Innovative Teaching Methods and their Educational Impact

In the context of higher education, the importance of implementing innovative teaching methods is immense. Widening the scope from simply introducing the latest technologies in the classrooms, innovative teaching is essentially a process of proactively introducing new and modern teaching strategies and methods into the classroom. 

The main purpose of adopting these new teaching methods is to significantly improve learning outcomes and systematically address practical problems to promote an equitable learning process. 

Digital platforms like KITABOO can help educators in the higher education landscape implement these innovative teaching methods and provide a versatile toolkit to enrich the overall learning experience.

In this post, we discuss more about the concept of innovative teaching and a few of the most popular innovative teaching methods in higher education that help drive better student outcomes with an undivided focus on student engagement.

Table Of Contents

I. What are Innovative Teaching Methods?

II. Top 6 Innovative Teaching Methods and Their Educational Impact

1. Flipped Classroom
2. Gamification
3. Microlearning
4. AI in Education
5. Design Thinking
6. Personalized Learning

III. Last Thoughts

Innovative teaching methods refer to the best pedagogical practices focused on strategic teaching-learning methods. Apart from ensuring to use the cutting-edge technology in class or following the latest education trends, they are also about using new and modern teaching strategies that focus more on students. 

The key aim behind these innovative teaching methodologies is to encourage students to proactively participate and interact with their peers and as well as teachers during lessons. 

Unlike other traditional teaching methods, innovative ways of teaching go deep into what learners truly take away from what educators are teaching during lectures.

Among some of the top innovative teaching methodologies educators can use in higher education classrooms are –

This is one of the most innovative pedagogical methods that has gained rapid popularity among higher educators across the world. The main idea of a flipped classroom is creating a blended learning strategy that makes learners self-dependent so that they can test what they have learned in the classroom. 

For instance, the strategy allows students to consume lecture content at their own pace so that they have more control over their learning. Apart from watching lectures at their own convenience from the comfort of their homes, they can also come to the classroom for interactive activities and engaging discussions.

This makes sure that their classroom time is strategically used for learning, problem-solving, and other similar hands-on experiences.

Educational Impact 

• Ensure that the students are better engaged in the classroom. 
• Make students independent learners
• Allow educators to complete the syllabus without being rushed.

Another groundbreaking and innovative teaching method for higher education learners is gamification. The strategy involves incorporating various game elements into the curriculum to keep learners more engaged and motivated.

Using a range of interesting game elements such as leaderboards, rewards, badges, and point systems, the approach of gamification is built to encourage intrinsic motivation in learners. This kind of motivation leaves learners genuinely enjoying the topics they are learning and improves productivity. 

Educational Impact

• Appeals to students’ competitive nature and the rewards motivate students.
• Allows students to do better and compete with their peers in a healthy environment.
• Effective in improving the overall retention rates and comprehension of subjects.

In today’s digital era, where attention spans are getting shorter by the day, microlearning proves to be an effective teaching methodology to engage higher education learners. Focused on bite-sized yet effective learning, microlearning is an innovative method that breaks down information into bite-sized chunks. 

Whether it’s a quick five-minute video or a brief quiz session, microlearning is one method that ensures that students stay engaged throughout the learning process and retain information effectively. 

Trusted by several reputed organizations, the digital textbook platform KITABOO is an industry-leading provider of innovative teaching methods, such as micro-learning modules with live problem-solving sessions.

The platform can develop diverse bite-sized modules designed to captivate higher education learners and boost knowledge retention. 

Educational Impact

• Enhances retention by leveraging the principles of targeted content delivery and spaced repetition.
• Offers a flexible learning experience.
• Leads to targeted skill acquisition.

Using AI in education is one of the most innovative teaching methods. Apart from helping lecturers reduce their workload, the method can also personalize courses and instruct students much more efficiently. 

Further, there are several AI-based products that educators can use to enhance the impact of learning for higher education students. These include LMS, automatic scoring and assessment, plagiarism detection, and more. 

Educational Impact

• Help create a more tailored teaching process.
• AI and ML in education help teachers create innovative content for convenient teaching.
• AI allows users to both create and update information frequently.

Design thinking is an innovative approach to learning, collaboration, and problem-solving. In the context of higher education, the design thinking process refers to a structured framework for identifying challenges, collating information, refining ideas, and testing solutions. 

The process uses a systematic and creative approach to indicate problem-solving skills in learners. When used in higher education specifically, the approach enables students to be innovative, create solutions for others, and gain knowledge through exploration. 

Educational Impact

• Expand students’ knowledge on a range of topics.
• Encourages creative thinking in learners.
• Enables students to foresee problems and challenges.

Personalized learning is another interesting approach for the higher education sector that aims to customize what, when, and how each student is taught. Instead of just focusing on a single approach, teachers here adjust or customize learning to the capabilities of each student using a range of strategies such as blended learning,  adaptive learning, and so on. 

Data also suggests that 65% of high school educators in the United States leverage personalized learning plans for their students based on their unique knowledge of individual learning styles and interests. The key aim of this kind of approach is to achieve subject proficiency or grade-level benchmarks. 

Educational Impact

• Boosts student motivation and leads to improved learning outcomes.
• Offers flexibility as students can choose their preferred learning environment.
• Enhances the overall quality of education by considering each student’s unique goals, interests, and backgrounds.

The last few years have seen the higher education system allowing recent technological advancement and innovative teaching strategies to be incorporated into the field of learning also. 

Leveraging the above-mentioned innovative teaching strategies in the classroom allows educators to make learning easier and much more effective. Further, adopting and experimenting with diverse teaching strategies in the classroom assists teachers in organically promoting learning to encourage student growth.

If you further wish to unlock the future of learning with innovative teaching methods, partner with KITABOO, a leading digital textbook platform, that offers a range of blended learning and other modern solutions for publishers, educators, and corporates.

The platform enables you to create, publish, and distribute interactive, engaging, and mobile-friendly educational material with learners.

To learn more about our services, request a demo today!