Math can be difficult to understand for many people, from high school students to business employees.

Math and reading test scores for 13-year-olds in the U.S. have fallen to their lowest level in decades, and experts warn that continued poor performance could threaten the nation’s economic competitiveness, reported the Associated Press.

Learners and workers in the U.S. may be intimidated by the many equations and formulae that come with calculus and trigonometry, but the help of technology and alternative learning tools can help make the learning process a lot easier.

Here are some tips to engage with math more effectively.

1. Give Math a Real-world Context

One of the best ways to engage a reluctant student in math is by giving it relevance beyond the classroom. Let’s take budgeting, for instance. Showing a student how percentages are used to calculate discounts at the grocery store can make math concepts more tangible and relatable.

When they see that what they’re learning has direct applications in daily life, they’ll be encouraged to understand and engage with these principles rather than feeling overwhelmed or disconnected. They’ll also see exactly how important learning this subject can be.

2. Implement Games and Puzzles

Contrary to what many students think, math can be fun! Integrating games and puzzles into teaching breaks up the monotony and makes students more excited to tackle hard problems. For example, playing Sudoku can help improve logical thinking and problem-solving skills.

On the other hand, a simple game of cards can subtly introduce probability theory. These activities increase engagement by making learning enjoyable while seamlessly reinforcing key math principles. This way, even the most hesitant learners will be able to appreciate math.

3. Offer Different Ways to Approach a Problem

Imagine you’re teaching how to find the least common multiple (LCM). Some students might be comfortable with the list method, where they write down multiples of each number until they find a common one. But, others may prefer the more popular prime factorization method.

By offering such diverse LCM finding methods to your students, you can cater to various learning styles, promoting engagement and enhancing understanding. This approach helps switch off any reluctance by transforming math into a more accessible and exciting subject.

4. Adapt Your Learning Tools

If your student is struggling, it may be time to switch up your learning tools. Incorporating visual aids or hands-on materials can help bring abstract concepts to life. For instance, using colorful abacus beads could make arithmetical operations more comprehensible for tactile learners.

Meanwhile, illustrated charts or diagrams might better appeal to visual learners by clearly depicting geometric shapes or algebraic representations. The key is finding what tools resonate best with your learner and leveraging them effectively in the teaching process.

5. Personalize Lessons with Interests

Capturing a student’s attention is half the battle, and integrating personal interests into math lessons can do just that. For instance, if your student has a fascination with sports like football, try incorporating statistics from their favorite game into probability exercises.

Or, if they love art, explore geometric shapes through creative design activities. The key is making math resonate with what they enjoy or are already interested in. This strategy makes learning exciting and helps learners see the relevance of mathematical principles around them.

6. Praise Effort over Accuracy

One of the most effective ways to engage a hesitant learner is by reinforcing their confidence. And a great way to do this is by celebrating their effort as much as if not more than, their accuracy. Cheer their persistence in working out a complicated math problem.

Or, praise them for sticking with an equation, even when they initially get it wrong. This attitude helps cultivate resilience and perseverance, which are essential life skills. Plus, it assures them that the classroom is indeed a safe space to learn, explore, and even make mistakes.

7. Foster a Growth Mindset

A crucial step in engaging a reluctant student with math is fostering a growth mindset. Remind them that proficiency comes with practice, and it’s okay not to have all the answers right away. Promote the idea that struggle is part of the process and each mistake is an opportunity.

Let them know that failure isn’t a reflection of their abilities or potential but a natural part of life.

Instilling this concept helps them perceive challenges as hurdles they can overcome rather than insurmountable obstacles, boosting engagement and nurturing a lifelong love for learning.

If you found this article helpful, check out AI in Education: the Pros and Cons. 

Featured image credit: SonerCdem, iStock. 

The post Learning Tips for Students Who Find Math Difficult appeared first on eLearningInside News.

This article was written by Brian Lamb, the CEO of Swivl, an eLearning provider, specialising in classroom management.

Creativity is involved at every stage of education, from young children in art class to higher ed students working on a research project. What used to be considered just a human process, creativity has now become a focus of new technology solutions like artificial intelligence. As the use of AI in education continues to evolve, so will the boundaries and possibilities of creativity.

When the World Wide Web was first released in 1993, many humans were unsure of this innovative technology. Since then, humans have adapted and become more knowledgeable of the internet’s uses. Now, it plays a vital role in our everyday lives, from academics to careers and personal use.

A similar movement is happening with AI, and we’re just scratching the surface. Undoubtedly, the recent development of AI has already and will continue to impact human’s creative future.

From being trained on dramatically more information at a faster rate than humans to making more and better connections, AI is causing us — especially educators — to change our definition of creativity. While much is still unknown about AI implementation in education, many educators and parents question its long-term implications on students’ creative abilities.

What’s the solution for the future? Higher-order creativity.

What is Higher-Order Creativity?

Starting off, higher-order thinking is the process where humans think about thinking while also regulating thinking, otherwise known as metacognition. In the case of creativity, those employing higher-order thinking can think about how they can simultaneously create, recognize, and overcome their impulses during the most challenging parts of creativity.

These challenging parts of the process are almost guaranteed and can include fear of criticism and a lack of motivation.

Creating new, innovative ideas is just the first step in creativity. Humans with higher-order creativity can take it further by honestly evaluating their ideas and making necessary adjustments, and in the process, building their resilience to the obstacles and developing a willingness to iterate and keep going in the creative process.

