Experiential Learning: To Learn By Doing

How and what we learn is determined in large part by how and what we experience—at least if Psychologist David Kolb has anything to say about it. His experiential learning theory combines traditional cognitive and behavior theories to create a more holistic approach.

Kolb believes that experiential learning incorporates emotions, environment, cognitive function, and experience as part of the transformative process of knowledge acquisition. We don’t learn in a vacuum; our feelings, the classroom, the concepts, and our past experiences influence how we absorb, retain, and recall information.

In other words, we don’t just have to learn the meaning of something to retain it fully; it has to be meaningful to us.

One-to-one technology can be a vital tool for the experiential learners as it’s often been shown that we as humans learn better by actively participating in our own learning and exploring. To fully harness the power of this type of learning with technology, a thoughtful approach is in order.

How to use technology for experiential learning.

• Use technology to relate curriculum to real life and personal experience, rather than rote recitation of facts and trends.

• Encourage online collaboration and positive relationship-building

• Record lectures and teaching plans so they can be accessed by students in a more familiar or comfortable environment.

• Empower students to use given technological tools to uncover their own research, resources, and opportunities.

• Adapt social networks as part of the interactive learning experience.

• Use technology that employs sensory input, like being able to take pictures, record sounds, and take notes.

• Virtual and game-based environments can increase the ‘fun-factor’ for many lesson plans, increasing the rate of retention.

While you can’t always make every lesson mean something for your students, you can give them tools to be active learners in their own lives. By stimulating them emotionally, developing a positive classroom environment, and providing them with self-guided resources, you can help them use technology to transform their experience in real and impactful ways.

To give your students the tools to be active learners, click below.

7 Reasons Why Technology In The Classroom Makes Today’s Schools Better

Tablets are replacing textbooks. Keyboarding is replacing cursive. Coding languages are just as important as developing conversational Spanish, French, and Mandarin. Technology in the classroom is changing schools just as much as it has changed the world we live in; it has made the world smaller as we become exposed to the different-yet-similar lives that live upon it, and made it bigger in revealing all there is still left to learn about the planet and the universe it swirls in.

Here are seven ways technology has improved the classroom experience. 

1. Technology makes classrooms more fun.
   Technology allows teachers to reach students with ways and means that interest them, whether by digital cameras and Smart Boards or a deep-dive into a subject matter with videos, interactive STEM experiments, and self-guided learning opportunities.

2. Classroom technology preps kids for life beyond school.
   Studies have shown that students believe technology helps them prepare for life in the digital future. Almost every career—even the sought-after trades like mechanics, electricians, and plumbers—has been transformed with technology, and the advancements aren’t slowing down. Students need exposure at every level to keep up with trends and to be able to positively contribute to them.

3. Technology creates an improved classroom experience.
   We’re learning more and more about learners; it turns out we all absorb, retain, and process information in a myriad of different ways. Technology helps teachers identify the specific ways their students handle new material in order to teach them where they are and in a way they best understand it.

4. Technology connects students.
   Technology, when used appropriately, connects us to the world in ways we've never seen or experienced. Social media can bring cultures to life, live streaming videos can connect us to current events, and digital libraries can bring a wealth of knowledge and adventure right to our fingertips. Forming the connections is an important part of making the most of them, and that’s advice we could use both online and in person.

5. Classroom technology makes teaching more effective (and enjoyable).
   Technology has allowed teachers to move away from abstract theory and into hands-on learning by tapping into their collective knowledge, skills, and resources. Audio-visual presentations, online videos, live interviews with experts—the opportunities are endless to give students the breadth of knowledge needed in any subject.

6. Technology makes communication smoother.
   Parents have more access than ever to their student’s progress in the classroom. Google Classroom, Blackboard 24/7, Dreambox, and more allow parents to check in on their students from time to time, giving them big-picture and detail access to the ins and outs of their child’s day. It’s not quite eyes-in-the-back-of-their-heads, but it’s just as useful as a conversation starter and a way to connect more deeply at home.

7. Technology has improved collaboration.
   Online apps and tools offer a unique way for all students to engage in a group project without having to fight for attention or the turn to speak. Contributions are tracked, and students are held accountable for their roles and responsibilities so that no one is left out and no one is left doing it all.

Naysayers protest that classroom technology is disruptive, and supporters may agree wholeheartedly; disruption, after all, is what keeps us moving forward. Classroom technology allows us to teach kids as the world continues to learn, preparing them for the future as it forms around them.

If you're looking to disrupt the classroom, reach out to us.

How To Plug Into The Best School Year Ever With Apps

Make no mistake, the best way to have the most productive and confident school year ever is to pretend the previous one never ended. “Every teacher—and every parent—dreads the summer backslide,” says Erica Eichmann at Arey Jones Educational Solutions. “The good news is, there are several apps available to help kids retain the skills they learned in the previous year and help set them up for success for the ones that are coming around the bend.” 

Here are five of our favorite summertime—and all-time—favorite apps.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy does for math and science what summer reading does for everything else; it pushes people in the direction of growth. With lectures, videos, quizzes, and more, the Khan Academy app helps people improve their comprehension, round out their understanding, and give more meat to distance learning programs. 

DuoLingo

If you’ve never heard of DuoLingo, it’s probably because you’re not currently studying a foreign language; otherwise, most people learning second and third languages are already familiar with the way this amazing app turns language lessons into games. Listen, speak, and translate through the DuoLingo interface, and you’ll find yourself nearing native-speaker status. Several languages are available, and the database is growing all the time.

Brainscape

From language to geography to math skills, Brainscape makes flashcards in a flash. A free app with in-app purchases to customize your experience, Brainscape offers several ways for a student to recognize, name, and memorize math facts, locations, and vocabulary so that larger concepts are easier to understand and manipulate. Great for road trips, long commutes, and rainy afternoons.

Match Motion: Cupcake!

For those elementary students who are sweet on everything else but math, Math Motion: Cupcake! gives math facts the spoonful of sugar kids need to make the multiplication medicine go down.

The Periodic Table

The Royal Society of Chemistry has somehow managed to create an elegant app packed with information, videos, atom models, and more for budding and passionate chemists. Users rave about its accessibility and approachability of information; by simply clicking on an element, you can learn about its natural state and real-life applications, watch podcasts and videos, and watch it interact with temperature and other elements.

And educational apps aren’t just for kids. Several of the apps and articles we listed above work just as well for adult learners as they do elementary, middle school, and high school students. It goes to show that when you pair technology with a lifelong love of learning, it doesn’t matter when school starts and stops; it only matters that you have the passion and the tools to keep growing.