How Google Classroom Can Help Improve Your Own Classroom

 

 

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At present, a number of technological tools are available that help our teachers and educators to provide a better learning experience. Throughout the years, Google significantly participated in the betterment of education by offering easy access to academic content and affordable tools. Google Classroom, their latest offering, is set to offer further assistance to teachers and schools in advancing education. 

Google Classroom for Your Class

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Although Google Classroom was initially offered to only a few educators in July, soon it will be available to all the schools that use Google Apps for Education. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the initial testers of Google Classroom and I was genuinely amazed by the simplicity of the tool. It effortlessly integrates Google Docs, Drive, Sheets, Gmail, and other tools to offer a brilliant and effective user experience. 

A Greatly Designed Tool

 

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It has a remarkable design and a simple interface. Moreover, it does not include any needless distractions and enables you to concentrate of productivity. It is perhaps the best tool for teachers to organise and share assignments, coursework and class announcements. It is also an excellent and safe way to communicate for both students and teachers. You can easily exchange ideas and educational content with your learners with this intelligent tool. You will get the best quality user experience with this Google product. 

Here are 3 superb things that you can do with Google Classroom to enhance your own classroom- 

Have Paperless Classrooms Environment 

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If you are a teacher who wants to have a paperless classroom setting

then Google Classroom is surely for you. It enables you to access students’ work instantly and digitally organise different aspects of your classroom work. Moreover you will be able to control multiple classrooms. Google Classroom allows you to develop and allocate announcements and assignments to every class; edit student work for revision; grade students’ performance; start and partake in private or entire class discussions and many others. 

You can have a paperless assignment workflow which will remove all monotonous and lingering tasks that eat up most of your instructional time. You can effectively use this additional time for teaching. With Google Classroom, you can interlace Google Docs, Gmail, Sheets and Drive to eradicate the requirement of hard copies.

Take Flipped Classrooms Approach

 

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Google Classroom is the best tool for you if you intend to flip a whole class or a specific lesson. This excellent Google product significantly enhances the ability of the flipped classroom customise learning for all learners. It also encourages students to take ownership for the progress of their learning. 

You can easily deliver presentations video or audio lectures and other reading materials to students outside the classroom. Your students will be able to access the content easily and also have a secured opportunity for online discussions with you and other teachers as well as with fellow students. This can greatly help to clarify misreading and help them to understand the content. 

Focus on Professional Development

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Although Google Classroom is developed for classroom use, but both teachers and students can utilise it for their own personal development by using the educational technology in creative ways. Districts and schools can effectively use Google Classroom to manage and deliver content for professional development of development. 

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Presenters or trainers can set up a training session or class and introduce the teachers or participants in the class. They can also just send an email with the access code to the session. The trainer can share different resources like documents, multimedia files and presentation with the participants before, during, or after the class. Before, during, or after the training, the presenter can share with the participants a number of resources such as presentation slides, multimedia files, and other documents. 

After the session, Google Classroom will help to create a folder in the Drive and automatically save all content. The participants or teachers can then access the materials from the training and review them later. This will help the teachers to better use Google Classroom and help their students in their learning. 

What do you think about Google Classroom? Do you believe it can enhance your classroom experience? Feel free to share your views and opinions. We would love to hear from you.

What An Online School Can Do For Your Overall Development

With the evolution of technology, online learning has gained significant momentum among learners as well as professionals worldwide. As online school programs offer excellent flexibility and convenience, you can easily earn a postgraduate degree without making any severe changes to your personal or professional life. But can web-based learning help you in your overall development other than just providing a recognised degree? Yes, it can. Read on to find out..... 

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More Than Just A Degree 

 

I am sure you know how intensely competitive the job market has become. Nowadays recruiters want applicants to have something more than just a degree. So it is imperative that you gain some additional skills to get an edge over others. Careers Advisor Susan Hughes of the National Careers Service believes since the past few years more and more employers are searching for candidates who show emotional intelligence. 

Be Present Online

 

I think creating a noteworthy online presence is one of the simplest ways to do this, while developing sector knowledge. Social networks, online forums, websites and online Q&As with business experts can help you to communicate with prominent individuals in your preferred sector and expand your network. 

This is where the training from your online school comes in. During your study for an online postgraduate degree, you will have the opportunity to communicate with your fellow classmates and teachers through various online modes like chatrooms, forums, video chats, social media etc. This not only helps you to connect with your peers and seniors effectively, but you will also learn how to use social networking for expanding your network. Moreover you will also get the opportunity to meet new people from your industry who may open new doors for your career in the future. 

Start Blogging, It Helps

 

Apart from these, blogging is another excellent way to make new connections. Harriet Tuson, a graduate from the University of Bristol, managed to write articles for the academic website Experimentation, even though she worked part-time to support her master's degree in management, finance and economics. As she had a biochemistry undergraduate degree, she pursued her interests by writing about the latest trends in the sector. This became an advantage for her when she was employed in a pharmaceutical consultancy. 

Tuson says, “Some of the articles I'd written related to my job, which showed I hadn't just left uni and applied for anything I could think of but was really enthusiastic about the role.” 

