Students who are engaged in the classroom have better overall academic performance. Engagement indicates a student’s interest and level of interaction with the subject matter. Students who merely listen, repeat, and complete worksheets have now been proven to be less engaged and less academically successful compared to students who work with and model their lesson subjects in the classroom.
That said, a big part of classroom engagement for teachers today is educational technology tools. Many schools now equip students with Chromebooks, iPads, and other personal devices to allow a smooth use of digital learning materials and interactive lessons.
Teachers and IT Departments alike need technology that can interact with both the student’s cutting-edge personal devices and the existing display technology for an integrated and widely applicable classroom technology solution. The key to student engagement is smooth interaction between the teacher, student, and the lesson material.
How do you create an engaged classroom with educational technology tools? While there are hundreds of educational technology tools and apps for specific learning purposes, perhaps the one tool that brings them all to life in the classroom is dynamic screen mirroring technology.
A school’s IT provisioner can equip every classroom for greater engagement when you give teachers access to responsive and wireless display technology. This allows both teachers and students to connect and share in an engaging classroom environment.
We have come a long way since our ancestors learned by repeating rote phrases in one-room schools. Not only have teaching methods become more sophisticated but teachers are also equipped with vastly more advanced education technology tools. The slide rule has been replaced by the graphing calculator and the student’s personal chalkboard (slate) is now a school-provided Chromebook or iPad.
Instead of a chalkboard, teachers are equipped with a projector screen, or even smart TVs and smart boards which can reflect what teachers present on their own device screen. With this level of control over classroom presentation, teachers can then utilize their own personal or school-provided suite of apps to present more engaging lessons that include technology-assisted student involvement.
What technology tools are students using in the classroom? With so many students equipped with mobile, personal, or classroom devices, it’s important to plan your engaged classroom technology based on what your school’s students are already using. You’ll likely already have at least some of these in the classroom:
Does your school give every student a Chromebook? Or does each classroom have a set of response clickers for quick classroom polls and practice questions? In order to create an engaged classroom, your student technology must be potentially interactive with the technology used to teach each lesson.
This is why wifi, wireless, and app-based learning has become increasingly popular both for personal lessons and to present answers and ideas to the classroom projector with the teacher’s approval.
What kind of display technology already exists in your school and district classrooms? Classroom display tech is among the most diverse, as different solutions and update timelines are chosen by each and every school district. Your list of current educational technology tools might include:
There are teachers using HDMI-display projectors and classrooms that are all about the smartboard. A surprising number of school districts are using smart TV variations due to the wireless and app-controlled nature of the technology. There are teachers using HDMI-display projectors and classrooms that are all about the smartboard.
What teachers need from modern digital displays is the ability to reflect their own screen, selectively mirror student screens, and take full control of the display. This is how smart boards work, how smart TV learning is often implemented, and can even be done without tethering HDMI cables.
The right classroom update can empower all of your teachers to make more engaging lessons that keep students interacting with the subject matter. The teacher can then select connected student devices to share.
What technology are your teachers using to conduct their lessons and control classroom displays? Especially after the lockdown and resulting learning innovations, many teachers have become skilled at using their own laptops, tablets, and explorative teaching software that can be mirrored to a display. Like student devices, the answer can vary widely but usually includes:
Not every classroom has the same educational technology tools. Classrooms with an emplaced desktop can also be connected to the class’s display – but cables snaking the floor can become both a safety hazard and a potential point of failure.
Wireless connection to displays is superior, as teachers can take control with their own laptops or mobile devices using their own selected presentations and lesson apps without worrying about finding the right cable – or having to email their work inbox to access lessons on the classroom desktop.
How can teachers use education technology tools to make more engaging lessons? The classrooms themselves can become more engaging with the help of technology installation.
A teacher’s ability to instruct depends in part on the efficiency of the classroom display. Chalkboards and even whiteboards are slow because they rely on the speed of handwriting. In contrast, digital displays and especially screen mirroring can take students through the lesson experience. Student engagement increases when students can see their own screens mirrored on the display and teach the material back to the class.
