Technology integration is a pretty broad topic. So broad, in fact, most schools have created full-time positions for specialists that are dedicated to achieving just that. So far, we probably haven’t told you anything you don’t already know, but, sometimes, it’s the most obvious facts that bear repeating. Why would district leaders create brand-new positions for people or re-assign existing employees to very different roles? Well, technology has a lot to do with that and the effectiveness with which it’s woven into each school’s curriculum and everyday projects can do a lot for a child’s future. So, this week, we’re covering the broad topic of EdTech integration and how school leaders can do so effectively.
Effective Integration of Tech in Teaching
At a fundamental level, the use of technology in the classroom should always come back to the fact that it can optimize student learning and enhance teaching. These days, technology could be forced into just about any lesson if a teacher really wanted to, but that’s not what we’re trying to accomplish with students. Educators should ask themselves some questions before adding a tech tool to a lesson in order to determine if it really is beneficial. They should be able to see a clear list of advantages it would provide and be able to pivot to a back-up plan if things don’t go as planned. Teachers need to gain benefits from technology too, however, and they should be sure that it’s routinely aligning with their teaching goals and that it provides a reliable way of enhancing their instruction.
There are a few different types of technology and it’s not that uncommon that different educators think of different things when the broad term of ‘technology’ is mentioned. Perhaps the most general of the bunch is IT equipment, like computers, laptops, and tablets. Another group is online technology, platforms, apps, and programs that both students and teachers can use to take part in lessons and track student progress to name just a couple of examples. The third type of educational technology is the STEM tools or the hands-on pieces of technology. This is the group of EdTech we most commonly refer to and work with. Like the other groups, it’s become just as easy to integrate the STEM side of technology into today’s teaching while still keeping the content aligned to standards and requirements.
Aside from the use of STEM tools in teaching today’s students, educators can use tech to do all sorts of things. For example, they could run a virtual field trip using VR technology like Google Expeditions. They could also use a ton of different videos to engage children who learn best when using that medium. They could coordinate live video sessions with students and teachers in another classroom or help kids to get more comfortable with adding elements of multimedia to their projects. With all of these different options, teachers also could make use of technology to see how their students are liking the way they’re learning. Digital exit tickets, which can be created and accessed on many different online services, help educators gain an understanding of how their students are liking the content and the manner in which it is delivered. Whether it’s hands-on or on a screen, however, learning with technology certainly has its benefits.
Integrating Robotics and Coding Technology
Not only can technology be used to teach specific STEM concepts to students, it should also be seen as a way to grab their attention, reach them, and keep them engaged. Some educators will even go as far as to say that technology can act as a bridge that enables deeper human connection—something that’s true for students in all classrooms, including special education students. When using robotics tools in the classroom, there are a lot of different avenues students can explore. The most common of those avenues is coding since many of the educational robots on the market are designed to introduce this concept to kids in a simplified way. This helps students understand the relationship between creating commands and a robot executing those commands—just like they would do in a computer science job.
One common approach to integrating robotics and coding technology in education is to make robotics and coding relevant to the lives of the students. Robots—both simple and complex—can be programmed to do just about any reasonable task we can imagine. If it’s raining out, for example, and a farmer still has to go outside to feed the animals, this presents an everyday situation in which a robot could help. As students see that programming a robot to dish out food for the animals is possible (in this random example), then they should start to see that maybe robots could be programmed to help make one of their tasks, chores, or projects easier. Establishing this real-life connection helps them use robotics and coding technology with more of a sense of purpose as they go on to explore it further.
Another effective way of integrating robotics and coding is to find some robots that students are able to build themselves. This practice keeps them engaged from the very start of the assembly process all the way through completion and, once they have a robot built, they’re then able to program it in many cases (depending on which one they’re using). Many K-12 robotics kits come with project guides and building instructions to ensure that this technology is integrated into learning effectively. By empowering students to take control of their learning and build a robot from scratch, students tend to enhance their tech skills and develop a sense of entrepreneurship—two things that could serve them very well in the future. And, the best part is that there are so many robotics and coding tools that educators could choose from—with options for students with a wide range of interests in a wide range of grade levels.
Project-based Learning and Technology Integration
Project-based learning helps create great classroom environments and learning experiences for students. There’s so much they can do when they’re engaged in active learning and collaboration. Whether their PBL involves the use of technology and STEM tools or doesn’t incorporate any at all, it’s still a popular and proven method of teaching. Since we’re talking about technology integration, however, and are notably huge proponents of using EdTech in the classroom, we’re going to focus more on the PBL that does include the use of technology. Before even getting started with a PBL lesson or unit, teachers can work together (collaboration is one of the most important themes of PBL) to brainstorm ideas and share what they may have learned from past PBL experiences. This planning phase will also help them gather the technology they want to use and get more comfortable with it if necessary.
