Using Ed Tech

One of my goals this year was to provide my students with more opportunities for effective technology use. I have found that referral to the SAMR model and the International Baccalaureate’s Approaches to Learning skills (ATLs) have helped to support my planning and to hone in on transferable skills.

Looking at the SAMR model while choosing to involve Ed-tech reminds me to question the appropriateness of a particular technology tool and plan for differentiated learning. 

Image found at: https://www.schoology.com/blog/samr-model-practical-guide-edtech-integration
Image Modified from Original by Lefflerd’s on Wikimedia Commons

Discussing with students while they are using or choosing the tool gives the opportunity for them to think about the skills they are developing. Using the ATL skills list as a basis for this discussion helps to focus students’ attention on exactly which transferable skill they are working on and articulate their progress in these areas.

Image by Chloe Hill

Over the year I have refined my use of Padlet and Coggle, both great visual tools for group-work and storing/sharing of multi-media resources. I have also enjoyed using GoogleDocs for collaborative writing and peer-editing. Our school uses ManageBac as a tool for planning, assessment and reporting but this year I have really utilised its portfolio feature for process journaling. My students are able to post videos of themselves and annotated photos or plain old text to reflect upon and share their learning. I can then post my feedback and even have students respond to this in an on-going conversation. In my Music lessons my students also use a variety of music-specific programmes, the favourites of which are GarageBand and HookPad.

Sometimes the set-up of these Ed-tech tools takes a little while but the rewards for the learning process are great. Most of the tech tools out there take but a small amount of expertise to figure them out and my students usually get to grips with them much faster than I do and end up solving their own problems when they run into trouble.  I have found that for some students, the level of engagement is really high when they are given an opportunity to use technology, especially in extended projects. One very successful project this year took place over a number of weeks and it felt like a luxury to be able to dedicate so much time to it. It was a research and presentation project in which students were free to choose the medium of presentation and encouraged to use a tech tool which would stretch them in various ways. A few possibilities were shared with them and resources made available and then they were free to select and plan accordingly. Both the process and the end products were of a very high standard as were the levels of enjoyment and participation. Here are two of the finished creations:

The Blues

https://youtu.be/3S_5H6Ds0kU

Ragtime

https://youtu.be/Yh2X_6gWp4Q

I decided to take the opportunity to advance my own technology skills so whilst my students were engaged in the project by documenting the process and then using a tech tool to present it. I based it around the ATL skills the students themselves acknowledged using.

For me, technology use in schools is not about mastery of a particular tech tool, as there are hundreds of amazing examples out there which will be rapidly superseded by others in no time at all, but it is about expanding students’ minds to what is possible and promoting divergent thinking. Creating a classroom culture in which students are encouraged to think differently and find innovative solutions can be greatly aided by the many technological tools out there. As educators we need not even be proficient in using them (although getting involved alongside students can be very beneficial) but we do need to be open their use and present them as possible ways for students to explore and learn.