Work Experience- A Must Have

 

In a similar way, your work experience also becomes a crucial factor when applying for a job. As online school programs are highly flexible, you can pursue your studies from your home. Moreover, as the learning material is available online, you can easily access it any time you want as per your convenience. This gives you the scope to get a full time job in your desired field and gain relevant work experience. You can easily work throughout the day and continue your studies at night or in the early morning. You can even choose to study from your office by accessing the content from your tab or smartphone. The biggest advantage is that you can instantly apply whatever you have learned into your work and increase your productivity. 

Don’t Be Sector Specific

 

Online education also gives you the scope to gain skills that are not exactly sector specific. For example, Olivia Keenan engaged herself with several teaching roles and outreach programmes to evade getting trapped in only one field, while she was pursuing her master's from the University of Southampton. 

She says, “I'm doing a PhD in astrophysics, which will be fantastic if I decide to stay in academia, but what if I decide I don't? And don't want to be an engineer or a programmer? Unfortunately a lot of companies still subscribe to certain subject stereotypes, which means if you study in a science or maths based field they may assume that you lack people skills.” 

Keenan believes all students pursuing a postgraduate degree should think about this factor as it will make them more knowledgeable about various fields and more confident. She adds “Try and think of the stereotypes your degree conjures up and do something which proves that you break the mould.” 

Thus if you want to garner varied skills and experience, your online postgraduate programme can provide you the opportunity to expand your knowledge and gain employability skills like management, teamwork, leadership and adaptability. 

What do you think? How else can your online programme help you in overall development? Share your views, opinions and concerns with us. We would love to hear from you.

Urgent Need of Personalised Professional Development for Our Teachers

Most of us know that every student has their own approach to learning and a single teaching method might not prove effective for every student. Hence there is a need for personalised learning which helps learners to acquire skills and knowledge at their own pace with the help of technology. Similarly there is also a strong need for personalised professional development for teachers.

Just like their students, every teacher has his/her own needs and strengths. Hence we need to use the right tools that will cater to their needs and enable our teachers to perform at their best.

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Why Personalised Professional Development is Important?

Using technology and other educational tools to meet the unique needs and styles of different teachers not only helps in making their professional development more effective, but it also increases their performance and efficiency. According to different studies when professional development is customised to the teachers’ needs, educators become more proficient at different tasks in their classrooms like helping students to focus on the topic, modify activities to attend to student interests, creating a optimistic atmosphere, as well as encouraging a higher retention level.

Here I have listed some other reasons why teachers need personalised professional development-

Teachers are Trained Professionals

Almost every professional setting requires focused training that caters to the individual needs of the professionals. Just like the executives in the corporate sectors, teachers are also professionals who need training to gain new and relevant skills in order to improve their productivity and performance.

Teachers Face Individual Challenges

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To tell you honestly, I think teaching is not an easy job. I am sure every teacher encounters different and unique challenges which vary according to their classroom environment, grade level and professional experience. When these inconsistencies are identified and addressed, it becomes much easier to open new communication channels which help to understand the best way to help students progress.

Teachers Must Be Empowered

Several studies have shown that professional development for teachers and educators is relevant and personal; outcomes and engagement of the teachers improve considerably.

Teachers Need To Be Informed

Under the conventional professional development model, it will be more challenging for you to measure effectiveness as there is no availability of data which will help to analyze whether needs of a teacher have been dealt with. However, with personalised professional development, it is easier to accumulate and evaluate data that will allow us to make better recommendations on an individual basis.

Challenges in Personalised Development

However you need to understand that personalised does not mean isolated. Personalised professional development can offer a wide range benefits when it promotes cooperation and collaboration. Moreover tailored professional development also requires much effort and time, which may seem overwhelming when compared to common development programmes. But finally the outcomes make personalised programmes worth the time and effort.

Using Technology

As technology has made it s way into the education sector to make learning more effective and accessible, teachers can now make the most of this opportunity to gather and evaluate data to create personalised lesson plans for their students. Thus educators need to get used to the latest educational technology tools in order to support their students’ development through their own individualised professional development.

To sum up, personalised professional development focuses on the strengths of teachers and addresses various challenges which they face regularly. It empowers our educators to become better and efficient teachers. Although there are several ways to achieve this, but taking a tailored approach for developing our teachers is undoubtedly the best.

Do you agree with me? Can personalised professional development truly help our teachers? What do you think? Share your views and opinions below.

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The Aids Of Visuals In Education

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We understand our surroundings, the environment & the people we live with, because our visual components accompany us to do so. The same goes with learning. Being associated with education for several years, I have observed that, students tend to show more interest in text plus visual representations, rather than in only text blocks as visuals allow them the time they need to process what they are being asked to do.

How Visual Learning Effects Education

There is no doubt that education has come a long way, evolving & embracing various tools to reach every education seeking hand. The strategies, offered by visual learning, such as graphic organizers, diagrams, outlines & many more, are today being used to equip students not only to manage learning objectives and achieve academic success, but visual learning strategies also help students to better understand and retain information. As students are required to evaluate and interpret information from a variety of sources, incorporate new knowledge with what they already have learned, and improve writing skills and think critically, visual learning tools assist students to meet those demands.