Like when integrating technology in traditional teaching, the EdTech selection process when looking for tools to use in PBL is also important. Since many of the PBL tasks teachers assign to their students, many PBL activities are rooted in real-world relevance. And, since a lot of real-world problem solving involves the use of technology, in-class PBL is the perfect opportunity to involve more EdTech in the learning process. Whether it’s problem solving, critical thinking, or collaboration, PBL projects tend to involve at least one of the above and help students begin to see why they’ll need certain skills for the real world. What they learn through PBL is more like the world outside their classroom—the world they will one day enter. PBL can also be personalized, making the tech selection process that much more powerful and able to maximize the way students learn.
Here are some of the steps teachers should take when searching for and integrating EdTech in PBL and some of the mistakes they should try to avoid. First, be sure to plan and collaborate with others as much as possible, including administrators and tech specialists at the school. Also, keep in mind that the best PBL is that which is personalized, requires open-ended design, and can be done with EdTech that’s compatible. Finally, remember to leverage the technology tools that students already know and know how to use (as long as they fit the project) since this will really help with engagement. As for some of the top things to avoid, be sure to not choose technologies simply because they look cool, don’t feel like you have to plan every single minute for every project that you do, and don’t assume that students won’t be interested in a project that doesn’t involve technology. Recognizing these common mistakes and being sure to neutralize them can help create a tech-based, PBL experience that’s enjoyable, beneficial, and stress-free.
A Checklist for EdTech Integration
By the time you discover, learn about, and create some lessons around the EdTech you want to use in the classroom, you’re probably more than ready to get it in there. Rushing to implement it at this point, however, could result in some more harm than good. Sometimes, it’s best to integrate a new STEM tool into teaching in a more calculated way rather than simply handing it over to students and letting them experiment. In fact, we recently came across a comprehensive EdTech integration checklist and thought it provided an excellent example of the approach educators should take when trying something new. A lot of it is common sense, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that keeping things simple will ensure that all activities go as planned the entire time.
The first thing educators should do is assess the equipment they currently have. This includes both hardware and software and it might be helpful if teachers consult with the tech specialists or IT members in their school to learn about the system’s capabilities and limits as well as more about the network. Also, consider how the speed of each device or tech tool will hold up if many different students are using theirs at the same time. Next, it’s a good idea to assemble a small team and gather some resources that might help. A mixture of tech professionals and classroom teachers who have used the same or similar technology in the past is the ideal mixture. Some things to consider are technologies with single sign-on options and platforms that are certified by your states’ department of education.
In addition, some of the most important things you’ll likely learn about EdTech integration come from the conversations you’ll have. This includes speaking with EdTech vendors (like us!) and with peers in your school, district, surrounding districts, or really anywhere in the world thanks to social media. These conversations tend to shed some vast and important light on various EdTech tools since it’s pretty hard to beat the first-hand experiences and reporting from educators who have used these tools in the past. After gaining this knowledge, the final two steps on your checklist could be to create timelines for when you would like to have your new technology mastered and implemented and test it out for yourself either on your own or right in the classroom where you will be using it. Following these steps should certainly help make things more enjoyable with fewer hiccups along the way.
The Eduporium EdTech Integration Method
Educators and school leaders who have used technology effectively likely have their own approaches for bringing it into their classrooms. While using what works for you is totally fine, at Eduporium, we’ve also created a bit of our own version of this process. Since we’re (usually) not actually in the classroom with teachers when they roll out a new technology, most of the role we play comes right up until they start teaching with it. It includes a lot of the same advice that most EdTech users, proponents, and designers would give you, but we can add a bit more insight since we have a good amount of knowledge on a lot of different EdTech tools and how they have worked for teachers in the past. We’re not trying to reinvent the proverbial wheel, but we’re also here to help teachers, tech specialists, and district leaders as much as we can.
If an educator comes to us and is looking for help with integrating some new STEM tools into teaching, the first thing we’ll probably do is ask them what tools they’re planning on using, what their expertise with those tools is, what their students tech literacy is like, what their classroom environment is like, and what kind of devices they have. This helps us gather a lot of information about whether or not the teacher has chosen an ideal set of tech tools to use in his or her specific environment and if they have a clearly established set of learning goals. Our experts will then determine if the technology that teacher wants to use will help them create the outcomes they want and, if necessary, recommend something else that would still fit within their budget. In many cases, our experts will even test it out in a similar environment to see how things play out (though we could never truly replicate every teacher’s situation).
One of the most important things when integrating new technology is for educators to make sure it’s compatible with what they already have. Some STEM tools only work with iOS devices, for example. Others need to have a certain kind of software or can only be used with Chromebooks. There are a lot of device-specific issues that teachers run into and, when working with us, we aim to make sure those never come up. We can also recommend technologies for teachers based on our forecast of what’s coming. If we know a company is due to release something new in the next few weeks or months, it sometimes means their current offerings might be going away and no longer be supported. This tends to provide teachers with the extra benefit of skipping adding that particular technology and avoiding wasting time on learning how to use it. Finally, we can help make sure that EdTech is used to its fullest potential in the classroom by providing step-by-step lessons, activities, and key insights whenever we speak to teachers.
For the latest EdTech, STEM, and 21st century education news, follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Like us on Facebook, too, or sign up for our newsletter for our latest product announcements and offerings. If you have an idea for an Eduporium Weekly theme, send us a message on social media or comment below.