Contrary to popular belief, education is not always boring and dry. It can be fun and interesting, depending upon the approach. However, this is one aspect of education that is frequently ignored as many people continue to follow a traditional approach to teaching. While some elements of those tried and tested approaches are quite useful, it is always wise to cater to changing times.
Whether you are a teacher, a policymaker, or someone tasked with designing an educational curriculum, you cannot perform well in this sector unless you understand the changing dynamics. Therefore, it often comes down to the effort that a person is putting in their work that makes all the difference.Â
Before we go into the specifics, let us talk about the essence of education. Throughout history, education has served one purpose: to bring about an informed and knowledgeable generation. Now, these two words may appear to be quite similar, but they differ in their dynamics. This difference is clearer when one looks at the modern and historical context of these words.
While the former particularly caters to social consciousness, the latter can enable the former but exist independently in its regard. So, while education promotes civility, it can also bring about a generation that is aware of the gaps that need to be filled in collective knowledge. This is where innovation comes in, and any person who aspires to be an educational leader would have to focus on this factor.
Various elements make up the essence of education, and most of them can be targeted through a good approach to teaching, curriculum designing, and policymaking. So, we have crafted this article to talk about ways to make education easier.
- Engage The Students
The most important thing for a teacher is to engage their students. Without engaging students in a discussion or a learning process, a teacher cannot make them learn. However, it must be clarified here that engagement is not merely limited to talking about the subject at hand. It is an approach that encompasses various means of enhancing communication with people.
So, for a good educator, communication is the key to the successful execution of one’s strategy. By enhancing communication, an educator can not only engage their students, but they can also learn about their strengths and weaknesses. This, in turn, allows them to craft a strategy in line with the requirements of the students they are teaching.
Furthermore, oftentimes students are not comfortable sharing their views in front of others. This leads to some difficulties, and students have a hard time learning anything. To avoid this problem, an educator can convey through several ways that the environment they want to build is conducive to open communication. Not only would this help build communication, thus driving engagement, but it would also help students learn better.
- Adaptive Teaching
In our rapidly globalizing world, diversity is the norm in most educational settings. Even on the domestic front, where migration from rural to urban areas is on the rise, diversity is expected. While it can appear to be initially complicated, it is more beneficial for everyone. Once the initial hurdles are crossed, the advantages of classroom diversity become apparent.
A good educator recognizes these benefits and is always prepared to make the necessary adjustments to get past these hurdles. The first step towards these adjustments is the recognition of these differences. Students who come from different backgrounds come with their own set of experiences and may not be receptive to a uniform educational approach.
Therefore, to make it easier for them to learn and understand, a teacher needs to know their strengths and weaknesses. This information needs to be coupled up with the contextual information one gains on their background. Once clarity is developed on this front, an educator can find ways to make it easier for them to learn. Once the students understand how much effort a teacher is putting into educating them, they are likely to reciprocate on the same lines.
- Multimedia Resources
In our digital world, countless educational resources make learning a fun and enjoyable process. Back in the day, when a teacher wanted to make things interesting, they would share a personal story to avoid stagnancy in the process. As time went on, schools started showing movies or conducting events to make the entire experience more enjoyable for them.
Nowadays, we are lucky to be living in an age where multimedia resources are available for the classroom. To make classroom learning fun and interesting, and easier, an educator can simply start making interesting videos and assign them to students as homework. If that is too much of a hassle, a teacher can assign some other video lessons to students to watch over the weekend for classroom discussion. However, one must be cautious about the way the content is presented to the audience. The goal is to make things interesting, not add another lecture to the students’ schedule.
Similarly, with improving product quality and a wide catalog of movies on a variety of issues, certain lessons can be taught through movies. This is particularly true for history because students are more likely to learn things they can visualize. So, whether it is a Civil War or World War 2 lesson, it can be good to screen a movie inside the classroom to help students grasp that information firmly. Besides, this makes things less boring, and students might want to bring popcorn to the classroom. Similarly, if one is conducting an online class, which can be quite useful in these times, the use of digital tools can make things even more interesting.Â
While there are many more things one can do to make education easier, these three elements form the core of a good strategy in this regard. If a detailed strategy is crafted with these three elements in mind, it can certainly aid in making the process fun and interesting. Each case should be evaluated according to the circumstances to devise an effective strategy.
