In a conventional classroom, students spend most of their time listening to a teacher. I should say hearing the teacher. This is because conventional classrooms lack interactivity and therefore the learning environment is not fully able to engage students in the learning process. The situation worsens when the teacher is not trained enough to produce a stimulating and inspiring learning experience for the students.
Therefore classrooms should be designed in such a way that they not only inspire and stimulate the learning but also induce interactivity and fun. This can be done by introducing modern teaching tools in the classroom like visualizers, projectors, interactive whiteboards, interactive panels, student response system, voting systems etc. All these tools promote collaborative efforts and facilitate personalized learning by allowing students and teachers to develop there own learning/ teaching programs, set there own goals and access there own performance.
To further support these changes, smaller classrooms of 5 to 10 students should be built. They should be well lighted and well ventilated and should not be sensitive to weather conditions. For e.g. a classroom should not be too cold during winter or too hot during summer. The interactive whiteboard should be placed in such way that its surface doesn’t reflect the light coming either coming from sun or a lamp. There should be a drinking facility in the classroom and it should not contain any distractions like decorative items, wall hangings, paintings, pictures etc. Event the learning material like maps which is not presently in use should not be held for manifestation. Promoting the feeling of motivation, enthusiasm and well being should be the top most priority while designing classrooms.
By: Himanshu Sharma
Posts Tagged ‘Learning Experience’
Classroom Design For Interactive Education
January 2nd, 2010Nursing Continuing Education Seminars
November 13th, 2009
The word “Seminar” comes from the Latin word “semen,” meaning “seed.” Just as a seed helps the plant to grow, Seminars help professionals to grow by unlocking their full potential.
Seminars are discussion forums in which small groups of students interact with a teacher to discuss a specific topic. Since the mid ‘90s, with the advent of the Internet, `face-to-face’ or `in-person’ Seminars are increasingly supported or sometimes even replaced by `computer aided’ ones. The latter don’t require participant’s in-person attendance.
Whether face-to-face or computer-aided, NCE Seminars are events where professional people discuss problem-solving approaches. They may review case studies, participate in role play or computer-assisted simulations, attend lectures, participate in roundtable discussions with experts or take tests and exams. They acquire powerful learning experience applicable to new situations. NCE Seminars offer tremendous possibilities for nurses to actively collaborate with expert faculty and peers [from different states or countries] under one roof.
Seminars usually last one or two days. Face-to-face Seminars often provide a continental breakfast and/or lunch to the participants.
As far as face-to-face Seminars are concerned, most often, participants from different areas gather at one place, say a teaching hospital, where experts are invited and Seminars held. Some Seminars are tailor-made to suit the specific requirements of the participants in any one area or hospital, and held in-house in this location. Such Seminars have great advantages, as they address specific issues that are unique to the organization. If the participants are large in number, an on-site Seminar is more economical.
There are Seminars that are held exclusively for the benefit of earning credits and provide some kind of measurable results to the participants.
Using Internet search tools, one can search for Seminars by topic or by region and choose from an array of them. There are several Seminar providers whose curriculum includes hundreds of courses to choose from.
By: Richard Romando
