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In today’s modern times, almost every adult uses a computer as part of their work. Even tradespeople who don’t work on a computer might use it to keep their books or submit invoices and quotes to their customers. As the next generation grows up and enters the workforce, this native acceptance and use of computers, mobile devices and the internet will be so synonymous that these skills will be essential. At a school level, introducing kids to these devices as early as possible has distinct advantages, and it isn’t difficult to adapt your teaching style and classroom to adopt to the presence of laptops in the hands of your students.
Switch from Paper to Digital
A more obvious but often overlooked benefit of having devices in school classrooms is the ability to stop printing and copying notes, handouts and even textbooks. Instead, you can opt for a more digital approach. Not only does this make an environmental impact by reducing the use of paper, you can also use make use of learning management systems on a Lenovo school laptop to switch to digital submissions and hand-ins to automate some of your marking and assessment work.
Harness the Internet as a Learning Tool
The days of visiting the library and looking through dusty encyclopedias are already behind us, and the internet is the de facto standard for research for school projects and beyond. There is more to be had from the internet than just a replacement for book-based research however as there are lots of learning tools online. From things like Scratch to introduce kids to programming to apps like Duolingo that can become part of a language learning syllabus as an easy to use and effective practice tool.
Use Educational Games
Every kid loves a good video game and there’s plenty to be had that can be educational, particularly for younger kids. The interactive nature of educational games can offer a new level of engagement and attentiveness while also increasing hand eye co-ordination and confidence using technology. There are games available for just about any subject and age level.
Teach Typing and Other Fundamentals
Computers have been taught in schools at varying levels for a long time now, but the shift in what we teach has changed a lot. No longer do we need to teach kids to use operating systems and basics because many kids are already familiar with these things. Instead of teaching the basics of computers, which are largely intuitive to this generation of students, we should expand to teaching fundamentals that they might not teach themselves. This includes things like typing, which sometimes can be left neglected but is still an important skill.
Using a laptop in the classroom might feel like a daunting prospect to teachers who haven’t done so before, but it will soon become apparent once your students start using them as part of normal classroom work that it’s not as big a disruption as you might think. You’ll likely also struggle to go back to not having laptops in the classroom once you’ve realized their advantages too!