“To learn something new, you need to try new things and not be afraid to be wrong.”
  Roy T. Bennett

For Nidhi Khurana, a facilitator in the Primary segment of GIIS Whitefield, Bangalore, teaching and learning goes in perfect sync.  The interesting aspect of her learning journey is that she is a consistent learner who believes in sharing the knowledge with other teachers and brings a lot of innovative ideas to teach students. With more than 7 years in the teaching arena, she has always shown a keen interest in learning new teaching or technical methods to evolve in terms of teaching skills and adapt to the latest in technology.

Nidhi has made the most of the uncertain times and the work from home was a blessing for her as she basked in a lot of essential education-focused learning online.

Online Teaching Tools and Resources by Super Teachers -Virtual and Augmented Reality in student Learning and Development completely revolutionized the way students learn. With the help of AR and VR, students learnt interactively like never before. She caught the attention of students and motivated them better, while students got new tools to visualize their subjects and complex concepts, as well as obtain practical skills. She made use of various tools like Google Expeditions AR and alike that boosted student participation with collaborative activities and formative assessments like Virtual Reality, Collaborate Boards, and game-based quizzes.  Another creative self-assessment tool was also used in class, group works, pre-test review, exams, unit tests, and impromptu tests. She has also done cross-campus training for AR & VR teaching tools and shared the knowledge and methods to use them.

As a CK-12 Certificated educator, Nidhi has gained knowledge of the CK-12 platform that aims to engage students productively and improve learning. A self-assessing tool CK12 is a Concept-Based Learning, provides adaptive practice and the most exciting PLIX (Play. Learn. Interact. eXplore) Interactives and Simulations. It enabled students to experience concepts in a new and exciting way. Assignments (group or personalized) and LMS Integration with a variety of Single Sign-On (SSO) and various Learning Management System (LMS) partners, in the likes of Google Classroom.  Students also discussed the open-ended questions in group discussions and HOTS available as assignments.

Nidhi Khurana prioritizes simplicity in everything, creates experiences that are not just effective, but practical, approachable, and relevant. She proactively provides support to reduce confusion, grow confidence, and improve clarity for students. She strives to eliminate uncertainty, helping the students turn uncertainty into certainty at every turn. Students feel confident and better prepared to confront their own doubts and fears with the use of these tools effectively.

She has been honoured by Khan Academy and she has been using their self-assessing tool for the teachers including topics, tracking student time and progress, and built-in grading. It develops accuracy, motivation, gains understanding, and builds confidence. Academy instructional videos were a great supplement for students learning new information and are a valuable tool for homework help to clarify new instruction. Practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard empowered learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. It set the pace for each student individually while continuous assessment gives teachers valuable real-time data.

Nidhi is one of the winners of ‘Top 10 Keep Going! Keep Growing!’ in LearnStorm competition 2019. The results were declared in February 2020. As a teacher, she received a Lenovo tablet and a certificate. The students were also awarded medals and certificates. The students competed on a national level and it helped to make practice concepts, keep the track of the progress and participation levels high growth in terms of understanding and real-life applications were visible in skills leveled up.  It also analyzed the areas of improvement and work towards a more positive attitude about making the necessary adaptations for positive and effective results.

Nidhi has completed 28 hours of professional development at REMOTE K12 Conference and has received the ASU K-12 Digital Teaching PD Certificate. The conference covered the topics - Inquiry-Based learning, Using creativity and digital tools for virtual learning, Establishing a Culturally Responsive Curriculum, Inquiry and Personalized Learning, Why & How Project-Based Learning Works for Remote Learning, and many more topics.

When asked about her vision as a teacher, she said, I believe that the path to a better future is paved with many successful today’s, and we’re taking the next right step, right now by equipping our students with all 21st-century skills like Critical thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, Information literacy, Media literacy, Technology literacy, and above all Flexibility.