Five Ways Teachers Can Make BYOD Learning Fun

A question that plagues teachers as they debate whether or not to incorporate a BYOD – or, "Bring Your Own Device" – structure into the classroom is this: what's my new role? Some teachers feel a bit intimidated of the idea of incorporating an electronic learning system, feeling it might overshadow their capabilities. In truth, e-learning systems are intended to accentuate a teacher's methodologies and highlight his or her strengths by creating a fluid transfer of information and a less intimidating way for students to interact.

Most teachers know that they can make students' grades visible to them in real-time with e-learning systems, and that they can keep their lesson plans more organized and accessible. But there are also really unique tools that make learning more fun for students and, therefore, encourage them to want to interact. Try incorporating one of these practices into your next lesson plan and notice the difference.

Poll Questions

More often than not, when a student isn't participating in a discussion or volunteering an answer to a question, it's not because they don't have the answer or anything worthy to contribute. It's more often because they're intimidated. Unique learning systems that can be used on mobile devices allow a poll capability so that students can answer through text without having to put themselves out there in front of the whole class. The teacher can administer multiple-choice, true/false, or "traffic light" polls, depending on the nature of the question. Each student response can be seen in real-time on the teacher's device, and he or she can then decide whether to project the results to the entire class.

Use Scannable QR-Codes

QR-Codes are barcodes that can be read by smartphone apps. There are many QR-Code generators teachers can use to condense their educational resources. Students simply need to scan the QR-Code at home or in the classroom to access the information. Let's just admit – it's kind of fun to do this. It also cuts back on the amount of paper that can get "lost" or destroyed.

Flashcard Apps

How many of your students do you think will actually take the time to sit down and make flashcards with which to study? That being said, students of a certain age are glued to their mobile devices. Flashcard apps make it fun to make digital flashcards that students won't forget to take with them while they're in the car or on the bus. It's convenient and fun to use.

Text Discussions

There are some systems that allow students to text responses that will appear on the screen. Again, this removes the intimidation factor that many students face when they want to contribute to the discussion. It also helps to keep a discussion on track rather than having too many students talk at once. As the teacher, you can view everything the students have to say and pick and choose important points to touch on. Plus, students love to text.

Cameras

Perhaps you're building a diagram or conducting a lab experiment in class. This isn't something that students can take home with them…or is it? Learning with mobile devices means that students can snap pictures of useful tools so that they can reference it later. This also saves time – no one will spend half the class period drawing out the diagram so that they can bring it home with them.