Standard 12 Reflection: Evaluate and use technology for teaching and learning
Background
Prior to starting my master’s program in Educational Leadership, I had a fairly good
background in evaluating and using technology for teaching and learning as I was on
our district’s Tech Summit board as a representative for my school. As an advisory
board member, in addition to being responsible for making and revising our budget
with Tech Levy funds as needed, each of us was also responsible for piloting technology
in our classroom as well as assisting staff and students in learning the technology
available. During the time we were piloting the use of new technology it was our job
to not only use the technology in our classrooms, but also evaluate the tool. As a team
we also realized that we need “to change the focus from the technology itself to ways
that technology can be used to bring out the very best in how teachers teach and how
students learn” (Robin, 2008, pg.220) and a result we have changed some of our
procedures in adopting new and emerging technology.
Due to our technology levy failing this past year, we have given up our Tech Summit
committee. Instead we now have a tech advisory committee that is made up of fewer
staff members, but now includes community members. Although due to other
commitments I was not part of the new committee I still am able to give input into
the decisions since in my new role as Future Ready Librarian I support staff and students
with technology needs. The levy failing has helped us to look at our evaluation practices
and uses more closely as we have lost a major part of our funding for technology and
are working to get community support of our technology needs when we run this levy
again this coming year.
As I support in the area of technology I am often called upon to help teachers find
and use technology that will enhance or transform their curriculum. I also support
teachers as they learn how to use the technology we already have such as SKYWARD
(our grading program) , Simplified Website Integration For Teachers (SWIFT) for
communication with parents, Google Classroom and products, ActiveInspire
(Activboard Software). I also help find technology that will help with a particular
need. Over the years as an early adopter of new technology I have lead small groups
during our new teacher trainings and at our district’s Tech Conference to learn how to
use various digital tools
Learning and Applied Practice
For Teacher Leadership Standard 7, most of my learning came from my Teaching
with Technology class. In this class we used the Practical Inquiry Model (PIM) to
investigate the topics of this course. For each module our professor asked a question
(triggering event) that we would personalize to fit our own teaching situation. Then
we found resources which would help us answer our question (exploration) The
next step was to collaborate with classmates through use of our discussion board
and participation in a Google Hangout. (integration). Lastly, we wrote blog post about
our question which explained what we had learned and what we still have questions
about (resolution). The following were the questions I addressed while going through
this protocol:
- Since we live in a global and digital society, how can I model and facilitate the incorporation of current and emerging digital tools into our social studies curriculum?
- How can I continue to increase my repertoire of digital tools and resources and effectively integrate them into my classroom to support student learning?
In addition to going through the above protocol, I also was exposed and challenged to
try new things around technology. The first was to attend Ed Camp. Ed Camps last a
day and are usually held on Saturdays. The unique thing about this conference is that
the participants create the agenda for the day as well as lead/facilitate the discussions
that happen. The second new thing was to create and use a Twitter account to keep
up to date with technology in the classroom. Lastly, I created a poster using Picktochart
about digital citizenship.
Issues Encountered/Problems of Practice Addressed
I think one of the biggest problems we encounter in using technology in the classroom
is that often we are using technology just to say we are using technology in the
classroom rather than using it to enhance or transform the learning happening in our
classrooms. I know that my district has been guilty of this and as a result of evaluating
the technology we have used we have found that pencil and paper works just as good if
not better from some tasks. As I learned more about the Substitute, Augmentation,
Modification and Redefining (SAMR) model I realized that I could move my students
from the Substitution and Augmentation phase to the Modification phase through
using digital storytelling as an option when working on projects with simple adjustments.
Some tools I thought I could use in order to do this in my class were Jing, voicethreads,
as well as borrowing ipads that we have for teachers to film with.
The next issue that I addressed was how could I use technology to help students use
assessment data to assess their own learning, determine learning goals and monitor
their progress over time. The first tool I found for students to use to do this was
Google Sheets. My thought behind this was that not only does it introduce how to
creating charts digitally to students, but it can help them reflect in what they need to
work on to improve their writing and set their own learning targets as we go forward.
The next tool I found was was WriQ which is a add on tool for Google Docs that is free,
but it only provides information on conventions. Kahoots and Plicklers are other digital
tools I found that could also provide opportunities for students to gather data about
their learning, but it does not explicitly help them set goals and/or monitoring their
progress over time. Even though I found tools that could help with formative assessments
instead of a tools that would directly help my students reflect and assess their learning,
I now think that by integrating these tools my students will have a “sense of accountab-
ility and ownership over their learning process”(Horizon Report, 2015, pg. 16) like they
found in the Horizon Report, therefore meeting my goal. Also, since these tools are
competitive they will keep students engaged and wanting to improve their learning.
