Dive Brief:
- Augmented reality, which exploded in popularity with the release of Pokemon Go, simply means extra information is overlaid onto the real world, and teachers can use the strategy to motivate students.
- Two Texas teachers write for eSchool News that educators can use AR to get buy-in from students by starting with an engaging view of their own world and adding learning on top — and teachers shouldn’t shy away from making the learning fun through games that force students to think creatively.
- Educators can create augmented reality learning environments, with layered learning that begins with a view of the real world, even without technology, creating a low-tech and highly engaging lesson plan.
Dive Insight:
As the power and draw of educational technology in classrooms is reinforced and schools make millions of dollars of investments in gadgets and other devices, there is a pushback that asks educators to think of student learning first. True engagement is the key and devices are just one way of achieving it.
Students will need to have some level of tech literacy to get jobs after high school or college so public school systems should be tasked with teaching it to them. But incorporating digital technology into classrooms should also be an opportunity to change instruction, not simply move it to a backlit screen. Encouraging active tech use is a new focus of schools across the country as administrators plan targeted professional development for teachers. And a growing number of people are calling for a step back altogether, asking teachers to focus first on student engagement.
