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Literature-Based Collaborative

Internet Projects in Elementary Classrooms

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Beyond Computers In The Classroom:

Factors Related

To Technology Adoption

To Enhance Teaching And Learning

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Technology and Student Achievment

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PROJECT RED- Student achievement through technology

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Motivation through collaboration

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21st Century Curriculum | Feature

The 6 Key Drivers of Student Engagement

The best way to drive student achievement is to meaningfully connect with students. The best way to do that is through technology.

The following is an excerpt from the book Every Child, Every Day: A Digital Conversion Model for Student Achievement, published by Pearson. Edwards is the superintendent of Mooresville (NC) Graded School District (MGSD), whose districtwide 1-to-1 program earned it the 2012 Sylvia Charp Award.

We believe that relevant, personalized, collaborative, and connected learning experiences enhance student engagement, which in turn drives student achievement. Although these learning experiences were available in a more limited way before the advent of technology, digital conversion has taken them to an entirely new level.

Relevant Learning
There is a great deal of discussion these days about the need for relevant instruction, so that students can see the value of school. In the past, instruction has generally not connected students to the world outside of class, now or in the future, and many students have felt bored or disconnected. Digital conversion addresses this issue and allows educators to bring relevance into daily teaching and learning.

When students are using digital resources, building multimedia projects, collaborating and connecting online, and conducting online research, they are more interested in their schoolwork today, and they feel more connected to what their future holds tomorrow. Most of today's students expect that, as a matter of course, they will be using technology after high school--in college, in their future occupations, and in their personal lives--to work collaboratively, research, create, and solve problems.

The ability to connect life in school with life outside of school has a huge impact on students' "learning disposition." It allows learning to be personally centered. It helps students feel that school has meaning and purpose, which can make a world of difference in their level of engagement and achievement. When students do work that is relevant to the real world, their current lives, and their future plans, they become more curious about learning, show more initiative, and improve their analytical skills.

An important by-product of the relevance factor is that teachers and staff also feel more connected to the world outside of education and to their own future lives, creating a kinship with students in which both parties are experiencing the same thing.

Personalized Learning
When teachers harness formative data to teach with precision, differentiating learning to meet both individual and class needs, great things can happen. Personal focus is an absolute power driver for student development. The availability of real-time data permits the laser focus on personalization that we see now in our schools. The differentiated instruction that technology enables allows struggling students to learn at their own pace and helps gifted learners advance more quickly.

Real-time data gives teachers precise information to provide personalized interventions, to extend help to individual students, and to assign students to work in flexible collaborative groups--groups that can change as students progress at different rates or redirect their learning focus. Teachers can personalize group instruction for optimal productivity and to avoid any matches that may be problematic.

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The 6 Key Drivers of Student Engagement -- THE Journal

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21st Century Curriculum | Feature The best way to drive student achievement is to meaningfully connect with students. The best way to do that is through technology. The following is an excerpt from the book Every Child, Every Day: A Digital Conversion Model for Student Achievement, published by Pearson .

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Technology leads to student improvement<br>

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See my annotated bibliography of possible resources here

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Disspelling 5 myths of technology

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Online Master's in Instructional Design and Technology | Walden University

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Walden's online master's in instructional design and technology degree program is designed to help you enhance your skills and advance your career. Learn more today.

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SOLE (Self organized learning environment

with the help of technology/ The school in the cloud

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Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

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The need for educators to consider technology

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Today's students need educators to re-envision the role of technology in the classroom. by Nancye Blair Principal, January/February 2012 Web Resources A dramatic shift is sweeping through our schools. The signs are all around us. Third graders texting on their cell phones. Kindergarteners who can navigate an iPod Touch better than we can.

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Benefits of a 21st century classroom

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Learn how technology has changed education and how educators can leverage the best it has to offer to personalize learning and prepare students for the future.

