It’s 2017 and technology has permeated every square inch of classrooms! From virtual reality learning modules and 3-D printing to wearables and gargantuan 100’ displays replacing the former 60’ screens, education technology—which has filled classrooms for decades—is more than ever, all the rage.
In the midst of the attention to exciting new tech elements in education, one invisible edtech component is a catalyst for overall success, classroom management, lesson delivery, and student comprehension: sound. As integral as technology has become to the profession of teaching, it’s remarkable that sound is still easy to overlook.
Sound, like air, is sometimes taken for granted because we do not see it. It is easy to assume that everyone in a given space is hearing one’s words clearly, but schools that make sound an integral part of their edtech equation nearly always find they have happier teachers, happier students, and happier parents.
Without sound-reinforcement technologies in the classroom, students miss an average of 25% of what the teacher says daily and, in the back row, they are missing as much as 40%—that’s the equivalent of four out of every ten words. See infographic: 5 Reasons Classrooms Are Less-Than-Perfect Places to Learn.
In addition, the media and software that teachers can now present with excellent visual technologies quite obviously have a strong audio component – and ensuring that this sound permeates the classroom with proper speaker coverage improves the effectiveness and engaging quality of the content.
I recently returned from an education conference in Palm Springs, where teachers whose schools have implemented our classroom audio and AV management systems—Juno, Lesson Capture and ezRoom—shared their experiences of the newfound surge of energy, student participation, and classroom order (even in scenarios where students are split into groups and dispersed throughout a learning environment) they encountered upon implementing sound solutions. (And these were instructors who for years thought their “teacher voice” was all they needed.)
I encourage those of you who have not experienced amplified sound in the classroom to make a “sound” decision (pun intended) and explore what classroom audio can do for you. You can read more about the benefits of classroom audio, or if you’re ready to just give it a try, have a look at our free trial program.