Teachers with the ability to exercise full control of the digital display through screen mirroring can provide the most engaging lessons. A teacher mirroring their own screen can use any of their preferred teaching apps, show students live research, and select connected student devices to display as part of an interactive lesson.
Teachers need to pace. It’s a well-known truth that energetic teachers typically pace in front of their students, gesticulating and indicating to the crowd. This method is engaging, it makes students feel involved and entertained as they learn – but a tethered teacher can’t pace. If your teacher needs their laptop or device on an HDMI cable to handle the display, they may pace less and therefore put less of that engaging energy into connecting the lesson to the students.
Going wireless frees your teachers (and your IT setup) from the necessity of a tethering HDMI cable between the teacher’s device and the classroom display.
Cables are also a common failure point in classroom setups. Any time there is a port that can be pulled or a line that can be bent, teachers may need technical support or risk losing entire curriculum days with their students while the display is down.
By going wireless with an app that works in proximity to your classroom display technology, you can eliminate the risk of cables and the time lost that a faulty cable can cause.
Lastly, students respond best when they are a part of the lesson. This requires interactive display management, where the teacher can decide not only to stream their own screen but the students as well. Students can then share their answers or even take turns embedding their learning by re-teaching the lesson to classmates through their turn on the display.
Screen mirroring display technology for the classroom isn’t just good for student engagement, it is also a solid plan for schools and district IT planning.
The best thing about wireless educational technology tools is that minimal installation is required and any teacher can connect to the classroom once the solution is in place. Plug-and-play technology is easier for teachers to set up and maintain on their own without needing to call IT for support each time they connect or disconnect a device from the classroom display setup.
Wireless connection in the classroom opens your configuration to any teacher who may need to use a particular classroom. Substitute teachers, test days, or rearranging the departments; wireless classrooms that connect and display a visually identical mirror of a teacher’s device is the fast and easy way to start an engaging digitally-powered lesson.
This allows teachers to use any educational software or lesson plan they wish, with a seamless plug-and-play way to display it to the classroom.
The wireless connection also eliminates the risk of many errors and bottlenecks in technology-assisted learning. When teachers have to plug in, this can lead to a sequence of reboots and also tethers your most dynamic teachers to their devices instead of traveling with them through the lesson’s journey back and forth across the front of the classroom.
Screen mirroring is essential because it frees your teachers and school from the limitations of just a few learning apps. When teachers can mirror their screens, they can use a variety of interactive apps and tools to keep their students engaged.
This puts the power in teachers’ hands to choose which software they use to teach in a way that meets the needs of their students. As mentioned, screen mirroring can also be used to select connected student devices to display, giving each student their turn to solve a problem or lead the discussion.
Finally, there is an essential elegance to educational technology tools that are complete within the classroom. When the display and computer already established in each classroom work wirelessly together to present lessons, any teacher can get started using the materials already available.
From teachers just learning how to get off the transparency slides to those tech-savvy teachers running three different quiz and trivia apps for each lesson, a classroom-complete approach means that lessons can begin immediately for any teacher, any subject, and any lesson.
When it comes to classroom technology, the update process plays a major role. The screen sharing approach allows you to keep your existing equipment like projectors and display screens while updating your educational software and lesson presentation options across the board. No need to invest in new equipment when screen mirroring as an educational technology tool works with the equipment you already have.
Educational technology tools are an essential part of the modern classroom. Teachers who develop engaging lessons also know the value of excellent presentation tech in the classroom. When your teachers can mirror their screens to the classroom display, they will be able to craft and implement more engaging lessons, increasing students’ interest, involvement, and overall academic success.
What is the latest in educational technology tools for the modern classroom that engages students and can extend the reach of any educational apps? Vivi is a wireless screen sharing solution that makes engaging lesson plans easy to implement for modern classroom teachers. Vivi makes it easy to set up every classroom as a plug-and-play digital presentation space using the display technology already in place. Teachers love Vivi because they can wirelessly connect their preferred device to any classroom display, effortlessly. IT loves Vivi because it’s easy to install and provides central admin control for both troubleshooting and system-wide announcements. Contact Vivi today to book a demo.
