Using Educational Technology to Enhance Teacher Effectiveness by Kristin Youngberg

Implementing Educational Technology into our Instructional Practices & Investing in up-and-coming Educational Technology to Enhance Teacher Effectiveness A Plan & Reflection by Kristin Youngberg

Implementing meaningful technology into educational and instructional practice is a philosophy that has been increasing in popularity for years now. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic and virtual instruction has forced our school district to take a step back, and a critical look at the ways in which we implement meaningful technology into our instruction.

Teachers use Educational Technology as a tool to improve the learning experience of their students. This technology is used to deepen student understanding of the content, provide a more immersive learning experience, and extend the content taught through a variety of digital platforms.

One of the main takeaways from virtual and hybrid instruction is that as a district we need to continue to make investments in Educational Technology. We must provide professional development opportunities for our school educators to implement these new technologies and continue to invest in the future of our children.

Breaking it Down: What is Educational Technology?

In a scholarly article published by the George Washington University, Educational Technology is broken down into two major components: Education Technology and Technology in Education.

“Education technology is the incorporation of instructional technology (IT) into the classroom environment, and technology in education involves the technological tools that help people learn” (What is Educational Technology, GW Graduate School of Education and Human Development, 2020).

Using Educational Technology Effectively in our Schools Educational Technology is effectively implemented in our schools when our educators use the technology in a meaningful way to support and enhance the instructional and educational experience for our students. This technology does not replace the high-quality instruction that is delivered by our educators, but instead fosters and inspires our students to learn and grow.

Investing in Educational Technology looks Like: Implementing a 1:1 device program for all of our students, educators, and school leaders.

Developing a consistent digital platform that is used by all students, school faculty, and school administration.

Investing in up-and-coming digital platforms for our educators to use to assist in the reducing the learning-loss resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purchasing a Virtual Reality (VR) instructional set for our school media centers to give the opportunities for our students to learn in a more immersive way.

Effective Educational Technology is used to communicate, explore, discover, supplement, extend, and assess instruction.

Who Benefits from using Educational Technology in our Schools?

The entire school community benefits from using Educational Technology in our Schools. This includes our students, educators, support staff, families, and educational leaders.

When Educational Technology is implemented seamlessly in our students’ educational experience, our students are given access to never-ending digital platforms, opportunities to discover, feedback provided by big data, and the opportunity to develop skills that will prepare them to contribute productively to our community.

Why should we be Investing in Educational Technology as a School District?

As a school district, it is our responsibility to invest in the up-and-coming digital platforms that support our students. These programs are designed specifically to help grow our children into well-rounded and technically advanced individuals.

As a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Virtual Instruction, it is abundantly clear that the world of education is in a transitioning state and teaching effectively is becoming more and more dependent on technology. Educational Technology will benefit our children as learners and provide them with the most personalized and accessible learning experience as possible.

Educational Technology: What benefits our students & educators?

Google Class Forms is a Dojo is a digital digital platform platform used by our used to district for foster our students and communication families. Educators between our educators, assign digital forms to our students, and the our students, which then families of our provide real-time students. Students feedback and data to our receive “rewards” from students and educators. their teachers for This is a tool used to achieving their goals. It effectively collect data reinforces positive through forms created behavior and allows for by our educators. These our families to log on forms can be completed to monitor student within the school behavioral progress. building and at home.

Our educators design digital games on Kahoot! for our students to engage in a fun way to demonstrate their understanding of the content they are learning in the classroom. Our students love to play Kahoot! games from wherever they are participating in school: in-person and virtually!

In order to promote equity, diversity and inclusion, our educators use Learning for Justice.

This is an online resource designed to provide our educators and faculty with the tools they need to have deeper conversations about injustice in our classrooms. From resources on teaching about race to ability, our teachers have access to whatever resources they need from this platform.

Looking Ahead: Where is Educational Technology Going?

In an article published by Forbes Magazine, author Bernard Marr explains, “the Chinese education market should reach $715 billion by 2025” (“The Top 5 Tech Trends That Will Disrupt Education In 2020 - The EdTech Innovations Everyone Should Watch, Marr, 2020).

Ultimately, the Educational Technology industry is rapidly growing. New digital platforms are being introduced daily-it is our responsibility as a school district to continue up to date with these trends and continue to introduce these platforms to our educators and students.

Setting Ourselves Apart: What Technology should our District be Using?

Providing more Personalized Learning Opportunities for all of our students inside and outside the classroom setting to inspire life-long learning.

Introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to our educators, which will direct, and guide instruction based on the data produced regarding student performance and understanding.

Building in immersive educational opportunities in the curriculum for our students through augmented reality, extended reality, and mixed reality.

Implementing more accessible digital educational platforms for our Special Education Students and English Language Learners (ELLs).

Developing our students into digitally responsible citizens through direct instruction on safe online practices and modeling by our educators.

Reflecting on our Successes & Looking Ahead It is the responsibility of our district to take the time to evaluate and reflect upon our district’s effectiveness and quality of instruction, especially when it comes to the implementation of Educational Technology and other various digital platforms. Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Virtual Instruction, our district was comfortable with the “norm” when it came to technology-- we had laptop carts in the classrooms, provided devices to our teachers, and basic funding to each department to begin investing in the up-and-coming technologies.

COVID-19 and Virtual Instruction sped up this investing process, and although we are transitioning back into a more “normal” school year, we must continue investing in Educational Technologies to support our students.

Looking ahead, our goals should be as follows: o Consistency across all school buildings when it comes to devices, servers, and digital platforms for communication and collaboration. o All of our educators should have access to the same, high-quality technological device. o All of our students should be provided with their own high-quality device, that is purchased and managed by our school district. o Our educators should be provided with opportunities for consistent professional development to allow for collaboration amongst peers and direct training on how to use each new digital platform.

Each of these goals are measurable and achievable with the appropriate amount of support from the members of our community, school administrators, educators, and students. Together, we can continue to invest and implement various forms Educational Technology for future generations to come through high-quality and effective instruction within our school district.

References Castelo, Micah. (2020, March). Using Assistive Technology to Empower Students with Disabilities.

EdTech Magazine. Retrieved from https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2020/03/usingassistive-technology-empower-students-disabilities-perfcon Marr, Bernard. (2020, January). The Top 5 Tech Trends That Will Disrupt Education In 2020 - The EdTech Innovations Everyone Should Watch. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/01/20/the-top-5-tech-trends-that-willdisrupt-education-in-2020the-edtech-innovations-everyone-should-watch/?sh=4f81d20b2c5b McGuire, Sara. 10 Technology Tools to Engage Students in the Classroom. Teach Thought from venngage.com. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/technology/9-technologytools-engage-students-classroom/

Schaffhauser, Dian. (2020, April). 8 Steps for Developing a Robust Plan for Distance Learning. The Journal. Retrieved from https://thejournal.com/articles/2020/04/23/8-steps-for-developinga-robust-plan-for-distance-learning.aspx?admgarea=Features1 Snelling, Jennifer. (2020, March). 7 ways to make remote learning accessible to all students. Iste.org.

Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/explore/learning-during-covid-19/7-ways-make-remotelearning-accessible-all-students Starr, Linda. (2016, October). Integrating Technology in the Classroom: It Takes More Than Just Having Computers. Education World. Retrieved from https://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech146.shtml What is Educational Technology? (2020). The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. Retrieved from https://gsehd.gwu.edu/articles/whateducational-technology