How Technology Empowers Teachers to Encourage Learning
How Technology Empowers Teachers to Encourage Learning
Today’s educators can manage classes efficiently while paying personalized attention to the students that need it
Tech-savvy students are used to a continuous stream of online
activity. But for the current generation of young people, technology is
so much more than texting with their friends, chronicling their lives on
social media and watching videos on YouTube. Increasingly, technology
is not merely part of their everyday lives but more a part of their
DNA—and that includes the field of education.
Today, forward-thinking educators understand that it makes good sense
to utilize technology to engage students and provide opportunities for
them to learn and grow. As a result, technology is driving teaching
everywhere, from preschool to high school, and beyond.
Those on the sidelines of this educational revolution look at the
multitude of digital channels and decry how nearly instantaneous access
to content is shortening student attention spans and decreasing the
ability to become deeply engaged in lessons.
At the dawn of this revolution, the U.S. Department of Education’s
National Education Technology Plan recognized the importance of digital
channels and nearly instantaneous access to content, declaring,
“Technology-based learning and assessment systems will be pivotal in
improving student learning and generating data that can be used to
continuously improve the education system at all levels.”
Teachers themselves are thus being transformed by technology. And
those who embrace it are finding ever-newer and smarter ways to attract
and hold the attention of today’s natively digital student population.
Education Goes Digital
Samsung has introduced a number of innovative devices and software
solutions into this brave new, student-centric world. Chief among them
is the interactive whiteboard (IWB), which replaces traditional overhead
projectors and blackboards with cutting-edge software that allows
student participation through a large touch screen, making the classroom
atmosphere more dynamic, exciting and effective. And Samsung has
designed other solutions to help teachers and administrators deliver and
manage rich content and turn classrooms into interactive learning
centers.
For example, Samsung School—a digital education system that combines
Samsung GALAXY Tablets and the latest interactive software—is empowering
teachers to increase student engagement, attention, collaboration and
retention, all while facilitating more efficient classroom management.
Engaging Students in Multiple Ways
“Technology and innovation are at the core of the ever-changing world
of education,” says Dr. Kriner Cash, former Superintendent of Memphis
City Schools, who brought Samsung technology into the city’s Geeter
Middle School with terrific results. “Academic success is our top
priority, and incorporating technology into academics better prepares
our students for the world outside school walls.”
Samsung helps teachers engage students through a number of devices, features and technologies, including:
A Screen Sharing feature that allows teachers and students to not
only share content on their smart devices, but to comment, collaborate
and further enhance the classroom experience;
Integrated handwriting capabilities, enabled by the S Note app on
Samsung GALAXY Tablets, that give students the freedom to write or draw
content, and to save their work safely, free of paper and ink (and the
age-old excuse of “the dog ate my homework!”); and
Quiz & Poll templates that allow teachers to create materials
that are in sync with students’ levels of learning and use entertainment
to inspire students’ attention.
Meanwhile, Samsung School’s two distinct management modes help
teachers and staff efficiently handle digitized materials: School Mode
stores and manages course materials and student information for ready
access and sharing, while Class Mode empowers teachers to store those
same materials on both their and students’ devices for a richer
classroom experience.
Preparing the Next Generation of Educators
Additional functions within the Samsung School program further
empower teachers to control the flow of content to students’ devices,
and monitor student progress.
Samsung School’s Screen Monitoring function allows teachers to view
students’ screens and schoolwork, helping them identify opportunities to
provide individual help where needed, and to reward students for good
work, either privately or for the whole class to see.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s Student Device Control delivers exactly what it
promises, offering teachers the ability to control the devices of either
individual students or a whole classroom. A third feature, the Lesson
Toolbar, allows for the easy use of content from multiple sources, as
well as interaction among students.
Samsung also understands that its technology cannot make a lasting
impact without sufficient teacher training, and the company’s Head of
Corporate Citizenship, Pitso Kekana, has recognized this area as “of the
utmost importance in the development of primary and second school
education.” As such, the company has developed programs to better
prepare the next generation of educators to create the smoothest
possible transition from traditional to e-learning.
With Samsung’s help, teachers are becoming masters of electronic
content and services in ways many of them never thought possible. In
addition to being able to inspire their students with fresh ideas and
multiple modes of expression, teachers and administrators are finally
accomplishing what their predecessors only dreamed of: Managing classes
efficiently and effectively while paying personalized attention to the
students who need it, and tracking their progress almost effortlessly.
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