smartphones in classroom Archives -

Peer Instruction—no clickers needed

The trend of technology in the classroom is growing. Whether you are already running a flipped classroom or just interested in new teaching strategies, peer instruction may be worth a try. How does it work? Simply put, students teach each other during class. How? First, students come to class prepared with new knowledge on a →

3 Ways to Make an Active Learner Out of a Passive Observer

According to Late Dr. Mel Silberman, “Lectures put participants in a position of sustained, passive listening. Learning, unfortunately is not an automatic consequence of pouring information into another person’s head. It requires the person’s own mental processing. Therefore, lecturing by itself will never lead to real learning.” The road to creating an ideal classroom for →

The Right to Skip Class in College – Hit or Miss?

With the education system evolving to accommodate a student’s demands more perceptively, attendance is an often discussed area. While some instructors have a formal structure of a minimum percentage criteria and grade points allocated to  attendance, others have relativity lax policies and leave the issue of attendance to the student’s prerogative. This diversity in attendance →

How to Reel in your Students’ Attention

With shorter attention spans and the internet’s instant gratification, it can feel like you’re competing for your student’s attention. Don’t think all hope’s lost, don’t even ban electronic devices–just change your strategy Get to the root of the problem If scores of students seem to drift off into facebook and email in your class, first →

3 Reasons to Embrace Text Responses

Students have different learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Unfortunately, professors tend to teach only to two. But don’t get caught up in tradition—you can cater to the kinesthetic learners and audio-visual learners alike by using text comments. Text responses let you check understanding, enhance discussion, promote debate, and express perspective. Fortunately, nClass lets you →

Classroom Attendance – Take it or skip it?

College students are free—free to choose classes, free to choose when to work, and ultimately, choose which class to attend. When it comes to tracking attendance, what is the golden medium? Too strict, and students see class as a chore–too soft, and you risk students skipping class altogether. Luckily, here’s are our thoughts on attendance: →

Classroom Cell Phone Policies

Cell phones are great classroom tools, but if used improperly, they can cause problems. We’ve put together a list of cell phone usage policies to get most educational benefit and at the same time eliminate distractions!   1. Set cell phones on silent Cell phones can be loud–even if you put them on vibrate–but if →

Exit Tickets – No Paper Required

  What’s the best way to get feedback on your teaching, test students’ participation and check up on comprehension: exit tickets. The concept is simple: ask students a question or two before class ends, and have each student submit an answer. For some classes, these exit tickets work like ballots for anonymous feedback, in other →

Why tablets and smartphones are the new pencils and pens

We’re all used to taking notes with ink and lead, but maybe it’s time to update this technology. After all, pencils and pens can’t take pictures, can’t look up information on the internet and definitely can’t improve your students’ social skills and participation level. Worst of all, if your students lose, rip, or forget their →

4 steps to better classroom engagement through social technology

Traditionally, we’ve told students that the key to success is to sit still and be quiet in class. This certainly forces students to pay attention (that is, until they start doodling), but does this really teach them? More importantly, we live in a world fueled by social connections, long- and short-range communication, and teamwork. How →