For most students, the potential of failure is one of the most significant factors that causes them to give up during any learning or creative process. A new study from the Annals of the New York Academy of Science showed that high school students’ mindsets impacted how likely they were to view an academic setback as a permanent failure. After interviewing 300 high school students from across the country, researchers found students’ most common responses to setbacks were so-called “high arousal emotions” such as anger, shame, and frustration. While these reactions may lead to venting from students, they can also negatively impact their energy and motivation.

Because the fear of failure can be so extreme, students now rely on technology, specifically AI, to make things easier in the classroom. However, becoming too reliant on technology to think for themselves can hurt the development of skills they need to build intrinsic motivation while in school and even succeed in life after school. Instead, they should focus on building a strong sense of self-awareness.

The Need for Higher Order Skills and Meta-Creativity

Making these changes can be difficult for educators and students alike, but meta-creativity can be achieved using reflective tools. These tools allow students to enhance their creativity and other critical skills to high order while they use AI for appropriate uses.

Routines that can help students fully engage with the creativity process can be something as simple as mindful breathing. When educators create an environment where students are encouraged to stop what they’re doing when they hit a setback and calm down and refocus with breathing exercises, this will not only have a positive impact on the assignment they’re currently working on — it will also start creating positive habits for projects further down the road. This practice is especially important because AI isn’t going anywhere, so the earlier students know how to adapt and use AI alongside reflective learning techniques intentionally, the better for their personal and academic success.

People, especially students, inherently don’t know how to reflect well. With higher-order thinking, students must learn to reflect on their thinking, process, and even how they connect with others in group settings. As AI continues to be used in the classroom, students must be ready to push past their initial thoughts and take the next steps to set goals and achieve them.

Many education thought leaders might think schools aim to lessen creativity in their students. However, I think the constraints schools provide during students’ early years, including strict schedules and emphasis on traditional grading success, will significantly benefit them when they enter the “real world” as adults. Suppose students are shown how to use technology and higher-order creativity as a routine part of their educational schedules. In that case, they will be more mindful, adaptable adults, thriving in an independent, innovative culture that will only be enhanced by more technology.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing every industry, and its impact on education has just scratched the surface. AI’s impact on creativity can become harmful if humans don’t learn to adjust their higher-order thinking and skills. By becoming more aware, flexible, and reflective with their routines and the tools they use, humans can have exponential limits of success when using AI in the classroom.

Academic success is traditionally tied to setting goals attached to a completed project or associated with perfectionism. Manage the impulse of giving up when confronted with failure or criticism, the image of academic success and the function of creativity as a higher-order skill will both change. Eventually, this academic success will lead to long-term growth and success when their school journey is over.

If you liked this article, check out How eLearning Transforms Education for Autistic Children. 

Featured image credit: dorian2013, iStock. 

The post Discovering Higher-Order Creativity in Education appeared first on eLearningInside News.

This article was written by Sandra Fineman, MPAS, PA-C. She is the associate vice president and and an associate professor for the Center for Interprofessional Studies at Marshall B. Ketchum University. 

Online and remote modalities of education have become more popular in the last decade. The recent pandemic created multiple new avenues for effective remote instruction, adapting to the evolving educational environment. However, it’s important to understand and never lose sight of the simple truth that hands-on education is the absolute cornerstone to a successful career for the health care professional.

As a longtime healthcare educator and provider, I believe in the art of medicine as well as the science of medicine. Obviously, the science of medicine refers to the collected body of knowledge as represented by textbooks, and you cannot skimp on that.

But the art of medicine is just as important in the journey to becoming a health care professional wherein the student learns to listen to the patient’s chief complaint as one piece of their larger story, as well as their medical and social history to ultimately determine how best to provide appropriate care for that unique individual, blending compassion and skill.

Without hands-on educational experiences, it is impossible for the student to learn the art of medicine. Additionally, in-depth research and online reading can be influential as well, allowing you to learn more about things such as different careers in medicine and the difference in healthcare administration vs. healthcare management.

From the Comfort Zone to the Growth Zone

Edgar Dale’s well-known Pyramid of Learning states simply that people remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear and 90% of what they do. The truth of this observation has been born out time and time again, and when you consider how high the stakes are for what we are asking healthcare students to remember, that truth becomes even more important.

When the person reporting the weather is wrong about rain, we are inconvenienced; if a healthcare provider is wrong about a diagnosis or a treatment, the consequences are potentially far greater.

Because of this, it is imperative to give students a great deal of hands-on training. One of the primary reasons that hands-on training is so effective is that no other learning method is as useful for getting students out of their comfort zones. It would certainly be more “comfortable” for some students to learn remotely, whether that means from the back of the classroom or at home watching a live-streamed lecture.

Pulling students from that comfort zone may even put them into a bit of a fear zone, where they are unsure about what to expect and nervous about making mistakes. But beyond the fear zone is where learning happens, where they truly begin to understand the medicine and the concepts undergirding it, and beyond that is the growth zone. That’s when they begin to mature into the caring and exceptional healthcare providers that we want them to be.

The Two Pillars of Hands-On Health Care Education

Simulated laboratory training and clinical rotations are the two pillars of hands-on healthcare education, and both methods provide ample opportunity for students to move from their comfort zones to their growth zones.

Simulated labs are the first places where students begin to understand the variety of treatment methods in the real world that go beyond what they learn in their textbooks. They can observe how different faculty members perform different skills, and the different philosophies behind them and then practice their own skills in a safe environment where they are protected from beginner mistakes.

Eventually, students advance to their first clinical rotations, and many are definitely entering the fear zone at that point!

They are treating real patients with real problems, and you can’t get more hands-on than that. But they still have the crucial safety net of a knowledgeable clinical preceptor who is overseeing them, so they still have room to make mistakes and experience the successes by which they will begin to truly grow as a healthcare provider.