With everything else teachers have been asked to do, it is often difficult for us to
facilitating and incorporating current and emerging tools into our classroom As I
looked for articles to help me incorporate digital tools into my classroom, I found
an article entitled Five Tips for Incorporating New Technology in the Classroom which
discussed using our best teaching practices when teaching other educators about
using technology. I believe we can use those same best practices to teach students
how to use technology. For example, we need to remember that our students come
with different backgrounds and knowledge in regard to technology, so having them
work with a group of mixed abilities is good for all students. Those who need extra
help can get it readily from those in the group and those who provide the help
deepen their knowledge. We also need to provide ongoing opportunities for students
to use the digital tools we have taught so they can deepen their learning and see how
their learning can be transferred to other subjects and therefore to their future choices.
And, most importantly, we need to provide a culture in our classrooms where it is okay
to take risks and make mistakes, since we learn from these experiences.
As was doing some of my research throughout my Teaching with Technology class I
was reminded that we need to continually educate our students how to be digital
citizens in this global world. Since we do research in our social studies and language
arts classes it seems like a logical place for us to talk about “safe, legal, and ethical use
of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual
property, and the appropriate documentation of sources”(ITSE 4). In order for this to
happen we should be only teaching this explicitly, but also modeling it throughout the
year in our own practices.
Lastly, I looked how we could we as teachers could increase our repertoire of digital
tools and to integrated those tools into my classroom within my time and funding limits.
Through looking through many articles I have realized that there are many free
resources available that I can use as time permits and on my own time schedule to
increase my repertoire of digital tools as well as to learn from others how to effectively
integrate them into my classroom. For example, you can look through Twitter even if
you don’t have an account to learn about new digital tools used in the classroom as
well as how they are being used by others. You can also take free online classes through
Coursera to learn how to use new technology as well as to find some new tools.
How Evaluating and Using Technology for Teaching and Learning
is Supported by Research
As I researched information for my first triggering question, How can I incorporate technology to give my students authentic experiences to improve their their speech and listening skills as well as with their non-fictional reading? I found an article, Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom which
began by stating that studies by the U.S. Department of Education found “no significant
differences in student achievement between the classrooms that used the technology
products and classrooms that did not”. Several people responded in disagreement to
their findings as they felt that the study did not take everything into consideration. Their
main argument was that in the classrooms that were studied, the technology had just
been added into the classroom as another teaching strategy instead of as a way to
enhance the teacher’s ability to teach and students’ ability to learn. Of course this
means that we need to put time and effort into teacher training with the technology
that is available. Technology for digital storytelling is a solution for this problem since
it is inexpensive in both time and money and can provide authentic learning opportunities
for students. They found that the technology which is currently available was easy to use
and could be used to enhance a lesson that a teacher had already had been using. For
example, you could use a story that was already created to enhance a lesson on the
Vietnam War making the lesson “emotionally charged and personally meaningful to
both the author and the viewer“. “Even though few research studies on the effective-
ness of digital storytelling have been conducted, numerous findings have been reported
on the benefits of multimedia projects in which students have shown an increase in
research skills,increased organizational skills, and a greater interest in the content being
taught.” After reading this article I believe that digital storytelling is a way to improve
students listening and speaking abilities as well as to improve their 21st century skills.
To answer my second question, how can I use technology to help students use
assessment data to assess their own learning, determine learning goals and monitor their
progress over time? I read the article “Classroom Tech for Learning Checks”. This
article started by talking about how with everything else teachers have been asked to do,
it is often difficult to provide feedback in a timely manner to our students. The authors
suggest that we embrace technology to help us do this, not only to help us manage the
task, but to also provide an authentic opportunity for a our students to practice using
technology. It then goes on to talk about how Kahoot, Plickers, and Today’s Meet are
technology tools that provide feedback and engage students at the middle school level.
The question of equity is also briefly discussed. For this they suggest looking into funding
through grants at the district, state and federal levels as well as through private foundations.
Overall, the article encourages the use of technology for formative assessment since “the
goal of a relevant and integrated classroom is good teaching and engaged learning”(Smith
& Falbe, 2016, pg. 43).
As I was reading through articles to answer the question Since we live in a global and
digital society, how can I model and facilitate the incorporation of current and emerging
digital tools into our social studies curriculum?, I couldn’t help but think that they
were geared more toward digital natives and I am a digital immigrant. I also realized
how many digital tools I do use in my daily life in the classroom and it is much more
than what I do in my personal life which is the opposite of what it said about digital
native teachers. I started off with reading the article “Cross-Reference of Online
Teaching” which confirmed my belief of “why” we need to teach how to use digital
tools as it helps our students to “become more marketable for the careers they will
be competing of in the future, many of which are yet to be created”(Kennadee, pg. 22).
