A Girl Has Got to Have Standards

Educational technology that is fun, engaging, inexpensive, and exciting abounds. It’s everywhere. You can find a way to do almost anything online, on your mobile device, or with fun hardware.  As teachers have had to do in the past with new curriculum and trendy pedagogical ideas, we must now look at the available technology with critical eyes. What technological tools can contribute to authentic lessons? What tools are just fun, but not truly adding to the lesson?

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) offers six standards through which we can evaluate the choices we make for our classrooms. These standards examine 1) creativity and innovation, 2) communication and collaboration, 3) research and information fluency, 4) critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, 5) digital citizenship, and 6) operations and concepts. In addition, we should be asking ourselves if the technology in use demonstrates the principles of authentic lessons including the use of higher order thinking, student centeredness, and real world application.

One technological application I love for a science classroom is Elements 4D and Anatomy 4D.  It’s an app that turns paper or plastic blocks or printed paper targets into 3D models that are viewable through the device’s camera. Students can use the blocks or targets to manipulate what they’re seeing and create a variety of learning experiences. Both of these apps are very student centered. They allow for a maximum amount of discovery learning.  They both have application to the real world and encourage critical thinking. They would also rank high in research and information fluency which according to ISTE is “applying digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.”

Another app that provides opportunities for authentic learning is Write About This.  Write About This is an app that generates writing prompts across grade levels and interests.  You can increase the difficulty of the prompt according to the student’s ability and the app allows you to create profiles for each student. The teacher or student has the ability to add their own picture and create their own prompt. The prompts encourage higher level thinking skills, communication skills, and creativity, and any English teacher will tell you that good writing skills always have application in the real world.

News -O-Matic is an app that is subscription based. Each day, New-O-Matic by Press for Kids publishes five current news articles. The articles can be read out loud and are available in different reading levels to accommodate children with learning differences. The questions that are included for use with the stories cover critical thinking as well as other higher level skills. It is interactive and engaging. It could be used to create student centered lessons.

When it comes down to it, teachers are responsible for what happens in their classrooms. The technology that we choose to use is never a substitute for good teaching. We must apply the same critical eye to technology that we use to evaluate textbooks and other classroom materials.  Is it busy work disguised by amazing graphics and sound effects, or are we using technology to create a meaningful learning experience?