I recall one student who requested to be put on the one rotation with a patient population that he was least comfortable with at the very end of his cycle, with the hope that he would be better prepared to succeed in that rotation at that point. I made it his very first rotation.

I knew he was a brilliant student who would flourish, but I also knew that he needed to prove it to himself. If he had started with a different rotation, where he felt more comfortable, there’s no doubt in my mind that his growth would have been stifled.

Even though I understood he had a bit of fear about that rotation, I knew that fear wasn’t smothering, and that the challenges he faced in that difficult setting would cause him to grow in ways that amplified his skills in each successive placement.

The Privilege of Being a Health Care Provider

I often tell my students: “Your patients don’t read the textbooks!” Patients don’t know all the science of medicine; all they know is themselves and their symptoms. They bring their own stories to each visit, and they are often coming to us on their worst days.

They will often make us “uncomfortable.” But each individual patient is so much more than their chief complaint, so we are obligated to bring our best to them. Being able to move from discomfort and fear to learning and growth is one of the crucial ways that we honor the privilege of caring for people, and it’s an important and invaluable benefit of hands-on training for the healthcare provider.

If you thought this article was interesting, check out Online Math and English Games to Help Kindergarten Students.

The post Why Hands on Education is the Key to Healthcare Career Success appeared first on eLearningInside News.

Autism spectrum is a neurological disorder that affects the way certain people process information. The condition can result in significant learning and behavioral challenges, including difficulty communicating and interacting with others. It’s estimated that 1 in 54 children has autism, and the number is rising.

Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disorder in the U.S., and it’s showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. A study published in the ResearchGate Journal shows that the disorder is more common in developed nations. Moreover, it is four times more common in boys than in girls.

Autism can impact how a child understands things, posing educational challenges. However, eLearning has proven to be an impactful solution for this. In this article, we will discuss how eLearning is transforming education for autistic children.

Understanding Autism Spectrum Education Challenges

It’s important to understand the specific challenges autistic children face in education. There are many differences between autistic and non-autistic children, but one of the most notable is their ability to communicate with others.

Here are some key challenges and considerations in providing education for individuals on the autism spectrum:

Sensory sensitivities: Many individuals with autism experience sensory sensitivities. This can include hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to stimuli such as lights, sounds, textures, and smells. Classrooms may need to be adapted to accommodate these sensitivities, with considerations for lighting, noise levels, and sensory-friendly materials.

Communication differences: Communication challenges are common among individuals with ASD. Some may have delayed speech, while others may have difficulty with nonverbal communication, such as gestures and facial expressions. Teachers may need alternative communication methods, such as visual supports, picture schedules, or augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. An article from PsychCentral states that some differences in communication include a lack of eye contact and difficulty engaging in small talk.

Social skills development: Individuals with autism often struggle with social interactions and may have difficulty understanding social cues. Social skills training and structured social activities can be beneficial. Peer support programs and inclusion efforts can also help foster social development.
Individualized instruction: Due to the wide variability in the presentation of autism, one-size-fits-all approaches may not be effective. Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) are commonly used to tailor educational strategies and goals to the specific needs of each student. Regular assessment and adjustment of these plans are crucial for ongoing success.

Executive functioning challenges: Many individuals with ASD experience difficulties with executive functions, such as organization, time management, and task initiation. Teachers may need additional support, such as visual schedules, explicit instructions, and organizational tools.

The Rise of eLearning in Autism Education

The rise of eLearning in autism education is a welcome development. The benefits are clear: it’s a cost-effective way to meet the needs of children with disabilities, who often require more support. But this isn’t always an easy transition for autistic students. Several factors contribute to the growing prominence of eLearning in autism education:

Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs): eLearning platforms allow for creating highly individualized learning plans that cater to the specific needs and strengths of each autistic learner. Customization can include adjusting the pace of learning, incorporating multimedia elements, and adapting content to different learning styles.

Visual aids and multimedia resources: eLearning platforms often integrate visual aids and multimedia resources that can be particularly beneficial for autistic individuals, who often prefer visual learning. Videos, interactive simulations, and graphics can enhance understanding and engagement.

Flexibility and accessibility: eLearning provides flexibility regarding when and where learning can occur. This flexibility is crucial for autistic individuals, allowing them to learn comfortably and minimizing potential sensory challenges. Additionally, eLearning materials can be accessed repeatedly, reinforcing learning in a way that suits the individual’s pace.

Social skills training: Many eLearning programs for autism education incorporate social skills training modules. These modules may include interactive scenarios, virtual role-playing, and social stories that help autistic individuals develop and practice social skills.

eLearning also helps autistic individuals indirectly by allowing eligible individuals to get the necessary education and knowledge to help autistic children. According to Ithaca College, individuals with a degree in speech-language pathology can help educate autistic children. In fact, the website states that around 56% of the professionals with a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology are in education.

SLPs can conduct comprehensive assessments to evaluate the communication abilities of autistic children. This includes assessing speech and language skills and social communication skills. They can work collaboratively with other professionals, such as psychologists and educators, to contribute to understanding the child’s communication needs.

They can also develop and implement individualized treatment plans based on the specific needs of each autistic child. These plans may address speech articulation, language comprehension, social communication, and pragmatic language skills. They can collaborate with other educational team members to integrate speech and language goals with the child’s educational plan.

eLearning can help students interested in speech-language pathology learn all the details required to enroll in the right course. They can also enroll in an online course on an eLearning platform. Such speech-language pathologist college programs can enable qualified individuals to get the required license to start helping autistic children.

