Future gazing with EdTech and Promethean

Student drawing on Ipad

Educational technology has embedded itself as a staple in almost all classrooms.  The Promethean ActivPanel has long been a leader in the industry with innovative interactive whiteboards and front-of-classroom displays.  As we look to the future of education, it is clear that computers are here to stay.  Students today are digital natives, often being proficient in technology in the early years of school. Students are as comfortable with all aspects of computers as former generations were with paper and pencil.  That means that the educational technology arena is at the forefront of the transformation of our education system.

Google It

Google has long been the front runner with search engines, but they have spent the past several years developing a place for themselves in primary, secondary, and post-secondary classrooms.  The Google G Suite of classroom products and the Chromebook integrate seamlessly with the Promethean ActivPanel.

Google Chrome has an extension for the Promethean Screen Share app that allows any web-enabled device to share to the ActivPanel.  This is an excellent way for students to share their Google G Suite apps with the rest of the classroom and interact with others easily.  As students are sharing from their Chromebooks, the Promethean Spinner and Timer apps can be used to add the excitement of gamification to the lesson.

As well as the Screen Share extension, the Google G Suite of apps is also available for download on the ActivPanel.  This allows all content saved to Google Drive to be shared and interacted with right on the ActivPanel.  Don’t forget that the Annotate app and Screen Capture app are excellent resources for inking over documents and PDFs and are easily added to the Promethean Whiteboard app to create exciting and relevant lessons to engage students.  The Whiteboard lessons can then be saved as a PDF to be shared with your Google Classroom for students to access later.

 With the use of Google G Suite on the panel, content and assignments can be digitally distributed to and received from students, directly on the ActivPanel.  With the addition of the Promethean Chromebox, the front of the classroom display perfectly mirrors the student Chromebook experience.

Promethean ActivPanel and Chromebox

Hybrid/Blended Learning

While schools worldwide were thrust into hybrid and remote learning due to the pandemic,

“There are most certainly students who thrive in that type of environment and I expect students and parents and districts to continue leveraging that, where it continues to make sense,”

Matt Cole
Forbes

The Promethean ActivPanel is highly suited for the hybrid or blended learning classroom setting.  The use of web cameras and online meeting platforms, along with the cloud-based platforms and the Screen Share app, allow at home and in classroom students real-time collaboration and sharing even if some students are not physically in the school building.  The ActivPanel even allows teachers access to most Learning Management Systems to access and share student assignments digitally.

Gamification

The term gamification is still relatively new. Even though it is a term that has been around for more than ten years, gamification is still refining itself. To date, gamification is a method that enriches educational content and marketing or business processes with game mechanics. Typical gamification elements include points, badges, and leaderboards, allowing for an emotional tie into content by promoting friendly competition that translates into stimulating learning and training experiences.

Kris Freeman
xperincify.com

The Promethean ActivPanel and software suite allow you to meet the future edtech needs in the classroom with confidence.

With the increased use of technology, the use of games in teaching and learning are on the rise.  Gamification is about using gaming and game elements in the classroom.  What a great way to meet today’s digital natives where they are. 

Using the ActivPanel to add a fun game feel, while using already created content is easy with the Spinner and Timer apps.  But the use of the ActivPanel in gamification can grow even bigger with programs like Minecraft for Education projecting student projects and ideas on the big screen to share with others.

Don’t forget, for quick and easy gamification, the ActivPanel has an Activities Player that allows the ActivPanel to become a gaming station for students to interact with content with one of several different activity types. 

Activities Player Icon

Creating engaging escape rooms that the students experience either within cloud-based presentations or as a whole class with the front of the room ActivPanel display are also great ways to bring the game atmosphere to learning.

There is no doubt that education is changing, but Promethean is here to meet the challenges today and tomorrow with the Promethean ActivPanel and related products. Your classroom will be transformed no matter the devices teachers or students use to engage with the world today.

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