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From textbooks to digital delivery

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Personally, I enjoy reading a book made out of paper. I also like the romanticism of the Sunday New York Times and a cup of coffee. However, that's about the extent to which I consume through paper media. The rest of my world lies in a digital realm. But I'm just one person. What digital media offers us is convenience, personalization, and efficiency.

Asking the Right Questions

In my previous post, I suggested a strategy that would help organize the transition from textbooks to digital content delivery. The premise focused, not on recreating a textbook structure in digital format, but on simply remixing the idea of content delivery altogether. In essence, it's not the textbook that needs to change -- it's how we deliver content to our students. Additionally, this transition lies in how we design and integrate that delivery system and with what tools we can work.

When considering this transition, whether it's a district or school-wide initiative, or simply a personal mission, it will require some research into finding the right content and resources to deliver, as well as reimagining the instructional design process. Whether you are using technology or simply shaking up the myopic way that the textbook has forced many of us to teach for years, the key is to begin with some questions about your instructional design:

1. What skills do you want students to learn and apply?

2. What content will you deliver, and how does it connect to the desired outcome and align with standards?

3. How will you check for understanding and challenge students to apply their learning?

4. How are you transitioning the learning from a passive experience to an active, creative experience?

Ultimately, these questions will help begin the instructional design process. Additionally, it does not require any technology -- we just need to think differently about how we deliver content, check for understanding, and challenge our students to apply their learning. And by "apply," I don't mean a worksheet or a multiple-choice quiz. I mean that we must challenge them to question and use their learning to seek out an answer that cannot simply be Googled. After looking at these concepts, you'll begin to see ways in which you can integrate technology and find meaningful content for students.

Finding the Right Content

Once you've started sketching out your instructional design, you can begin seeking out resources for content. Since I first started writing about open educational resources a few years ago, there has been a flood of new sources that educators can seek out for content. But more doesn't always mean quality. I have never been one to suggest 300 apps for the iPad, or 378 Chromebook extensions for the classroom. Rather, find one or two apps or resources that work best for you, become an expert with them, and focus on student learning rather than app harvesting.

Below you will find two sources that I have used personally and recommended over the past four years. Both iTunesU and OER Commons are well-respected OER sites, and both offer a wealth of vetted, credible information that can be integrated into your instruction.

iTunesU

I mentioned this in my last post and feel that it's one of the most underutilized sources of content out there. Essentially, iTunesU is one of the largest repositories of OER in the world. Educators, professors, and academics from around the globe are sharing their teaching and their content. Depending on the licensing of the content, teachers can build their course by selecting pieces of created courses and organize it through the iTunesU course manager. This can be done on an iPad or a laptop. Additionally, educators can share courses and content with each other. School districts can also apply to get their own bookshelf in the iTunesU catalog. If your school district is using iPads, I highly suggest this option.

OER Commons

OER Commons offers educators a place where they can connect and share globally with other educators, and work with the curriculum those educators have shared. OER Commons offers a vast database of teacher-created curriculum and the ability to organize their courses. The content is vetted for credibility and provides citations for reference. Users can sign up for a free account, which lets them share, access, and curate their own content. Educators can also submit original content and house it with the other content on the site. Additionally, educators can add tags and align content with the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.

These two sources are a great starting point for organically integrating content into your instructional design. Whether you're using iPads, Chromebooks, or laptops, these resources will provide a wealth of information to add to your course. Again, we're not simply recreating the textbook in a digital form, but considering the instructional design, the technology used, and the content delivery system. Additionally, it allows teachers to have full autonomy over the content they deliver and to develop dynamic integration strategies that challenge our students not only to learn various skill sets, but to apply them creatively.

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Open Educational Resources Meet Instructional Design | Edutopia

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Personally, I enjoy reading a book made out of paper. I also like the romanticism of the Sunday New York Times and a cup of coffee. However, that's about the extent to which I consume through paper media. The rest of my world lies in a digital realm.