Customization and Personalization in eLearning

Personalization is a key component of eLearning that can help autistic children learn more effectively. This is because it allows them to engage with the material at their own pace and work in ways they are most comfortable with. This can include:

• Adjusting the presentation style of content and activities (e.g., video vs text)
• Providing opportunities for learners to interact with others online or through social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.
• Allowing learners to create their digital portfolios based on what they have learned throughout their course.

Technology as a Facilitator in Autism Education

Technology can help autistic children learn, communicate, and socialize. It also helps them practice new skills and understand the world around them.

For instance, a ScienceDirect Journal study shows that up to 50% of autistic children have issues with inhibitory control challenges. This relates to a lack of ability to manage distractions and maintain concentration. Such children also have decreased perseveration.

However, with the technology, teachers can include multiple media files in the training material to improve engagement. This can increase autistic children’s concentration and help them learn more.

Here are several ways in which technology supports autism education:

Adaptive software: Technology allows for the creation of adaptive learning software that can adjust the difficulty and pace of lessons based on an individual’s progress. This ensures that the material is tailored to their needs.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Devices: Apps and devices that support communication through visuals, symbols, and text help non-verbal or minimally verbal individuals with autism express themselves.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR): These technologies can create immersive environments that assist in sensory integration therapy, helping autistic individuals manage sensory sensitivities.

Educational Games: Technology enables the development of entertaining, educational games that promote learning and skill development.

However, one also has to keep in mind that children suffering from ASD also have intellectual disabilities. A study uploaded on the Frontiers Journal website concludes that 50% to 70% of autistic children have this disability. Intellectual disabilities affect their social, cognitive, and adaptive skills.

Thus, they have problems participating in research-based activities.

Hence, teachers and parents need to select the right technology that can help autistic children instead of overwhelming them. A platform or software with a simple User Interface (UI) is required to ensure easy navigation. Tech applications with complicated UI might not be able to be of much help in educating autistic children.

As we’ve seen, eLearning is a powerful tool for helping autistic children to learn. It allows them to be engaged in their learning process and progress at their own pace. The classroom environment can also be more inclusive of people with special needs by using technology such as speech-to-text dictation software. This can make it easier for them to understand different concepts and learn quickly.

If you found this article interesting, check out Higher Education: Using AI to Meet Student Needs. 

Featured image: Jatuporn Tansirimas, iStock. 

The post How eLearning Transforms Education for Autistic Children appeared first on eLearningInside News.

The internet has changed the way the physical world functions. Nowadays, everyone who is connected to it is granted access to countless services and opportunities.

The educational sphere is the one that has undergone the most qualitative changes since any type of educational course, workshop, and schooling can be easily accessed through any type of connected device.

If you are willing to join the team of online educators and spread your knowledge worldwide, follow our guide to learn all the main steps to perform and understand how eLearning is tightened to E-commerce website design and development.

Why Create an Online Course?

There are several benefits to online education, including:

• It enlightens people regardless of age, location, and capabilities.
• Its efficiency is 60% higher than traditional approaches.
• Due to a more targeted approach, students learn the material faster by 30-40%.

The overall E-learning audience coverage is expected to reach 57 million by 2027, with the profitability reaching $370 billion by 2026. Therefore, while being the primary tool for education nowadays, eLearning is also a profitable venture for its creators.

How to Create an Online Course?

The success of the course depends on the level of its proficiency, the functionality of digital solutions, and marketing.

Choose the topic

Udemy, Coursera, Moodle, EdX, MasterClass – these are trailblazers of global educational content, which cover all the possible topics to learn. Therefore, when getting down to course creation, it is important to be ready for a high level of competition, and a rather tough way toward top searches and wide audience coverage.

When considering ideas for course creation, make sure they will have distinctive features compared to already existing ones, and meet the current demand of a certain industry.

Type of the course

Online courses are available in different forms and formats. The most typical division is a mini-course, a multi-day course, and a long-term course.

A mini-course targets one specific skill and can consist of up to 10 videos, lectures, or e-mails. The overall duration of the course shouldn’t exceed a few hours. Oftentimes, mini-courses serve as the introduction to the main course and a great tool to attract new learners. The price doesn’t go over $100, or it can be offered as a free course.

A multi-day course targets a bigger area of knowledge and requires up to seven days for completion. The materials include a video list, worksheets, checklists, quizzes, and any other type of supplementary tools. The price range gets higher, starting from $250.

A long-term course is a series of educational materials that can last more than a few months. It provides the students with extensive knowledge and expertise in certain areas. The pricing starts from $300. A long-term course requires decent skills in course creation to build a system of knowledge, break down the topics, categorize the knowledge, etc.

It is best to start with mini-courses and learn how everything works, and then gradually move on to more extensive forms. Besides, when starting with a mini-course, you have better chances to attract new learners and introduce them to your product.

Content creation

Educational content can be presented in the form of videos, lectures, presentations, photos, e-mails, quizzes, etc. While all the types possess different characteristics, there is one thing that should unite all of them – quality.

Considering the high level of expectations from users, the quality of all the materials should be beyond reproach.

Digital tools

Once the content is created it is time to share it online and organize the whole learning process.

The first step is to adopt a learning management system (LMS) – a type of software that helps with the administration, delivery, tracking, and reporting of educational materials. The most recognizable are LearnUpon, iSpring, Absorb, Talent LMS, etc. While sharing the same purpose – learning management – they offer different solutions to the way the course is presented to the customer.

The second step is the integration of your course and LMS with leading eCommerce platforms, like Shopify, to make the product accessible for purchasing. The integration can be performed with the help Shopify web development services, which will ensure the seamless performance of your eLearning store.

