student engagement Archives - Page 2 of 3 -

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 →

Games in the classroom – here are 3 you can play with nClass

Whether you’re introducing a new subject or it’s time to review before an exam, students love learning when it’s fun and competitive. These games are more fun when students can respond instantly on their own devices—nClass can do just that. Here are a few ways to make class more fun with nClass:   1. Analysis-Off →

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 Reasons to ditch clicker hardware

Classroom clickers: they’re clunky,easy to lose, and just plain problematic. While clickers can be great classroom tools, there is simply no reason they need their own hardware.These days students can do the same plus more just by downloading an app on their smartphones.   1. They cost your students money Each semester, students shell out →

To Call or Not to Call on Students

Every teacher encounters a quiet classroom at least once. You’ve waited minutes while students refused to volunteer answers or listened to the same couple of students speak. How do you get the rest of them engaged? Some teachers choose to call on students randomly, but does this really increase engagement, or does it just increase →

5 Myths about Smartphones in the Classroom

1. They’re nothing but trouble One of the worst mistakes a school can make: telling students NOT to use the powerful computers they keep in their pockets. At a time when schools struggle with budgetary restraints, it just makes sense to allow students to use their own tools to collaborate, quickly look up facts, graph →

Ways to Approach Controversial Topics in the Classroom

Whether it’s a hot-button political issue in a social science class, a probing hypothetical in a philosophy course, or ethics in a science class, teachers often find themselves discussing controversial topics with their students. Best case scenario, students come from diverse backgrounds, offer a variety of calm, constructive opinions, and frame all disagreements in a →

3 surprising ways to keep students focused using technology

1. Allow smart phones in class Yes, you heard right! Mobile phones don’t have to mean disrupting beeps, giggles from back-row texters, or zonked-out young adults stuck on the fifth level of angry birds. Instead students can use them them to report feedback to you and even contribute in class with the help of mobile →

3 Ways to Give Introverted Students a Voice

Class discussions are great, but it always seems like the same students speak up. What about the introverts? It can be difficult to gauge these shy or introverted student’s level of engagement, making grading on participation difficult to measure and record. Luckily, technology provides us with some great tools to give introverted students a voice →