In modern education, there are many teaching tools designed to help you teach students more effectively and also manage overall performance trends and student growth. Computer programs and smartphone apps have made this process easy and more accessible, plus there are several reputable companies in the industry. Before investing in any educational tool, you’ll want to know who made it. When asking who invented i-ready the answer is that it is a digital version of the long-used Ready educational book series introduced in 1969 by Curriculum Associates. i-ready assessments are focused on mathematics and English language arts. Educational software offers teachers, students, and educators several advantages, including the following.
Four Pros of Education Software and Learning Tools
- Organization of Content
A key advantage of learning software is the way it can organize and guide students. All learning information, documents, and testing are centrally stored and easy to access for both students and educators. Plus many learning platforms offer lesson plans that can be created by the teacher and also modified based on student results. This allows students to learn in real-time as the lesson plans adapt to student responses and performance, allowing for changes as necessary and refocusing on areas of need.
- Student Result Tracking and Reports
When teaching a class, one of your most important data points is overall student performance. You want to know how students are responding to questions about the material, overall success rates, areas of concern, or if certain questions or topics are unclear, leading to student confusion. For example, if the majority of students are missing the same questions the issue may be in how the information is being presented and changes need to be made to the lesson plan. In addition, education reports allow the tracking of student growth and success as they move from basic material to the more complex aspects of the learning plan.
- Better Time Management in The Classroom
As an educator, your time is often at a premium, and you rarely have as much of it as you need. Using software-based educational tools allows you to better manage your time in the classroom. As software allows a degree of guided learning a student control, often you can allow students to learn at their own pace and focus on other key tasks that require your attention. This can include homework review, grading tests, reviewing student reports, reviewing changes to your lesson plans, and advising students who have specific needs or require your direct attention.
- Increased Engagement
The use of technology in education is a common occurrence and computers have been in classroom settings since they have been readily available. A common issue with education, especially with younger students, is engagement. Traditional learning methods can struggle to hold the attention of children raised in a digital smartphone-connected world. Software-based learning programs and classes are not just informative, they are engaging. The material is presented in such a way as to hold the attention of the learner. Concepts such as gamification make learning more fun and keep a student’s interest as they learn highly valuable education fundamentals such as reading and math.
Final Thoughts
As a teacher, you need the best and newest tools to reach students. In the last several decades, technology has had an increasing presence in everyone’s lives, from adults to children. The accessibility of the internet combined with smartphones, tablets, and lightweight laptops has led to increased communication and information accessibility. Technology has touched nearly every aspect of modern living and education should be no different. Leveraging educational tools such as software improves the student’s learning experience and provides you with more useful and effective information. This allows you to better teach and educate your classes.