Education is something that is always changing. At every level, new technology is coming in to reshape how students are expected to interact with their learning materials. This is all thanks to the rapid advancements being made in digital technology.
Education is a process that affects us all at several points in our lives. Whether it is your career, something you are returning to in later life, or something your kids are about to embark upon; here are the new education tools you are expected to come across in 2023.
Twinkl
Twinkl is a collaborative app service that allows content creators to provide teachers with new digital educational materials. Schools and other educational bodies can subscribe to the service for a monthly fee and receive educational games and other learning activities. This prevents the possibility of re-using the same old educational materials.
Unfortunately, these tools are only beneficial if every student in the class is tech-savvy enough to use the system. Twinkl can be accessed via tablets and other smart devices. This means it can prove to be quite expensive for schools to invest in the service. However, the main selling point of this service is that it saves teachers time.
Word Cloud
Word Cloud is a visual learning tool, and a live word cloud can be used to show digital information in a visual setting. As such, teachers can use this service to better explain tricky subject matter or use the live word cloud polls to gauge the understanding of an entire class worth of students. Again, this is another digital service, but teachers can easily share the word cloud with the class using a digital screen or projector.
Floop
Floop is a cloud-based marking tool that teachers can use to give their students annotated feedback on their projects. This is a live service that allows students to respond to comments in real time and highlight areas where they need a bit of extra help. This is a much more streamlined approach to teaching, but it can be quite time-consuming. Also, Floop assumes that all students have access to the same digital equipment.
Wonder Workshop
The future job market is going to look very different from how it is today. Employees will need to know how to work and interact with advanced AI systems and robotics that do not exist in our current age.
That is why Wonder Workshop has created a fun learning platform where kids get to learn about robotics and computer science from a young age so they can be prepared to solve the problems of tomorrow. Dash’s Neighbourhood is a fun, game-based system that allows children to interact and care for a digital robot by learning about how coding works. Consider it as a more advanced version of the Tamagotchi. As you may have guessed, the innovations made by Wonder Workshop are only suitable for a specific age demographic.
Minecraft
Minecraft is a video game that has been popular among children for over ten years. This block-based adventure game has been praised by parents for its educational properties. Without meaning to, the base game has proven to be a valuable tool for teaching children maths skills, inventory management, and basic geometry techniques.
That is why the same developer saw it necessary to release a Minecraft: Education Edition. This downloadable expansion allows players to join the same server to solve puzzles together and collaborate to solve problems using chemistry, maths, and physics among other skills. This is a subversive teaching tool; however, it does heavily rely on children wanting to engage with the materials outside of the classroom. Again, Minecraft: Education Edition is also aimed at a much younger age group.
Google Virtual Tours
Sometimes, a teacher’s ability to engage with a class full of students relies entirely on their descriptive capabilities. With Google Virtual Tours the powers of description will become a thing of the past.
Using virtual reality technology, Google Virtual Tours can transport students to a new location to explore historical events or interact with geographical phenomena to help them to understand them better. Teachers can use this technology using a single interactive whiteboard or with individual headsets. Unfortunately, this software and the hardware necessary to run it can be quite expensive. Also, younger students may get easily distracted by this immersive learning tool.
Summary
As you can see, a lot of the newer educational materials utilise the digital space. As a result, the educational materials used in 2023 are better suited to preparing students for the future work environment as well as making things easier for teaching staff. Some teaching tools are better suited to younger minds, but everyone can benefit from getting used to these types of educational materials.