Marketing

After mastering the course, and all the supporting materials, it is time to start a promotional campaign, which will make your product visible to the target audience. Social media posts, guest posts, advertisements, influencer marketing, word of the month – everything will work perfectly to establish the online visibility of the course.

You can also target Internet resources like Quora and Reddit, as Internet users often use them to search for proper courses.

When just starting the eLearning business, it’s important to offer free courses and discounts for the customers, to let them see the value of the product, and thus, proceed with full-payment courses.

The Bottom Line

eLearning is one of the most developing industries nowadays. While offering tremendous benefits to our society, and bringing knowledge to all people regardless of distance and age, it also is a source of profit for its creators.

The course creation consists of a few major steps:

• Outlining the idea of the course for a specific target group.
• Choice of course type and content creation.
• Selection of the Learning Management System, to host your materials, and its further integration with the E-commerce platform, like Shopify, to sell the courses.
• Marketing.

When following these basic steps, you are sure to create an eLearning course that will meet a specific demand of the customers, reach a wide audience of users, and improve the financial benefits.

If you found this helpful, try out Online Math and English Games to Help Kindergarten Students. 

Featured image credit: Muhamad Chabib alwi, iStock. 

The post Creating an Online eLearning Course From Scratch appeared first on eLearningInside News.

The importance of STEM education is in no doubt. Science, technology (including coding), engineering and math skills are vital for our future workforce and any child who excels in one or more of these areas has a bright future.

If your child has a particular interest in STEM subjects or shows signs of special abilities or talents in them, you may be looking for additional activities outside of school to help nurture their skills. You may also be looking for classes if you are concerned about your child’s progress in any of the STEM areas.

What are your options? There are summer camps and after school programs offered by specialist providers for a start. Your child’s school may offer extracurricular programs, too. A further option is one that your child can do from home whenever it is convenient. It’s the use of a STEM e-learning platform.

This option offers your child a flexible, personalized course and access to specialist teaching without needing to leave your home.

How a good e-learning platform should work

A child’s experience of e-learning should begin with diagnostic testing. Capturing where a child’s strengths and weaknesses lie means that all online lessons can be pitched to best maximize progress from the get-go.

Diagnostic testing will follow the same format as ongoing assessments throughout the course. It will be fun, interactive and engaging. Data from regular assessments throughout your child’s e-learning course can demonstrate how much and where they are making progress from beginning to end.

This data-driven approach improves the instruction your child will receive because it helps your child’s teacher choose the correct pathway through the learning content for your child. On a good e-learning platform, your child’s assessment data should be easily visible to you, meaning you can keep an eye on their progress, too.

As for the activities your child will engage in, these will include learning videos, presentations and multiple styles of interactive activities for your child to build and strengthen new skills.

Your child will learn from completing online worksheets that give immediate feedback, and through games and quizzes. Your child can also meet their teacher online and have the opportunity for direct teaching and discussion with them.

The whole system of instruction, activity and assessment should appear on a friendly, attractive interface that’s appealing to children.

The advantages of an e-learning platform

Here are four of the most significant advantages of this style of learning.

Engagement

All parents know that children are naturally drawn to screens. They love almost any kind of online game and would happily spend hours immersed in technology. Why not put this to good use?

E-learning platforms leverage the enjoyment that children get from electronic games and activities by combining it with powerful teaching and learning opportunities. Engaging video content and gamification of learning are common features of good learning platforms. Your child is guaranteed to enjoy learning this way.

Personalization

You can pick exactly what you would like your child to learn. You’ll find many of the course options on a good platform are relatively specific.

So instead of ‘computing’, you’ll find courses on app development or coding, for example. It means your child can follow a particular interest or work on something they need special help in. It could also mean that they get more experience of something they’ve only touched on briefly at school.

The other way these are tailored to the individual child is through the exact course content. As mentioned earlier, a robust system of regular micro assessment means that your child’s learning can be personalized to suit their progress throughout the course. Two children on the same course won’t necessarily follow the same program of study for this reason.

Accessibility and flexibility

Your child can access their additional STEM learning whenever it is a good time. All they will need is an appropriate electronic device and a stable internet connection. Many students choose to access their e-learning platforms regularly after school or on weekends. However, the possibilities are endless. They could use a long journey or time spent waiting for an appointment to get stuck into some bitesize learning.

The great thing about e-learning is that it is far easier to fit into a busy schedule than any in-person class or activity. You can easily add extra-curricular STEM learning to your child’s other out-of-school interests like sports and music.

Success

Good e-learning platforms have proven track records of success. This comes from all the points above: personalization, high levels of student engagement and the flexibility of the courses are a winning formula.

e-Learning Industry cited a study by Brandon Hall Group Research that showed students retain up to 5 times more knowledge from an e-learning course compared to in-person teaching. They attribute this to the bitesize nature of the content on e-learning platforms.

5 exciting STEM courses your child can take on an e-learning platform

Coding

Your child can learn C#, HTML/CSS, Java, Python and Scratch. They could be a beginner or learn at an advanced level. Their course would be suited to their grade level and tweaked using diagnostic and regular assessment. Children are encouraged to use their preferred system to solve challenging real-world problems.

Game development

Game development e-learning courses are naturally popular with children and young people. They can use their creativity to build and test exciting gameplay.

3D designing

This practical e-learning course will also appeal to your child’s creative side. They can learn how to design meaningful 3D objects using relevant software.

Arduino

Arduino is a program that helps students develop skills in electronics. They can create circuits, from beginner level to advanced. They can go on to create exciting things like home automation and wearable devices. This will demonstrate the real-world value of their new skills.

AI-aware app development

Students can learn app development alongside AI and create fully-fledged, downloadable apps with a real-life purpose.

