E-Learning is all about digital technologies for the classrooms. It is about using technology systems to support human learning. Combined with face to face experience, E-Learning can play a vital role when it maters most – throughout the K-12 education of a child when the human brain is still being shaped in preparation for more complex constructive social interactions during adulthood! The goal of E-Learning in K-12 education is not merely to provide an out of campus education to homeschoolers but primarily to enhance learning opportunities in the whole through the use of new and emerging technologies.
Along with books and work sheets, technologies like computers, inter-active television, the internet, CD-ROMS, videos, etc. will continue to play a vital role in K-12 education – with E-Learning and virtual schools projected to be the instructional delivery system of choice in the near future.
Here are the latest E-Learning trends in K-12 education that you may want to keep in step with. Keeping an eye on these developments will keep you abreast with what is going on in some K-12 campuses in the country!
Cloud Computing – Making use of this new internet technology students and educators alike will be able to collaborate with each other on a wide range of activities from simple assignments to complex academic presentations. Cloud computing allows users to access a wide range of educational resources from almost anywhere where there is an internet connection.
Educational Gaming Modules – Educators are achieving a high level of success in increasing student interest on otherwise boring subjects such as Math, History, and Science by bringing educational games into the classroom. A digital game to teach Microbiology to 8th Graders will probably raise some eyebrows – but the IntelliMedia Group of North Carolina University did it! Don’t fall off your chairs now but researchers at Rice University developed a method to teach middle schoolers Forensic Science with a virtual game
Learning with Social Networking Sites and Blogs – It is about giving voice to the shyest students in the classroom. With Facebook and Twitter now coming of age among educators, students are able to collaborate more effectively allowing students who can’t be physically present in a classroom will now have instant classroom presence! While there are privacy concerns along this line, they are being addressed with closely guarded safeguards and measures to keep the kids safe.
Ipads, Smart phones and iPods – Considered as contrabands before and banned from the classrooms, these electronic gadgets are now used by more and more educators as interactive tools for learning. With these gadgets, students’ interests are heightened since they are able to engage with their fellow students to keep up with grades.
Interactive Textbooks – New technology is paving the way for interactive textbooks where classic text and photos are further enhanced with audio clips and videos as well as interactive activities. Interactive textbooks allow students to highlight sections right on the document to mark areas they don’t understand for review at a later time.
Tags: Education, ELearning, LATEST, Trends