Incorporating New Technologies in Education to Boost Classroom Engagement and Motivation

In recent years, traditional education has had to make way for virtual lessons and online classes. This shift required us to adapt and rethink how we teach and learn remotely. In this context, new technologies, digital tools, and interactive learning platforms have proven to be highly effective. These innovations enabled teachers worldwide to create engaging and dynamic virtual classrooms. Furthermore, these tools have also shown their value in physical classrooms, particularly in capturing students' attention and enthusiasm.

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 courses took place in Bologna from 28/07/2024 to 03/08/2024. The participants came from all across Europe, with Mária and Péter from Budapest XVII. Kerületi Balassi Bálint Nyolcévfolyamos Gimnázium in Hungary, Michaela from National Library of the Czech republic, Madiha from Rouges Barres Junior High School in France, and participants coming from three different Spanish schools: Jesus from IES Pedro Cerrada, Alicia, Patricia, Alejandra from ATADES, María Beatriz from IES Fidiana.

During the course, participants explored a variety of technological tools and learned how to integrate them into their teaching methods. We started with the latest trends in educational technology, focusing on virtual whiteboards and collaborative platforms. Practical sessions included turning their devices into virtual whiteboards with AI-enhanced elements and using collaborative walls for sharing and storing ideas.

Participants also practiced designing interactive presentations with real-time audience interaction and using ICT tools for more effective virtual classroom management. They also experimented with creating digital learning group games. These exercises showed them how these tools can make lessons more engaging and dynamic.

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, writing a blog to report the development stages of a project, creating portfolios etc..
An important topic of the course was Artificial Intelligence. The group became familiar with ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools explored during the week, acquiring insights into the seven elements of a good prompt. Through an interesting discussion, they analysed all the potential, the benefits but also the traps of using AI tools in education.

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. 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!

Discover more about this course here  and here.