The rise of e-learning has opened some doors into the exciting world of STEM. These subjects are more accessible and more engaging than ever before for students of all ages. You can ignite a lifelong love of STEM in your child and help them develop skills for their future career.

Why not explore the many exciting e-learning options available further?

Maloy Burman is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Premier Genie FZ LLC. He is responsible for driving Premier Genie into a leadership position in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education space in Asia, Middle East and Africa and building a solid brand value. Premier Genie is currently running 5 centers in Dubai and 5 centers in India with a goal to multiply that over the next 5 years.

Featured Image: Tima Miroshnichenko, Pexels. 

The post What a STEM E-Learning Platform Can Offer Your Child appeared first on eLearningInside News.

DECEMBER 29 – The number of reported cyber incidents in K-12 schools and districts in the U.S. stands at 1180. Covid-19 and the introduction of remote and hybrid learning have only made cybercrime more frequent and sophisticated in the education sector. In the past 30 days, Microsoft Security Intelligence has seen 8,253,516 devices in the education industry encounter malware, making education the largest affected industry in front of retail, healthcare, and high-tech.  That number will only increase in the new year.

The K-12 Cybersecurity Act of 2021 was passed by President Biden on October 8th. This legislation comes as a direct response to the growing rise in ransomware and data breaches occurring in K-12 education, as found by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

From the day of its passing, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is to conduct a 120-day study into the specific risks impacting K-12 institutions.

60 days after the study, the director will develop a list of recommendations, including cybersecurity guidelines designed to assist K-12 institutions with potential crimes.

120 days after this, the director will then develop an online training toolkit for K-12 superintendents and officials, both to inform them of the recommendations of the study and to provide strategies on how to implement those recommendations.

Last year, the K-12 Security Information Exchange (K-12 SIX) reported the types of incidents and growing threats present in 2020. Cybercrimes included: Data breaches, class invasions/denial of service, ransomware, and phishing. Such common incidents occurring recently range from holding personal student information for ransom to hijacking a superintendent’s board meeting to project racial slurs.

One explosive incident occurred in March with Buffalo Public Schools, where hackers were able to shut down classes for days, steal sensitive student and employee information, and destroy vital school records. This attack resulted in a $10 million pay-out. A recent exclusive found that IT staff were cautious of an attack months prior, but due to bad judgment and an absent cyber insurance policy, they failed to stop the attack.

The transition into hybrid working has shifted the priorities of IT staff and cybersecurity managers, creating a brittle environment in which they have little experience of working. These attacks have followed a distinct pattern, in which specific types of cybercrime have been identified. The range and scope of these incidents have also been tracked across America.

A team of researchers at CompariTech studied data breaches in U.S. schools across 15 years. The highest number of recorded breaches were found in Nevada with 717,626 exposed records.

Districts most affected included Washoe County (114,000) and Clark County (559,487), both were hit by the Pearson data breach, as were many around the U.S. Regarding ransomware attacks, CompariTech found Nevada again to be the most affected, followed by Texas, Virginia, and Maryland. From both data breaches and ransomware attacks, big school districts have been affected the most by cybercrime.

Dr. Hanine Salem, a managing director at Novus Consulting Group (NCG), who has over 20 years’ worth of experience in public-sector development, explains what types of schools are most exposed to these incidents. “According to research from the K12 Security Information Exchange: larger school districts are at a significantly greater risk for experiencing a cyber incident than other types of school districts, as are school districts located in more densely populated parts of the county. It reports that there are a few reasons that might explain this pattern. First, larger school districts manage more technology devices and systems than smaller enrollment districts and have more students and employees using that technology. Smaller enrollment translates to offering a smaller threat profile to malicious actors and a lower chance of being affected by user actions (whether intentional or by mistake). Second, incidents that occur in smaller school districts may be less likely to become publicly disclosed than in larger, more urban school districts.”

Interestingly CompariTech found no incidents of breaches in Wyoming. According to Governing, Wyoming has one of the smallest numbers of school districts (48), and lowest student enrollments (92,563). These numbers are in parallel to high-risk states like California and Arizona, which were hit the hardest with data breaches. Their total number of districts are (941) and (226), respectively.

There is a clear pattern indicating that schools and districts that deal with a larger number of students, thus larger volumes of information, are most affected by cybercrime.

Dr. Hanine Salem explains how schools are not doing enough to protect and inform students about the cybercrime affecting them.

“With federal funding as a result of COVID, right now, schools have a unique opportunity to pay for training courses like the Cyber Citizenship course.” Said Dr. Salem. “If a school, is improving cybersecurity to better meet the educational and other needs of students related to preventing, preparing for, or responding to COVID-19, it may use Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funds.”

NCG’s Cyber Citizenship course was designed to teach students the fundamentals of cyber security and how to stay safe online when using technology. Non-governmental cybersecurity platforms have been tirelessly providing online resources and information on cybersecurity since before the pandemic, and have only been developing their services. K-12 SIX has their K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center, which provides an up-to-date map of recorded cybercrime incidents in K-12 schools, and a cybersecurity self-assessment service intended for K-12 IT and cybersecurity managers. Fortinet and Dell Technologies also provide cybersecurity software and information for K-12 schools and districts, with solutions for network and cloud security. Along with these companies, there are numerous courses available online concerning K-12 cybersecurity and how to stay safe online from Coursera to Udemy.

EdTech companies are holding the fort for both assisting schools with their security and teaching students about cybercrime.

“Students need to learn to be their own best defense against cybercriminals. Children and youth are often considered to be soft targets, mainly because they have not yet been trained on basic cybersecurity subjects and ways to protect themselves and their devices, making them an easy gateway into the more valuable home and school devices and networks.” Said Dr. Salem.

