As digital leaders, how can we ensure technology is being used to allow students to construct knowledge, share experiences, reflect on practice, seek feedback, and contribute to the learning of others? Why is this important?
The use of technology should be purposeful and is aimed to enhance learning. We do not use technology because it is available, we use it because it can assist our students to learn better and more efficient. According to Budhai (2015) “Technology should not be used if it is not positively influencing the learning goals of the school, no matter how innovative technology may be”. The school may use a lot of expensive apps but this is not what determines the level of function; it is how this tool or app is being used to achieve the identified goals. As a digital leader of my school, we use ELIOT (Effective Learning Environments Observation Tool) for teachers to ensure that technology is being used or integrated in the daily lessons. ELIOT Tool helps us to make sure that the learning environment in the school uses technology to gather, evaluate, and use information for learning. It also helps to assess if students use technology to conduct research, solve problems, create original works, and work collaboratively for learning. We also use ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Standards for teachers and students to integrate technology in all subject areas of our school. With the use of ISTE Standards, students are asked to construct knowledge, share experiences, reflect on practice, seek feedback, and contribute to the learning of others (ISTE, 2016). I agree that technology alone does not improve education, but, nevertheless, the technology integration in classroom could bring enough benefits to education. Technology integration in education have created high hopes among teachers and administrators who believe that the digital devices offer great promise as instructional tools for learning (Biancarosa,2012). The students in our school are provided with educational apps that can help them to construct knowledge and share experiences with others. One of the favorite app that they are using is “Explain Everything” wherein students can create original video presentations and explainer videos about any topic that they want to present. This app is also good for collaboration and working together as a team, thus teaching students to contribute to the learning of others and at the same time, seeking feedback from others in order to improve learning in the classroom. References Biancarosa, G. (2012). Technology Tools to Support Reading in the Digital Age. University of Oregon’s College of Education, Or 139(3). Budhai, S. S., & Taddei, L. M. L. (2015). Teaching the 4Cs with technology: how do I use 21st century tools to teach 21st century skills? Alexandria, VA: ASCD. International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2019). ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students.
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Author:Aldwin Lauron is currently working as Technology Integration Specialist in ISC (International Schools of China). Archives
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