Technology is playing a larger role in the education and in classrooms, with students using online resources and devices for everyday learning.
According to statistics from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s report Teachers Know Best, 98 per cent of teachers see the value of using technology to help students learn and almost the same number use digital tools to help guide their lessons. Using technology to give educators real-time feedback about their students is now a growing trend, according to EdTech Magazine, and a new device by educational technologies distributor Canadian Classroom is hoping to help teachers better understand student learning habits.
Hey!U is a device that connects to a student’s laptop, tablet or mobile device and allows them to express feedback during a lesson. The device has an external LED screen that allows the teacher to see that real time feedback from each individual user.
The teacher can utilize Hey!U in three ways; understanding how well their students are comprehending a lesson; receive feedback on how they felt about the lesson; and an answer mode where students respond to teacher questions.
The press release quoted statistics showing that the majority of students avoid taking part in classroom interactions in an open forum setting and Canadian Classroom is hoping their tool can help teachers more easily assess a student’s understanding of the lesson material before moving on to another subject.
“We saw that Hey!U could help create a more transparent classroom setting by allowing each student to have a voice and give teachers much-needed information about their students in real time,” said Canadian Classroom founder Johanna Garcia in the release, also stating that the tool could be helpful in special needs students interacting in classes.
Teachers could also use this feedback tool to help monitor how a student is using technology and when they get distracted. When a student starts using another app stopping using the Hey!U software, a notification pops up on the their screen notifying the teacher. Hey!U packages are available in Canada for $999.