Integrating Technology into Content Area

Technology doesn’t make kids smarter. It also doesn’t make teachers better. Rather, how technology is used can lead to greater engagement with content and wider access to information. Similarly, when used appropriately by educators, integrating technology into the content areas can enhance and even transform instructional delivery.

Effective implementation follows a linear pattern: identify a problem and then pair it with an appropriate tool. This is often referred to as identifying the relative advantage. Rather than incorporating an online simulation into your lesson because it is popular or because others are using it, savvy educators must select the digital tools that offer the best relative advantage.

Once relative advantage has been identified, a support structure for implementation, called the SAMR model, can help to support technology use with a primary goal towards learning. Dr. Kathy Schrock says, “Teachers need to both create tasks that target the higher-order cognitive skills as well as design tasks that have a significant impact on student outcomes (Schrock, n.d.).”

How tasks can be designed to do this varies with each content area. What higher-order cognitive skills are required in a math classroom might be different from those required in a literature classroom. However, a sound understanding of effective implementation practices will scaffold such design practices.

As Eric Sheninger attests, “An easy way to ensure this is to incorporate the four Cs--creativity, communication, critical thinking, and collaboration--into curriculum and lesson design (Sheninger, n.d.).”

In other words, the relative advantage of integrating technology into content areas isn’t in the tools themselves. It is in the broader context within which the digital tools play a part. Do they increase engagement? Do they open access to relevant information? Do they help students process and critically think about information? Do they grant the opportunity to observe or interact with an otherwise unobservable phenomenon?

Notice that the supporting questions above all refer to whether or not technology tools benefit our students. According to George Couros, “If we are to truly empower our learners, we have to ensure we help them figure out what works for them, not us (Couros, n.d.).”

References

The Principal of Change. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/4521

SAMR - Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2014, from http://www.schrockguide.net/samr.html

Sheninger, E. C. (n.d.). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times.