As Far As Students Are Concerned

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Research in both educational theory and cognitive psychology enlightens us about the fact that, visual learning is one of the best academic methods for teaching students of all ages how to think and how to learn. 

Students can learn best when they are able to see ideas & information, they are being taught about, to be connected & organized. Visual learning provides both students & teachers with the aptness to understand new concepts more thoroughly & easily as well.

Visual learning not only helps students to organize & analyze information that they are provided with but they are also being skilled enough by the flair of visual learning to integrate new knowledge.

If the question arises what is the most benefited area among the students by visual leaning, the definite answer would be all those children, who are standing on the first step of their academic ladder. Besides, this learning aid also helps those, who indeed need it. The children who are striving for education through many difficulties like Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Language Disorders and Delays, Hearing Impairment or Learning Difficulties, visual learning has been proved to be best companion to them.

What The Figures Convey

• The sum of the information that gets imparted to our brain through visual is 90%.
• Our brain takes approximate one hour to process 36,000 visual cues.
• Almost 50% of our brain gets involved in visual processing.
• Learning outcomes is elevated 400% due to the use of visuals.

The Do's Of Visuals

• Clarifying complex ideas is one of the key tasks that the visual learning tool performs to educate children.

• Making connection s with people, understanding new information & helping students to relate those information to what they already know is another vital point to keep in conscience.

• Using catchy visuals in the classroom to attract & hold children's attention elevates visuals' accomplishment rate.

The Dont's Of Visuals

• Using poor quality visuals, those are pixelated, stretched weird, sized improperly, or don’t fit in the space is a complete “no-no” in teaching students through visual tool.

• Visuals that don't make a tangible connection to the presented study material is of no use to the students' benefits.

• Using copyrighted visuals without permission is considered as a violation & no educator should do that.

What To Say Finally

Visual Aids for learning is an essential edu-tool that streamlines & support learning, developing images & consequently empowers people to participate and achieve success and independence. As one of the sole ambitions of visual learning tool is to escalate the self esteem of the students' with learning difficulties, the consultation with teachers, trained in early childhood, primary school, high school and speech therapy, is reckoned to be very crucial while developing the resources.

Can A Fast Track MBA Programme Help You Gain Hands On Experience?

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As the global job market becomes increasingly competitive, more and more graduates are feeling the compulsion to pursue an MBA. But is earning an MBA enough to build a rewarding career? Or do you need something else?

The fact is most companies look for applicants who have experience along with an accredited degree. As your employer will expect you to be productive at the workplace from the first day itself, you need to gain some relevant work experience, apart from having a degree. I agree that in today’s business world, earning an MBA is very important for your career advancement, but when you pursue a full time programme there is no scope for gaining any hands-on experience. An online fast track MBA on the other hand offers ample opportunities to the learners to gain some experience in their desired field while they pursue their studies. So what should you do? Should you go for a traditional degree or should earn experience? Read on to find the answer....

Is Experience Essential?

Many business leaders believe that you cannot learn the best business management lessons by sitting in the sleek classrooms of business schools. You need to get out and get your hands dirty. It is only through your experience of failures, perseverance, strategies and achievements in the workplace, you can truly learn about how to help a business grow. Although MBA programmes  do teach you about the different core concepts of business, you only end up learning how to apply the information you have gained, which in most cases does not transform to knowledge.

If you wish to become a successful manager or leader, you need various traits that you cannot learn in the classroom. It is only by undertaking responsibilities related to leadership roles you can acquire the required traits. An MBA does not necessarily guarantee a senior level position. You need to have a thorough understanding of the business which only comes from years of experience in the field.

Does That Mean An MBA Is Not Worth It?

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Not at all. In today’s competitive world, a business management degree has a lot of value for anyone who wants to become a successful business leader in the future. An MBA programme helps you to learn various techniques related to business management. You will be able to acquire essential skill sets that are needed to enhance productivity and efficiency of a company. You will also gain comprehensive knowledge about different industries, global market trends, business scenarios in different regions and understand key financial issues. A business degree will enable you to become efficient decision-makers with multi-tasking skills so that you can boldly face the challenges of the corporate world.

What Is The Solution?

Simply go for an online business diploma from any accredited online B-school, instead of pursuing a full time MBA. An online business diploma will offer you the flexibility to work while you pursue your education. As you will have the opportunity to learn about the core concepts of business management and apply them at your workplace at the same time, you will be able to gain valuable knowledge through both your diploma and work experience. Moreover with an online diploma in business you will have the option to fast track to MBA degree online or on-campus and advance your career further by upskilling.

This type of a programme is certainly an excellent solution which helps you to balance your studies and your work effectively. A fast track MBA programme will enable you to do an internship or a part-time or even a full-time job and yet manage adequate time to invest on your coursework. It will not only help you to earn an accredited qualification along with relevant experience, but it will also demonstrate that you are committed towards your professional and personal advancement.

Do you think experience is more important than a degree? Can an online business diploma help you? Do you have anything to add to the discussion? Feel free to leave your comments below.....

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