Finding ways to connect with students: building a virtual classroom

During these past years traditional education had to leave space for virtual lessons and online classes. Because of this we had to adapt and think about a new way to teach and learn remotely. In this case using new technologies, digital tools and interactive learning platforms demonstrated to be a winning strategy. These technologies allowed teachers all over the world to maintain an engaging and dynamic environment in virtual classes too. The same tools proved their utility inside a real classroom as well, especially when it came to students’ attention and enthusiasm. 
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The new edition of the combined courses “Making the most of new technologies, apps and social media in the classroom​” and “Discover the best apps and tools for E-learning, Distance learning and Web Design” concentrated exactly on these matters. This session of the course took place in Bologna from 12/06/2022 to 18/06/2022. The participants came from all across Europe, with Marisa Afonso, Amália Clara Clara Maria Fernandes Cheio from Agrupamento de Escolas de Carcavelos and Escola Secundária de Carcavelos in Portugal; Ute Glunz-Eikerling, Lena Schütte, Anna Knaup from Sekundarschule Horn - Bad Meinberg in Germany; Kirsi Ryhänen from Nurmes High School in Finland; Katarina Lovenjak from Gimnazija Kranj in Slovenia; María Cristina Gil Medina, Beatriz Betancor Cardona, Ruth Garcia Calderin, Elba María García Calderín from CEPA FUERTEVENTURA NORTE and CEPA Fuerteventura Sur in Spain; Tom Van Hoof Ergi Vercaigne from Sint Ursula instituut in Belgium; Honorata Zych, Agnieszka Żywot, Krzysztof Dychała from SP im. M C-Skłodowskiej w Mąchocicach Kapitulnych in Poland and Maria da Purificação Gabriel Garcia Pica, Salete Mansos Felício from Agrupamento de Escolas de Moura in Portugal.

During this course the participants learnt how to use a vast range of technological tools and to put them into use by integrating them into their teaching methods. The goal was to apply these new technologies into both real and virtual classrooms in order to teach easily and more effectively.
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First of all they had a look at the most simple and easy tools to edit pictures and videos 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.

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Another topic explored was how to build a website, which can serve multiple options of use in distance learning. By setting up different pages and enriching them with contents, our participants had the opportunity to personalize their website, write a blog to report the development stages of a project, create portfolios etc..

The New Tech. group put a lot of emphasis on how to be more social online. We discussed social media as a medium to engage students, specifically Instagram and TikTok.
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The course went on discussing other tools for collecting and sharing resources and content. The group learnt about platforms that allowed them to collect and enrich videos, images, texts, pdf, and other materials, and share all this content with their students in just a simple click. These tools can be useful for example to describe different parts of a picture, especially in scientific subjects, and to provide a deeper context for a richer learning experience when approaching a new topic, for example in foreign language studies. Participants also practiced tools that function as collaborative walls, where every user is encouraged to post and contribute in building a more exhaustive collection of information.

Amongst the many tools they discovered they also learnt about interactive presentations in which the teacher can request the class’ opinion by submitting polls, creating word clouds, or asking for questions or feedback on the topic being presented, creating video lessons, particularly effective in these times, and online learning quizzes, very useful to test the progress of the students.

The participants also had a chance to experience a digital escape room - and in the end make their own version!
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The participants left this course with a new knowledge of interactive learning and new technologies and a new set of tools, ready to use them in their real and online lessons. We hope that you upkeep your motivation for warm-ups in the morning and stay “usually in a good mood”!

Discover more about this courses:
https://www.erasmustrainingcourses.com/social-media-in-the-classroom.html 
https://www.erasmustrainingcourses.com/e-learning-and-web-design.html ​