technology. Initially we wondered, “What are some effective models and/or frameworks for technology in the classroom?” Then, whether this is more specific or not, we thought that looking for models that lead to greater student achievement and the development of the thinking and fluency skills students will need for their future lives was also a valid pursuit. We were driven to make personal meaning out of the many ideas we have been encountering in the University of Michigan Flint’s Masters of Educational Technology program related to designing technology-mediated learning experiences for the classroom. Some of the guiding questions we created for our research were as follows:

• What theoretical frameworks are out there for the application of technology in the classroom?

• What practical frameworks are out there that delineate technological skills and fluencies that students need?

• What steps for implementation need to be taken into account when trying to effect growth in this area within educational settings?

The People for Pedagogically Sound Approaches to Technology in the Classroom were brought together by a common goal-to improve our own school’s uses of

Initial Questions and Wonderings

Issue 01 February 24, 2012

Curiouser and Curiouser An introduction to the initial wonderings with regard to technology models in the classroom.

Page 1

Designing Engagement Our clarification of what truly interested us led the group to develop individual engagements.

Page 2

Lessons and Next Steps Here are some lessons we learned and some next steps we’ll take.

Pages 3-4

Farah works in an international school in Hong Kong. There is a 1 to 1 program in the school, though Farah does not have this in her own classroom. The environment is technology rich, but there is not a tech. framework in place.

Matthew works in an international school in Stuttgart, Germany. The landscape is tech. poor and it lacks a framework in place. This is a great opportunity to make progress.

Our Educational Landscapes

2

1

Matthew:

I was interested in seeing how we could apply/combine models like SAMR and ISTE in order to create a framework for technology in an educational setting—however I was soon to find out that the group had their own ideas about technology in the classroom. After a long Skype Chat the individual interests coalesced and Farah and I chose practical and theoretical frameworks.

I first gathered information on SAMR, located a website that combined SAMR with the TPACK model-this seemed promising to me. I found podcasts at iTunes U and listened to them on the topic of the SAMR model. However, I then realized that a theoretical understanding of the use of technology, though helpful, might not be enough in order to determine clear enough next steps for my school-which lacks both a well-understood philosophy for the use of technology and a practical scope and sequence of skills that students need within our curriculum. That led me to the ISTE’s NETs and to the beginning of an implementation plan for creating a K-12 technology curriculum at my school. This plan and the links I consulted can be found here. In addition, I consulted Ian Jakes’ Digital fluencies, p21.org, my school’s current iteration of a technology Scope and Sequence, the Horizon Report, documentation for the relationship between the PYP and ICT, and our current strategic plan.

After discussions with group, I realized that at least in my case, to effectively implement technology in the classroom, I’d also need some kind of plan to develop teachers, but I did not get to that yet.

We realized that for us, researching specific frameworks that were in place made the most sense.

2

Farah:

At first I began with a broad interest in frameworks of technology curriculum for upper primary grades. I began by looking first at my school and realizing that we did not have a curriculum put in place, yet we say that we incorporate technology and imbed it in the curriculum. After this initial wondering of what I wanted to research, I began to look online at how teachers were successfully teaching tech skills and how they were engaging their students in self directed learning/activities. What skills did these teachers need to teach their students and how did they ensure mastery? I also discussed these questions with my jigsaw partners and they shared links that would help my research in the area of technology scope and sequences. I discussed more in detail with Matt regarding this idea that I was not aware of a national set of benchmarks and standards. He pointed me towards ISTE and also gave me an example from another school in New Haven. I looked at these scopes and sequences and considered the accompanying NETs rubric. My second step of research was to see if my 4th graders were aligned with the standards on the NETs tech rubric. I developed a survey based off of the skills for 4th graders on the ISTE's framework and had 111 of the 134 4th graders answer the anonymous survey. The results then led me to discover that we had some gaps in certain skills that would definitely require explicit teaching. The next steps that I would like to take would be to continue with the rubric that the ISTE NETs has in place and put it in kid-friendly words so that students can understand it and be help accountable.

