Finland’s enviable educational outcomes is no overnight success. Not only do they have a long history of enshrining and elevating learning, but continue to utilize all the very latest technologies as well as research to add significant value not only to their own pedagogical approaches, but indeed to those of the world.
The Nordic educational success is not an anomaly or indeed an overnight success, but borne of a deep respect and regard for learning, a culture of absolute equality in the eyes of the state, and its services, and a concerted societal effort to place learning first.
Educators can identify meaningful and effective learning tools to ensure teaching and learning is at its very best — not only helping students succeed, but providing ways for them to streamline workloads. Edtech really does seem a win-win solution for students and educators.
Building strong teacher-parent relationships takes time and patience. Schools need to prepare the ground for clear communication, expectation setting, and even conflict resolution. However, finding the right edtech tools can have tremendous benefits, especially when it comes to supporting students in their learning journey.
Finding appropriate media and contextualizing it for your students regarding the specific skill or content to be learned can take the “learning” process out of the box, so to speak, and help students associate complex, abstract or new ideas in their lives and the world around them.
Educational institutions of all shapes and sizes have to manage a lot of sensitive data, be it related to their students or the faculty body and everyone who ever sets foot on the school’s premises. Solutions do exist to protect all this data at any given time, but they’re hardly simple, practical and affordable at the same time.
Let’s look at some best practices, classroom techniques, technologies and processes that are not only assisting students with dyslexia, but indeed children with other learning disabilities, as well as the entire class.
One aspect that will forever be a part of the learning process of student is collaboration. Even though collaboration is deeply human, education technology can support and enhance it. Here are a few examples of ed-tech that teachers can use in their instruction to do just that:
Dyslexia, and its lesser-known cousin, Dyscalculia are defined as a brain-based learning difficulties related to either reading, or to the difficulty in learning or comprehending arithmetic. Dyslexics think differently — perhaps it’s time our classrooms think a bit more like them, rather than forcing them to think more like us.
By assessing your students’ needs, looking for patterns and exceptions within a group, shifting and expanding your teaching methods, and seeking alternative opportunities for testing will allow you to facilitate a course that is designed for students of many learning needs.