The results of the CISA director’s study will be revealed in early 2022. With a large amount of information and resources available online from EdTech companies and organizations, the government can provide K-12 schools with a stronger line of defense from recurring cybercrime.

Featured Image: Mikhail Nilov. 

The post The K-12 Cybersecurity Act of 2021 and The State of Cyber Crime in Education appeared first on eLearningInside News.

In the US alone, the web design market is valued at $40 billion. Web designing can be self-taught. While the avenues of education are not free, there are cheaper alternatives than the academic route.

Online courses on web designing and there are resources that you can purchase online. The most important thing is actually determining which aspect of web design to learn first. Such aspects are important when presenting your career as a marketable one.

Back to the question: How to learn web design? From crucial learning tools to marketing techniques, a web designer must know them all.

Web Design and the Job Market

Web designing is a lucrative career path. It pays well, too. According to popular employment site, Glassdoor, a website designer can earn as much as $88,373 per year.

Even if you already have a career, it’s still an advantage to learn web design. Whatever business you are in, a website is always an integral part of it, so web design skills are transferable.

This is particularly essential if you are doing freelance work. As an individual doing business, a website is even more important since you don’t have the manpower to help you with marketing.

Steps on how to learn web design:

Understand the basic tenets of web design

Understanding the basic web design principles is important for your success as a future web designer and developer. What’s really great about web design is that it is a balance of science and creativity. There is a science to creating a website as you have to follow a formula and a process.

The web designer has to understand the concept that needs to be translated into something visually attractive. Part of knowing the basic tenets is also knowing the front end and back end of web design. Whatever you see on a website was due to the work done on the back end. Knowing how to read a webpage is an essential skill that will help your web design, from identifying tags to format adaptability.

The user usually makes a command from the front end. So, when they navigate a web page and press a button for the site to do a specific thing, the server will internalize the information and send it through the back end with all the correct HTML code so that the correct request will be displayed on the screen.

Back-end personnel are called programmers. Their task is not something that a web designer actually needs to master but it’s still good to know about it.

The front end, on the other hand, is where the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and others have to work together in order to display the right page on the site. This is where web visitors engage with the website. It also follows that you know the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These are the languages of web design. There are many online courses and tools available to learn this particular skill, from Codecademy to Skillshare.

Learn the principles of visual design

Creativity is usually guided by emotions. In the complex world of web design, creativity is guided by both learned practices and emotion.

Here are the important web design concepts that you need to master:

Line: Every character in the layout for the website is made up of lines. These lines also compose a more generic structure. You need to understand how these lines will create order and organization on the website. It is important that balance is achieved when it comes to the use of the lines on the design.

Shapes: You will be working with three basic designs: circles, squares, and triangles. You have to understand the practical uses of these designs when creating the website. Not only that but there are also emotions attached to these shapes. This just means that you have to be savvy about how to use the shapes to shape a website.

Color: You should know that there are appropriate colors to use for appropriate designs. There are colors that would portray the brand properly. It’s important that every web designer knows the story and the meaning behind every color and if they would mesh well together.

Typography: Just like color and shape, the use of font also conveys a message. You need to know which fonts to use that will make your website easy to understand while also making sure that they look good. There should also be consistency with typography. This doesn’t mean that you have to use only one type of font, just that the different fonts shouldn’t be at war with each other.

Master the foundations of User Experience and User Interface

User experience (UX) is what will make more people visit your website. Sometimes, it’s not the number of people who visit your site, it’s the number of people you have converted into loyal customers.

Users will spend money on the brand if the website makes it easy for them. The creative part and the science part should go well together in order to bring out the best of the website and make people feel good when navigating the site.

There are two important factors that need to be considered: information architecture and user flows. You want the display to be easy to understand and then you want the flow to be easy for the users to operate. Every button and page should be highly functional.

The user interface (UI) is what users see on every page. The content should be easy to read and the buttons should be easy to understand. Coursera provides a 4-month free course on the fundamentals of UX and UI, covering user research and project management.

Creating the Website Layout

Organization is very important in layout as well as continuity. Understanding what makes a good layout will help the UI design. A powerful website is one that can help your client achieve the full potential growth and reach of their business.

To design a website with a great layout, use these tools.

Featured Image:Eftakher Alam, Unsplash. 

The post How To Learn Web Design: 4 Steps To Start Designing appeared first on eLearningInside News.

Over the last few decades, we’ve been seeing a gradual increase in technology use for educational purposes. Classrooms have become increasingly dependent on tools like computers, tablets, and online curriculum. In fact, school districts in the US used an average of 1,449 digital tools every month during the 2020-2021 school year.

While technology use does offer some clear benefits for educators and students alike, there are also some valid concerns about this approach.

One 2019 survey indicated that technology was distracting for almost half of all students in the classroom.

So, how much technology is needed for student learning, and when does it become disruptive? Let’s take a look.

The Good & Bad of Tech for Students

We hear all the time that too much “screen time” is bad for kids. But does that apply to educational settings? What are the consequences of kids using technology at school all day, and then coming home to watch TV, do homework online, and play video games for hours? According to the Mayo Clinic, too much screen time can lead to irregular sleep, poor academic performance, less time spent on active play, and behavioral problems.

Obviously, there are pros and cons to using tech in the classroom. During the COVID-19 pandemic, technology was a literal lifesaver, helping to limit the spread of a deadly disease while allowing schools to continue providing students with an education, limited though it might have been.

But now that students are heading back into the classroom, how much technology should be used? Though there are currently no best practices established, researchers have begun to analyze the effects of technology in the classroom by using 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data.

