Interactive Learning: Ways To Engage And Motivate Your Learners

What is the biggest challenge that educators and trainers in various capacities
face today? Undoubtedly, it is dealing with the constantly dropping learner
attention spans and engaging them through the learning session. Well,
interactivity could be one of your best bets to ease this problem.

4 Benefits Of Using Interactive Learning Materials

Creating these types of materials requires effort. Even just using existing ones,
because it usually means that we have to change what we already have up and
running, so why bother? I am going to highlight some of the reasons that have
led us to create, use and now share with partners these materials in learning
settings:

1. Increased Engagement

Many studies have shown that engagement improves the participant's capacity to
actually learn. Let's take it a little bit further: if you invest time creating lessons,
and need your learners to come out with something from them, the very
minimum you want is for them to be engaged. We've all been in classes and
training sessions where the participants are, forget about fully present, fully
absent, how does that translate into learning, improved performance or any other
objective? With all the possible distractions we have today, learning materials
need to be created to not only show the concepts but also to help the learner
focus or, at least, come back to them so the learning actually has an opportunity
to take place.

2. Practice What You Learn

Most, if not all, lessons expect the learners to be able to do something, and
learners expect what they get to have some application. The alternative is to try
and amuse the learners to keep their attention, and this is certainly not always
possible (or even desirable). Providing opportunities to practice what we learn is
a double power, on one hand, the learners are more willing to engage and be
open to learning because there are other applications and on the other hand, we
are able to further cement the learning (or course-correct if necessary!)

3. A Safe Environment To Risk It

Quite often the objective is to use what you've learned to make better decisions
in the job. This is tricky, however, because if you are not comfortable with the use
of these new tools (sounds familiar?) you could screw up. It is like starting in a job
market where all jobs require prior experience when you have none. Interactive
learning materials could offer a shortcut placing the learners in realistic situations
where they need to apply those tools, without worrying about losing the job
because of a silly mistake.

4. Willing To Learn

With Millenials not only entering the workforce but also taking increasingly more
responsibilities in companies, this demographic shift implies that these needs and
styles have to be accounted for. What have we grown up with? Increasing
interactive tools: call them computers, games, entertainment and so on. When
met with classic master classes with little or no interaction, passive readings and
the like, it is natural to hit a wall.

The Most Popular Digital Education Tools For Teachers And Learners

Hundreds of digital education tools have been created with the purpose of giving
autonomy to the student, improving the administration of academic processes,
encouraging collaboration, and facilitating communication between teachers and
learners. Here we present 11 of the most popular.

1. Edmodo

Edmodo is an educational tool that connects teachers and students, and is

assimilated into a social network. In this one, teachers can create online
collaborative groups, administer and provide educational materials, measure
student performance, and communicate with parents, among other functions.
Edmodo has more than 34 million users who connect to create a learning process
that is more enriching, personalized, and aligned with the opportunities brought
by technology and the digital environment.

2. Socrative

Designed by a group of entrepreneurs and engineers passionate about

education, Socrative is a system that allows teachers to create exercises or
educational games which students can solve using mobile devices, whether
smartphones, laptops, or tablets. Teachers can see the results of the activities
and, depending on these, modify the subsequent lessons in order to make them
more personalized.

3. Projeqt

Projeqt is a tool that allows you to create multimedia presentations, with dynamic
slides in which you can embed interactive maps, links, online quizzes, Twitter
timelines, and videos, among other options. During a class session, teachers can
share with students academic presentations which are visually adapted to
different devices.

4. Thinglink

Thinglink allows educators to create interactive images with music, sounds, texts,

and photographs. These can be shared on other websites or on social networks,
such as Twitter and Facebook. Thinglink offers the possibility for teachers to
create learning methodologies that awaken the curiosity of students through
interactive content that can expand their knowledge.

5. TED-Ed

TED-Ed is an educational platform that allows creating educational lessons with

the collaboration of teachers, students, animators—generally people who want to
expand knowledge and good ideas. This website allows democratizing access to
information, both for teachers and students. Here, people can have an active
participation in the learning process of others.

6. cK-12

cK-12 is a website that seeks to reduce the cost of academic books for the K12
market in the United States and the world. To achieve its objective, this platform
has an open source interface that allows creating and distributing educational
material through the internet, which can be modified and contain videos, audios,
and interactive exercises. It can also be printed and comply with the necessary
editorial standards in each region. The books that are created in cK-12 can be
adapted to the needs of any teacher or student.

7. ClassDojo

ClassDojo is a tool to improve student behavior: teachers provide their students

with instant feedback so that good disposition in class is 'rewarded' with points
and students have a more receptive attitude towards the learning process.
ClassDojo provides real-time notifications to students, like 'Well Done David!' and
'+1', for working collaboratively. The information that is collected about student
behavior can be shared later with parents and administrators through the web.

8. eduClipper

This platform allows teachers and students to share and explore references and
educational material. In eduClipper, you can collect information found on the
internet and then share it with the members of previously created groups, which
offers the possibility to manage more effectively the academic content found
online, improve research techniques, and have a digital record of what students
achieved during the course. Likewise, it provides the opportunity for teachers to
organize a virtual class with their students and create a portfolio where all the
work carried out is stored.

9. Storybird
Storybird aims to promote writing and reading skills in students through
storytelling. In this tool, teachers can create interactive and artistic books online
through a simple and easy to use interface. The stories created can be embedded
in blogs, sent by email, and printed, among other options. In Storybird, teachers
can also create projects with students, give constant feedback, and organize
classes and grades.

10. Animoto

Animoto is a digital tool that allows you to create high-quality videos in a short
time and from any mobile device, inspiring students and helping improve
academic lessons. The Animoto interface is friendly and practical, allowing
teachers to create audiovisual content that adapts to educational needs.

11. Kahoot!

Kahoot! is an educational platform that is based on games and questions.

Through this tool, teachers can create questionnaires, discussions, or surveys that
complement academic lessons. The material is projected in the classroom and
questions are answered by students while playing and learning at the same time.
Kahoot! promotes game-based learning, which increases student engagement
and creates a dynamic, social, and fun educational environment.