, alternative tools for students evaluations and assessments had to found to ensure the success of online teaching and learning programs. But, this wasn't a big problem since a quite large number of online tools are available nowadays to aid in the online assessment of students. Many of these tools can facilitate preparing formative assessments for students that aim to review materials explained and check students' understanding such as Polleverywhere, Quizlet, Mentimeter, Padlet, Nearpod, Quizziz, Word Wall, Formative, and many other efficient apps and websites. Tools for preparing summative evaluations which are graded assessments done at the end of a lesson or a school term are available too. Google forms is the most popular tool for such assessments, it can be used to prepare a test containing different question types, assign grades to each question, and adjust the settings of the test based on teachers' needs and purposes. Online summative assessments can also be conducted by assigning a project to students to complete using google docs, google slides, google sheets, google sites, or maybe as them to create a blog.

Gamification in Classrooms

  Gamification in classroom refers to the use of different types of games the teacher displays in class to teach content to students or check their perceptions and undestanding. A webinar entitled "How can teachers prepare games for their classrooms" hosted by Randa Mikati who is a Senior EdTech Specialist discussed three games that she implemented in classroom and found them effective. A brief review about these three games will be presented below.

 The first game she introduced was prepared and presented using Microsoft PowerPoint. She created a game related to the World Cup which was a trend in that time to attract students' attention and included some question for student groups to answer in a competition manner similar to the concept of the World Cup. I think this game would be actually useful in classrooms since the teacher can adjust the theme based on students' interests which ensures their involvement. Moreover, such a game would be presented to all students at once on a white board using a projector so groups would be competing and interacting together, team members would also be discussing answers and socializing which is better than a game completed by students' individually. This type of presenting games is also efficient due to the fact that most of the schools in our region do not include digital devices for students in class to integrate technology into learning.

 Regarding NearPod, I actually new this game previosly and I found it interesting and fun due to the variety of features availabe. However, I got to know more about it in this webinar which made me more interested in using it in my future classes. The host prepared a game where every student should choose a character and proceed to answer the questions included until the student with the highest score wins the game. This website allows teachers to create games, quizzes, videos, formative evaluations, content presentations and many more types of activities with many interesting features. It allows teachers also to track all the movements and answers of all students at the same time. NearPod is a highly effective tool as it promotes students engagement and collaboration in classroom games and activities.

 

One last tool called Genially was presented in the webinar, this was actually my favorite one so far due to the large number of different types of games that can be created within each activity chosen by the teacher. I was actually surprised by the type of games that are now available online such as escape room. The host presented a brief description on how to create an escape room activity. Such games in classroom would be really fun and enjoyable for students as well as the teacher. Those games would also ensure discussions and interactions between students instead of interacting only with the teacher.

 Overall, I liked all the presented tools and knew more about them. I actually believe that geme-based learning would be highly effective.

 
Below are some additional tools that can be used in game-based learning.

 WordWall is an effective tool also to create games for students whether to complete in class or at home. It contains a quite large number of activities that can be used to create games for students to check understanding or teach them concepts. It is colorful and has interesting designs and templates. It encourages students to participate and engage in the learning process.

 Another efficient tool is EduCandy. This tool is highly interesting for students and maily kids as it is colorful and contains animated cartoon characters that interests them. It is also challenging as it has a timer to complete the different games available which promotes more motivation and engagement for students. It stimulates thinking and collaboration among students.

 Finally, I would also like to introduce ToyTheater. It includes a large number of challenging, engaging, and collaborative games. It provides teachers with easy ways to prepare simple interesting games for their students without high effort and waste of time. It is suitable for different grade levels and can be used to be conducted online or in class.