Some devices were shown to produce worse student outcomes, which indicates that schools would do well to carefully consider what types of technology they invest in. The analysis also shows that it might be best to keep educators in charge of tech in the classrooms, as device use by teachers was associated with higher scores than technology in the hands of students.

Although these results already tell us a lot, there is still much we don’t know about how to optimize tech use in the classroom. However, they do indicate that education leaders need to tread carefully and thoughtfully in introducing more tech.

Technology Gaps & Class Divide

The pandemic revealed many inequalities in the American education system, as schools were forced to take their classes online. Around 15 million students (out of roughly 50 million total) did not have adequate Internet access to fully participate in virtual classroom assignments or the devices they needed to reach their learning goals during the pandemic. Missing school due to lack of access causes students to fall behind, making it difficult for them to catch up.

Income inequality will continue to affect low-income students more as technology’s presence in the classroom increases. The digital divide in education exists not only because individual families do not have the money to buy devices and Internet access, but because low-income schools also cannot afford to fund the necessary equipment.

If the education system intends to continue relying on digital curriculums, it will have to grapple with this reality and help students affected by a lack of resources. The good news is that some nonprofits, such as EducationSuperHighway, are working toward equitable internet access for all U.S. households.

Gamified Learning Is Effective & Enriches Education

One hugely positive trend made possible by technology in education is the gamification of core concepts that all students need to master as they progress through the school system. Children are playful by nature and respond well to learning that is delivered in a “game” format.

Additional engagement isn’t the only benefit of gamification, however. Gamification can help with concentration, processing, and information recall. In short, children learn and retain information better when it’s fun! Several EdTech companies now recognize this and have begun to incorporate gamification into their software for both students and educators. Technology provides the ideal system for this purpose.

Looking Ahead and Considering the Impact of Technology on Students

Clearly, technology offers the education system a range of powerful benefits. However, as we look to the future, it’s important to understand how and when EdTech should be used to help students learn, grow, and prepare for life in a digital world.

In the United States, McKinsey reports that students who use devices for more than 60 minutes a week have better academic outcomes, but it’s important to remember that there are many factors in play when it comes to academic performance. 81% of educators have become more confident in their ability to use EdTech since the pandemic, which could ultimately boost the benefits of using technology in the classroom.

Tech in the classroom is a delicate balance. And for now, we need to learn more about how it affects students and ensure equal access to digital resources before we go full steam ahead.

Featured Image: ThisIsEngineering, Pexels. 

The post The State of Technology in Education appeared first on eLearningInside News.

61% of businesses migrated their workloads to the cloud in 2020, and this trend is likely to rise in the next decade. One of the main areas the cloud is universally leveraged in is education, with schools and colleges using different resources to share and distribute educational material.

Some exclusively use educational cloud resources, like Microsoft Live for Education, while others are looking at more indie sources, like Centre Stack, for their file-sharing servers. If you’re looking to add a share file server to your academic institution, consider the following.

What are the Challenges with Sharing Files in a School?

Most students operate out of their laptops, which creates the assumption that sharing files within school grounds would be easy. However, problems start to appear anytime a teacher or student has to share documents that may or may not include private information, like an SSN.

Here are just a few problems that come with sharing files on an unsecured server:

• To protect their privacy, students have to use USB sticks to hand over files.
• Emails get lost easily. Professors or teachers may not realize a student needs their help.
• Emails are also easily hackable if both users aren’t encrypting their data.
• Students may lose new versions of a file through frequent uploading and sharing.

To solve these problems, adopting a shared file server would be a great solution for schools.

How Does a Share File Server Work?

A shared file server makes it easy to share folders and files internally with students, educators, and staff members. You can share files by uploading them to an online cloud storage server before sending them out, or you can share them directly over the Internet.

Most efficient share file servers will use a hybrid solution, meaning they use both a cloud and on-premise server to function. With an integrated system, no one has to learn how to reuse the program, which is great for busy students and educators who want to start sharing right away.

Benefits for Educators with Share File Servers

Educators who use shared file servers receive a whole host of benefits, including the following:

• Increased security, control, and visibility of the servers internal systems;
• Helps you maintain compliance during year-end audits;
• Offers increased productivity, as educators can work from anywhere;
• Reduces overall costs if you were using a VPN or on-premise server;
• Simplifies file share access by utilizing file locking and version controls;
• Provides integrated technology and technical support;
• Allows schools to operate smoothly, thanks to the reliability of the server;
• Makes it possible for their educational facility to scale.

Keep in mind that most of these benefits come from hybrid shared file servers. The public cloud can be restrictive for most educational institutions, so always opt for a self-hosted infrastructure.

What Are Some Good Uses of Share Files in Education?

Educational institutions need to track each student’s performance and overall progress, meaning they must implement crucial metrics within the system.

For example, educators could assess student preparedness for exams based on average pages read, the number of research documents downloaded, and the types of books shared amongst peers. Share file servers have the flexibility to accommodate these metrics.

Southern Connecticut State University is using data centers collected from shared file servers to conduct longitudinal studies that span a student’s freshman orientation to graduation. With this information, they may be able to create a tailored learning experience for individual students.

The adoption of devices, like E-learning tools and apps, has made it possible for students to connect with each other, share ideas, and study for tests. However, data breaches are common.

The server and network you’re using can make a major difference between whether your private information is hacked and shared or kept secret. Schools can leverage 24/7 surveillance, IT professionals, and redundancies in power outages to make their servers secure.

Featured Image: Pixabay, Pexels. 

The post The Benefits of Using a Share File Server in Education appeared first on eLearningInside News.