Explore the world of ICT tools to increase students’ engagement

It is not always easy to keep the classroom motivated, engaged and enthusiast when it comes to teaching. This is when ICT tools such as apps and web platforms become essential in helping teachers to communicate and transfer knowledge while also maintaining their students’ full attention. Nowadays it is fundamental to know our way around interactive learning so that we can offer our students an alternative and non-traditional style of learning and keep them engaged. 

The new edition of the course “Integrating ICT and new technologies into teaching and education​” took place in Bologna from 17/11/2024 to 23/11/2024. The participants came from all across Europe, with Saskia Doerr and Patricia Lehr from Steinbeisschule Stuttgart (Germany); Ilze Kokina, Jolanta Bodniece, Ineta Godīga and Līga Rostoka from Siguldas novada bibliotēka (Latvia); Ana Stanković, Dijana Kurandić, Ivana Ivanović, Suzana Borović and Katarina Blanuša from Vojvoda Stepa Primary School (Serbia); Patricia Marín from Santa Maria Ikastetxea (Spain) and Dominik Bence Ignácz from Budapesti Műszaki Szakképzési Centrum Neumann János Informatikai Technikum (Hungary).

During this course the participants learnt how to use a vast range of technological tools and to put them into use by integrating it into their teaching methods. 
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First of all they used interactive and collaborative whiteboards to get to know each other and start sharing best practices. Then, they had a look at the most simple and easy tools to create interactive presentations and video lessons that are very effective when it comes to teaching. Such tools can be used in fact for a variety of purposes: preparing multimedia content, introducing a new subject or summing up an old one, challenging the students’ to create their own work in order to engage their creativity. Video presentations in particular are extremely helpful to energize students and get their attention. 

In addition, participants also learnt how to create engaging quizzes to work on formative assessment following a few easy steps. Thanks to this course this group was able to experiment with an easy drag and drop tool that could help them create a website for their schools. 

During these past two years traditional education had to leave space to AI and ChatGPT. Therefore, it was inevitable for this course to also explore the applications useful to apply tools that integrate AI that can create engaging and captivating lessons and also collaborative learning experiences.

Moreover, the participants had the chance to dive into the technological world with plenty of practical activities such as presentations, virtual quizzes, learning how to create engaging social media content, using tools dedicate to organizing graphics, posters and collages and much more. ​

This course allowed participants to confront themselves with each other and learn from their shared experiences. The participants left this course with a new knowledge of interactive learning and a new set of tools, ready to use them in their classrooms. There is no doubt that this approach will increase the students’ creativity, engagement, attention and motivation and help transform learning into a fun and dynamic activity! 
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Discover more about this course here.