12 Best Innovative Teaching Strategies for Modern Pedagogy that can Improve Student Engagement

Experimenting with new teaching methods may energize students and break the monotony of the class. While some modern teaching strategies are not available to all because they are expensive, but did you know that there are many innovative teaching strategies that you can apply immediately?

The best innovative teaching strategies for modern pedagogy

12 Best Innovative Teaching Strategies for Modern Pedagogy that can Improve Student Engagement

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Teaching strategies refer to the system, structure, processes, techniques, methods, and procedures that a teacher employs in the classroom during instruction to assist student learning.

Teaching and learning strategies may include whole-class performance-based assessments, a series of individual and group activities to accommodate learning rates and styles and different abilities, skills, and understandings that allow each student to participate and succeed. 

Students use their personal and social capabilities to cooperate and collaborate effectively with peers in learning activities, to assess their own abilities, susceptibilities, and peers' strengths so that they can develop a range of interpersonal skills such as teamwork, negotiation, communication, and leadership.

Teaching and learning strategies aim to promote research and assessment skills and foster critical and reflective thinking so that students can take positive action to enhance their own strengths and other’s health and protect and advocate for their own and other’s wellbeing, and safety.

The teacher's responsibility here is to articulate the purpose of teaching and learning strategies and guide their students on how to implement them.

In this article, we have mentioned 12 modern and innovative teaching strategies that will instill innovation and creativity among students in receiving information from their teachers in the classroom, at different stages of the school, and help them to develop creative thinking, and help teachers to multiple innovative methods of teaching.

Read more: 10 Best Active Learning Strategies for Engaged Corporate Learners

12 Innovative Teaching Strategies for Modern Pedagogy

The classroom is a dynamic environment that brings students from different backgrounds with different abilities and personalities. Therefore it requires you to be an effective teacher to implement innovative teaching or learning strategies, in order to meet the individual needs of students.

It may be difficult to figure out which teaching strategies will work best with your students, and as a teacher, there is no “one size fits all” solution, so here is a set of effective teaching strategies that you can use to achieve your students' discipline.

1. Collaborative Learning Strategy

Collaborative learning strategy in education also called cooperative learning or learning from teamwork, is reflected in the division of learners into small groups consisting of usually three to four members, who are given specific duties (common goals).

And they must rely on cooperation (exchange of knowledge and skills) in order to accomplish the task required of them.

Encourage students with mixed abilities to work together by promoting small group activities, or full class activities, by verbally expressing their ideas and responding to others.

Your students will develop their self-confidence, as well as enhance communication and critical thinking skills that are vital throughout life.

Mathematical puzzles, conducting scientific experiments, are just a few examples of how to integrate collaborative learning into classroom lessons.

The main objectives of the collaborative learning technique or teamwork strategy are:

- Adopt active learning.

- Exchange ideas (dialogue method) and urge to accept the ideas of others.

- Develop a spirit of responsibility and cooperation among learners.

- Build positive relationships between learners (respect for the other).

- Encourage self-learning.

- Practice problem-solving and decision making.

2. Brainstorming Strategy

Brainstorming is meant to put the mind in a state of excitement in order to think in all directions and possibilities to reach - in an atmosphere of freedom - as many ideas and opinions as possible about a particular problem or topic.

Allowing time for brainstorming sessions in the classroom is a great way to get the flow of students' mental creations, so that everyone will participate in the discussion on the topic, thus getting a number of different ideas rather than concentrating all students around just one idea.

This provides a great opportunity for students to express their thoughts without worrying about the right or wrong. This is followed by the collection and discussion of proposals.

The main objectives of teaching using a brainstorming strategy are:

- Make the learner active in educational situations.

- Make students accustomed to respect different opinions and appreciation of others.

- Take advantage of other people's ideas and information.

3. Exploration Techniques

Exploration in teaching helps to improve students' self-learning, open their minds to learning and creativity, as well as to better understand the subject and improve their communication skills.

This may be done by assigning a group of students to bring and present information about a particular topic. 

After the presentation, students have to talk about the sources that have been used to gather information; such as magazines, the Internet, newspapers, and other sources, and then the questions are asked by the faculty to the students to open up room for discussion and interaction for all students, thus clarifying and understanding the subject better.

4. Visualization Techniques

 Photography and visualization is an innovative teaching method used in the classroom.

It may be very difficult for students to understand offline facts and theoretical framework because structured knowledge associated with concepts, which includes the ability to visualize these concepts, may increase the ability to impart knowledge, and thus a deeper and longer understanding of what is being taught.

Graphic presentations are an easy and practical way to help students understand and organize their ideas with visual presentations.

This method can be used for any type of lesson that requires writing, planning, problem-solving or decision making.

5. Educational Technology applications

The use of computers, tablets, digital cameras, and other modern technology can enhance student learning, such as the use of electronic games to teach mathematics and foreign languages, the use of Skype to communicate between different classrooms, and the use of multimedia projects to allow students to learn through Movies and audio media that allow the learner to explore different subjects and increase comprehension.