3

3

1

Matthew

Through my research and through experiences in my own school trying to implement technology into the classroom, I found that three components would need to be part of any successful change in the area of educational technology within schools-

• a Theoretical Understanding of the use of technology (SAMR Model)-this can lead to a pedagogical shift because it places importance on redefining tasks for the student; it places importance on what the STUDENT is doing as opposed to what the TEACHER is doing

• a Practical Understanding of what Skills students need in order to accomplish the higher order tasks of the SAMR model and to be prepared for their future work and education lives. This could be had by utilizing ISTE's framework (NETs)

• a framework for developing teachers-this should include professional development in the area of technology, but also pedagogical development that leads teachers to a more student-centered focus. Utilizing a schematic such as the "Learning Pyramid" or Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy can help teachers understand the kinds of tasks they should be engaging students in, to best retain content.

I think one essential next step, besides developing a skill continuum for students and a development framework for teachers (which would include a philosophical understanding of technology for learning, in addition to skill-specific training), would be finding research articles that could support or disprove these as important components for educational technology change. Additionally, being sure to involve school

Findings and Next Steps

2

stakeholders in the shift would be essential.

My implementation plan for a K-12 ICT Scope and Sequence: Step 1: Gather resources, including stakeholder input if necessary (teachers, students, staff, community?) this gives a good idea regarding the technology skills you want students to have at your school. Possible sources include: - strategic plans - programmatic documentation (IB publications and exit outcome information) - ISTE Net standards - Digital Fluencies - p21.org - the Horizon Report

Step 2: Consult each level of the school, students, teachers, and parents to ask what tech. skills they feel students should have. Actions: survey staff, parents, students, and Heads of Departments.

Step 3: Create master list of all possible required skills, then identify “power standards”-ones most essential.

Step 4: Go through the list and get rid of any that are redundant.

Step 5: Create a curriculum document with these delineated-consult with teachers to identify WHERE they are most appropriate.

Step 6: Identify points in curriculum where you are meeting these standards already and where growth needs to be made.

Step 7: Determine an accountability/responsibility measure to make sure the skills are being taught within the curriculum.

Step 8: Develop an evaluation plan for reflecting on the implementation and possible action steps to remedy problems.

Theoretical and Practical Framew

orks Tw

o necessary elements in order to m

ake real technological change in the classroom.

4

3

Farah:

I created a technology survey and asked 111 4th graders to take the online survey. The PDF above shows the results of the survey. The goal of this survey is to gain insight into what our students know how to do before looking at a scope and sequence for grade 4 technology skills. The students will also be able to reflect on their own understanding of what skills are expected of them in 4th grade. These are but only some questions that measure what I believe should be covered on a technology continuum for primary students, but it is just some groundwork for my particular school. (It is what our daily expectations are when we use technology, excluding ethics and problem solving in the real world.)

The Survey Results

There were several areas of the survey that caused me and my colleagues to reflect on to why a school such as ours could call ourselves a 1:1 school if most of our students could not touch type successfully. Well, the overall response is

clear-we do not teach this anywhere in our curriculum. In fact, it was deliberately taken out of the classroom last year. Students must practice this basic skill in order to be able to publish essays, narratives, and other assignments on a regular basis in a timely manner. Not only does "hen pecking" at the keyboard slow down the publishing process, it also blocks sentence fluency for struggling students and English as a second language learners. Thankfully, next year we are looking at devoting the first two weeks of school to touch typing in writing class.

Through out this research process, I found myself to grow more curious about how to teach other teachers that it is important to stop and explicitly teach technology skills. Yes, I do believe that technology should be imbedded into the curriculum as a whole practice, but it also deserves a place on the curriculum map. If teachers are held accountable to teach the skills, only then can we hold the students accountable to learn them. After all, we are teaching students to prepare for jobs that have not even been imagined yet.

4

“You guys are on the highway, and I’m still

starting my car.”

- Ben Tomlinson