As teacher our goal is to teach the the content in our curricular area, but more impor-
tantly to teach our students the processes so they could transfer those skills to what
they will be doing in the future. By incorporating the teaching of current and emerging
tools, we doing exactly this. Then as I looked for articles to help me incorporate digital
tools into my classroom, I found an article entitled “Five Tips for Incorporating New
Technology in the Classroom” which even though it was directed at how to teach other
educators about using technology, I believe those those same practices can be used to
teach students how to use technology. For example, we need to remember that our
students come with different backgrounds and knowledge in regard to technology, so
having them work with a group of mixed abilities is good for all students. Those who
need extra help can get it readily from those in the group and those who provide the
help deepen their knowledge. We also need to provide ongoing opportunities for
students to use the digital tools we have taught so they can deepen their learning and
see how their learning can be transferred to other subjects and therefore to their future
choices. And, most importantly, we need to provide a culture in our classrooms where
it is okay to take risks and make mistakes, since we learn from these experiences.
As I read articles to answer my fourth question, how can I integrate digital citizenship
into my social studies classes?, I realized that we need to take the opportunities as
they present themselves to teach our students to be good digital citizens throughout
our lessons or conversations we have. A natural opportunity we have to do this when
our students are working on end of unit project. And can be as simple as teaching the
“three pillars” of respect, educate and protect (REP) that I read about in the article,
Middle School Digital Citizenship: What Students Need to Know and Why while
“advocating, modeling and teaching safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information
and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate
documentation of sources” (Watanbee-Crockett, 2016) while working on these projects.
For my last question, how can I continue to increase my repertoire of digital tools
and resources and effectively integrate them into my classroom to support student
learning? I found the article “Four Tips for Effective Digital Leadership” to help
answer my question of how to increase my repertoire of digital tools and resources.
In this article the author gives tips of how to become a digital leader that include
being a visionary, focusing on professional development, building a professional
learning network, and model risking taking. In the third tip entitled “Build a
Professional Learning Network”, it discusses how we need to collaborate with others
in order to grow as professionals, but with our busy schedules we may not be able to
do this. The good news is that we can collaborate with others through participating
on Twitter, LinkedIn, TechinEdu, TED ideas worth spreading, ISTI, or Educational
Leadership. This not only is a great way to get our professional development needs
met, but it also helps you to collaborate globally with hundreds others who also wish
to increase their toolbox.
Overall Impact
My Teaching with Technology class has helped me find new tools to use to provide
authentic experiences and checks for understanding, but also has reminded me that
I need to not only use digital tools in my teaching, but also evaluate them to make
sure that they are enhancing and transforming my teaching practices. I also have
been reminded that I only need to teach, but also model being a good digital citizen
as I support staff and students in their use of technology. One way that I help teach
this skill is by teaching staff and students how to use databases and citation applications.
As I reset student passwords I re-teach the use of strong passwords and not sharing
passwords. Additionally, I have incorporated digital citizenship lessons into our
Future Ready Day. I have also continued to research and evaluate tools that help
teachers teach as well as students learn. Others ways I model being a digital citizen
to my staff is is by giving credit to sources used when I am finding pictures for sort
activities and incorporating digital citizenship into our rubrics by having a citation
category.
Additionally as I support staff and students in technology, I need to remember that
our staff and students come with different backgrounds and knowledge in regard to
technology, so having them work with a group of mixed abilities is good for all. Those
who need extra help can get it readily from those in the group and those who provide
the help deepen their knowledge. As with other professional development I also need
to provide ongoing opportunities for staff and students to use the digital tools they
have been taught so they can deepen their learning and see how their learning can be
transferred to other future choices.
Lastly, I have continued to attend Ed Camp opportunities and to use Twitter to keep
up with the emerging trends and tools.
References
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Gonzales, L. (2016). Four tips for effective digital leadership. Tech & Learning, 37(4),
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32-33.
Holtz, S. (2018, April 17). 12 rules of effective instructional technology coaching [Web
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Horizon Report (2015 ed., Horizon K-12 Edition, pp. 1-60, Rep.). (n.d.).
Kennadee, K. (n.d.). Cross-Reference of online teaching. In Distance Learning (2nd ed.,
Vol. 7, pgs. 21-28.
Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st
Century Classroom. Theory Into Practice, 47(3), 220–228.
Smith, K., & Falbe, K. N., (2016). Classroom tech for learning checks. AMLE Magazine,
4(4), 42-43.
4(4), 42-43.
Stanfield, S. (2013). Five tips for incorporating new technology in the classroom.
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Watanbee-Crockett, L., Middle school digital citizenship: What students need to know
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https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/middle-school-digital-citizenship
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