The advancement in the availability and speed of internet on the recently evolved handheld devices is creating a new wave wherein people are spending more time on their smartphones rather than laptops or desktops. The usage of mobile phones in the education sector is creating a new cloud-based learning, where the access of knowledge, resources, information among the people will flow swiftly regardless of the location. Mobile has a set of application which can be used for different purposes. Many emerging trends like the use of e-books, educational applications, and online video lectures are opening new horizons for learning. These applications are used for learning different subjects which are difficult to visualize on the blackboard , owing to their ability on making things simple. For example, if a DNA structure is looked through visual tools it would be easy for learners to grasp. For teaching concepts at home, these apps are nothing short of a boon.
Students nowadays dread the mere thought of repetitive practice. This is exactly where edu-apps come to their rescue by making the practice simple and easy by adding attractive visuals and audio. Below are some points that portray the role of mobile phones in ensuring conceptual clarity fairly well:
Facilitates Understanding
Students are provided with ample opportunities to understand the concepts which are otherwise quite difficult to explain or comprehend. To describe this phase, we could use verbs like retell, restate, infer and paraphrase etc. Unlike the conventional answer ending with the right or wrong ones, students are able to come up with open ended answers as which would help them to summarize what they have learnt with apt translation.
The Role of Educational Games
The same way games are considered to be a real distraction for students while studying, the flip side these games have is in the form of grabbing the attention of students for long hours. This is exactly the place where games based on different topics helps to engage students for an exciting ride while learning about the same. The high definition videos with engaging sound effects elevate the interest of students to learn more and do more. Tutors nowadays highly recommend using these apps as they would be able to monitor the progress of students using multiple mobile devices like laptops, I-Pads, Smartphones and so on.
Visualization of Difficult Concepts
Visualization helps the students to grasp the concepts easily as all the things are clearly depicted through the use of technology. The screen of the mobile is able to portray small details and colours with ease. Simple diagrams that were earlier being made on the blackboard are now being transformed into three-dimensional diagrams which help the learners to build the real images in their mind. For example, if we talk about the human brain, 3-D images of different parts of the brain are better to understand when you have a real look of the diagram rather than normal diagrams that the teacher draws on the blackboard.
Arrival of Interactive Forums
The use of mobile has raised the level of understanding of students by the arrival of online forums where tutors and students could interact among themselves in real-time using I-pads within the classroom with lesson plans that stimulate their interest while aligning with the educational syllabus of students. For delivering lectures to students of class 6-10 and so on, these forums would act as lesson plans to supplement what they have learnt and simultaneously publish them for students real-time.
Manipulative Educational Tools
Technology has advanced to such an extent that mathematics lessons could be taught with virtual fraction bars to make it feel like we are having hands on experience of mathematical concepts like decimals, fractions and percentages to consolidate our understanding to an advanced level. This would make complex math concepts come alive and help students to explore how the pieces of the puzzle make the whole.
These above reasons would have given you an outline on why most people resort to educational applications on mobile phones for enhancing their learning and would do so in the years to come.
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