Teachers should pay attention to the proper use of technological devices, and monitor students to ensure that they are not using them badly or away from studying during the class, as well as assign some students to distribute equipment, store it or even teach them simple things about maintenance.

6. Spaced Repetition Schedule

This time, it is difficult for students to remember everything they have been taught in the classroom because of the abundance of information and time constraints. 

It is the duty of the teacher to create an appropriate environment and facilitate the process of memorization for students to remember the complex information.

So a method called spaced repetition has been devised that aims at the intermittent iterative repetition of learning elements.

The student is better able to memorize when repeating the subject at intervals because it activates long-term memory. The repetition of the subject should be verbal.

For example, if there is a new term for the student to learn it should be introduced and then move to another assignment and then repeat the term again while trying to integrate intermittent repetition in all stages of the lesson, which are:

- The boot stage to display a new topic.

- The main stage of reworking the new topic and giving assignments, clarification and case study.

- The productive stage of discussion, cooperation, and dialogue that forces the application of the new topic.

7. Practical Considerations of Active Learning Activities

Practical education or experiential learning activity provides the technical workforce to meet the requirements of social, behavioral and economic development in a quantitative and qualitative manner, taking into account the absorptive capacity as much as possible. 

The task of the teacher is to facilitate the complex information on the student so as not to feel uncomfortable or tense about coming to school daily.

And here comes the role of the most innovative method that aims to engage the student with the information he learns in his real-world which is mainly practical application, where the student's interest and motivation for study increases when viewing hypotheses that he learns realistically.

8. Professional Development Program

Participating in regular professional development programs is a great way to promote classroom teaching and learning, with educational policies constantly changing.  

It is very helpful to attend events where you can get inspiration from other teachers and academics.

 It is also an opportunity to get out of the classroom and work alongside other teachers just like you. 

Sessions can include learning about new instructional techniques, online safety training, advice on how to use your teaching assistant and much more.

9. Realistic Educational Planning

According to realism, teaching method is a methodology based on the study and understanding of the reality of the students and the use of information about each student as a starting point of education.

This methodology is derived from the idea that the student is an expert in the education method and in the subject.

Experts and the teachers who use this methodology believe that in order to continue the process of study and teaching, it is necessary to exchange experiences between the teacher and the student.

To share experiences, the following methods can be applied:

- Teacher-student dialogues about lessons and suggestions for improvement.

- Mutual education where the student gets the opportunity to learn a new topic and explain it to the rest of the students.

- The right of the democratic student to choose how the course works and to choose the subject.

- Consider the neighborhood and the entire school community as part of the class.

- Teachers know their limitations on information content and build their experiences on content with students.

10. Behavior Management Techniques

Implementing an effective behavior management strategy is essential to gaining respect for the students and ensuring that students have an equal opportunity to reach their full potential. 

It is necessary not to disturb students in the class with rude behavior. This discourages students and spoils the productive learning environment. 

Therefore, it is beneficial to develop an atmosphere of mutual respect through a combination of discipline and reward. This could be better for you and your students.

Examples include graphs and interactive diagrams for young students, where individuals move up or down based on behavior with a top student receiving a weekend prize.

Various activities such as games or lack of homework in exchange for hard work can be chosen for those who receive the highest rating in the graph.

11. Inductive Teaching Strategy

Inductive teaching strategy can be summarized in the phrase ″ transition from part to all ″ by tracking, presenting, discussing, examining and analyzing particles, details, and examples, to identify similarities and differences, and then to reach general conclusions and holistic provisions, including generalization, law-making, definition, or specific rule.

The advantages of inductive teaching strategy include:

- Induction of active learning methods.

- Induction is suitable for small age stages.

- Starting from simple to complex and from special to generalization makes this method accessible to most learners and suitable for their cognitive abilities.

- Accustom the learners to self-reliance, and discover solutions.

12. Discussions and Debates

Ask thought-provoking questions that inspire your students to think for themselves and become more independent learners.

Encouraging students to ask questions and explore their own ideas can help improve their problem-solving skills, as well as they gain a deeper understanding of academic concepts.

Queries can be personal and encouraging students to express their unique opinions, for example, “Do poems have to rhyme?”Or“Is it obligatory for all students to wear uniforms? ”. Yet they can also be scientific or math-based, such as “Why does my shadow size change?” Or “Why is the sum of two odd numbers always an even number?”

The methodological debate is a strategy based on communication activities between groups of students whose main subject is a set of perspectives on a particular content (subject) that ends with the acceptance of reading supported by arguments. 

The debate can be likened to a competition governed by certain disciplines run by teachers or referees, with teams in which several speakers are given a specific time to present their arguments.

Debates are not only a great way to motivate students, but they are also useful in teaching them how to present valid arguments.

Debates also lead students to learn more about the topics being discussed, as they must explore and research to defend their point of view and win the debate.

This type of activity continuously enhances critical thinking skills and generates new ideas and solutions.

Read more: 10 Best Active Learning Strategies for Engaged Corporate Learners

Conclusion

In the present era, becoming an effective teacher is a challenge because each student is unique; however, by using a range of teaching strategies, you can address the different learning styles and academic abilities of students, as well as make your class a dynamic and motivating environment for students.