Featured image image for gamification article

Gamifying Your Instruction Is Easier Than You Think

Digital Skills Districts Education Games Teaching Tips Typing Tips
Erin D. Besser

Ms. Cooper teaches 5th grade. At times, she wonders if she is genuinely an effective teacher. Her students don’t seem excited about the curriculum or as motivated to learn as she would hope. Students give up easily when faced with challenging assignments and often rely on her guidance when completing classroom activities. However, informally she hears about the latest games her students are playing at home. They devote time and patience to overcoming challenges, using strategic thinking, collaborating with teammates, and investigating resources when learning new skills.

Continue reading “Gamifying Your Instruction Is Easier Than You Think” →

Read More
Featured image for student choice blog post

Build Your Own Adventure! Why Student Choice Is Important for All Grades

Digital Skills Education Games Teachers Typing Games Typing Tips
typingcom

From the moment we wake up, we are presented with choices. What should I wear? Will I have toast, yogurt, or eggs for breakfast? Should I have all three? Will I have one cup of coffee, or two? Which route will I take to get to work? While at times overwhelming, making choices adds excitement to our daily lives and gives us a sense of control and agency. Adults aren’t the only ones who benefit from having options available to them. Oftentimes, teachers make most of the decisions on the day-to-day activities in a classroom; however, giving students choices within these activities helps both to increase engagement and empower them to take ownership over their learning. By allowing multiple ways to reach one learning objective, teachers can show students that they recognize different learning styles and that there is more than one way to demonstrate understanding of a concept.

Continue reading “Build Your Own Adventure! Why Student Choice Is Important for All Grades” →

Read More
Featured image for blog on typing speed

How to Know How Fast Your Students Should Be Typing

Digital Skills Education Teachers Teaching Tips Typing Games Typing Speed Typing Tips
typingcom

In today’s very technology-driven world, typing may be one of the most underrated skills out there. After all, there are documents, spreadsheets, slide shows, forms, videos, and websites to create too. And these projects may seem more exciting to students in your class because when they’re done creating them, they have something creative and tangible to show off.

Continue reading “How to Know How Fast Your Students Should Be Typing” →

Read More
Featured image for digital citizenship blog article

ISTE Aligned Digital Citizenship and New Grade-Level Updates

Digital Skills Education Site update Teachers Typing Tips
typingcom

In a world where the majority of communication happens online, teachers are finding they are now responsible for guiding their students in becoming informed and respectful digital citizens. Starting as young as kindergarten, children are interacting with others in digital communities on a regular basis. As students spend more time online, the term “digital citizenship” is becoming more widely used. 

Continue reading “ISTE Aligned Digital Citizenship and New Grade-Level Updates” →

Read More
Featured image for Labor Day blog article

Celebrating Labor Day 2021 with Fun Learning Activities

Digital Skills Education Fun Facts Keyboards Teachers Typing Games Typing Tips
typingcom

Labor Day 2021 is just around the corner, and teachers around the country will soon be bombarded with the popular question, “Is there school on Labor Day?” Instead of just saying ‘no’ on autopilot, now is the perfect time to take advantage of this excellent learning opportunity in your classroom.

Continue reading “Celebrating Labor Day 2021 with Fun Learning Activities” →

Read More
Featured image for adult typing in the workforce article

Typing as a Skill for Adults in the Workforce

Digital Skills Keyboards Typing Games Typing Speed Typing Tips
typingcom

In today’s workplace, employers are searching for qualified candidates to fill their jobs. They are looking for individuals with good communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution skills. Along with those soft skills, many employers are in search of potential employees with professional skills such as typing. Job seekers may find that they do not qualify for certain jobs because they are unable to meet the employer’s Words Per Minute (WPM) requirement. With practice and more focused work on typing, job seekers will have more success in their job search while learning a much needed skill in today’s society.

Continue reading “Typing as a Skill for Adults in the Workforce” →

Read More
Featured image for game-based learning article

The Benefits of Game-based Learning

Digital Skills Education Games Keyboards Teachers Typing Tips
typingcom

In a time disturbed by COVID-19, the exploration of digital learning tools has become an essential strategy for keeping students engaged while socially distanced. Although game-based learning (GBL) is not a new concept, the benefits of digital game-based learning are more apparent than ever. 

Game-based learning and gamification have been shown to increase student engagement, foster social-emotional learning, and motivate students to take risks. So what exactly is game-based learning and gamification? How do games help students become active participants in their learning process? We will cover those questions and more in this article on digital game-based learning. 

Continue reading “The Benefits of Game-based Learning” →

Read More
Featured image for digital citizenship article.

Digital Citizenship in the Time of Remote Learning 

Digital Skills Education Keyboards Teachers Typing Tips
typingcom

The internet is a vast abyss of content. These days it seems like you can learn almost anything online—from how to change a tire to how to suture like a surgeon. The growth of edtech tools has led to a whole new range of possibilities when it comes to learning. As students and teachers leverage technology to enhance learning, it is imperative that students understand the qualities of digital citizenship.

The shift to online learning during the pandemic was a challenge to say the least; however, we can’t deny the benefits of ed tech’s capacity to engage students like never before. As we embrace a more digital curriculum, we need to be prepared to teach digital citizenship.

Continue reading “Digital Citizenship in the Time of Remote Learning “ →

Read More
Featured image for article on reversing learning loss.

Back to School in Edtech: How to Combat Learning Loss

Digital Skills Education Keyboards Teachers Typing Games Typing Speed Typing Tips
typingcom

Ask any teacher what learning loss is, and they’re likely to tell you that it’s the forgetting of previously learned information that occurs every year while students are on summer break. After all, it’s why teachers always start the first few weeks of each new school year by having students review information and practice skills they learned the year before. 

And while learning loss certainly isn’t a new phenomenon by any stretch of the imagination, it has garnered a lot of attention ever since the covid school closures brought the issue into focus. The learning loss in the 2021–2022 school year is going to be a challenge even more difficult than it ever has been before. Kids are far behind in academics and they are struggling to make sense out of everything that has happened since the pandemic.

Continue reading “Back to School in Edtech: How to Combat Learning Loss” →

Read More