Is This Tech Benefiting My Students?

When trying to balance technology use in the classroom, we must constantly be questioning if the technology in use is benefiting students. But how do we determine the level of benefit a tech tool provides? 

To assess the value a tech tool will bring to your students' learning, here are nine questions that all teachers should ask:

• Does the technology motivate students to start the learning process?
• Does the technology cause a shift in students’ behavior, so they move from passive to active social learners?
• Does the technology aid students in developing or demonstrating a more-sophisticated understanding of the content, creating opportunities for creation/production over consumption?
• Does the technology create scaffolds to make it easier to understand concepts or ideas?
• Does the technology create paths for students to demonstrate their understanding of the learning goals in a way that they could not do with traditional tools?
• Does the technology create opportunities for students to learn outside of their typical school day?
• Does the technology allow students to focus on the task of the assignment or activity with little distraction?
• Does the technology create a bridge between school learning and everyday life experiences?
• Does the technology allow students to build skills they can use in their everyday lives?

References:

Marshall Memo 772, February 4, 2019
“Smart Classroom-Tech Integration” by Liz Kolb in Educational Leadership, February 2019 (Vol. 76, #5, p. 20-26), https://bit.ly/2GaAwNU;