Levels of Technology Integration

It’s fair to say that every school teacher in Australia is conscience of integrating some technology into their lessons by now. What that means, and how effectively it is done obviously varies from teacher to teacher, school to school. This chart aims to simply demonstrate what those levels of integration may be and hopefully can give clarity as to how to work up to level 4 integration.

Levels 1 and 2 and self-explanatory. I believe levels 3 is where the a huge percentage of ‘computer’ lessons in Australian classrooms sit. Level 4 should be our goal for most lessons. That is not to say that elements of app based learning and gamification are not valuable, they have a place, and an important role in classrooms. Playing an engaging and enjoyable app shooting aliens each time you correctly answer a multiplication question is a great way to reinforce prior learning and build basic maths skills. Word processing and presenting through Powerpoint (or a Web 2.0 equivalent like Prezi) are import skills also. However, this is not improving the educational outcomes of the lesson, it is reinforcing something that was taught through some another method previously. We should strive to extend the outcomes further with technology, achieve more because technology is available to integrate. We should take lessons that integrate technology further and engage students in 21CSS (21^st Century Skills for Students – click here to read more about those) while they are learning that important syllabus content at a higher level than possible without technology.

For a simple example we are all capable of; when making that glorious Powerpoint on Edmund Barton or Rainforests. Can we make it a live google doc with four children accessing the same document? This might force the students to ‘Collaborate and Communicate’. What is each slide dedicated too? Who will do which one? Is someone is charge of images and some information? That looks very different to each child doing their own, or even two children sitting at one computer together.

The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) model is a very famous method of seeing how digital technology might impact teaching and learning. It was created by Dr Ruben Puentedura (http://www.hippasus.com/). Different activities within a regular teaching day might sit in different levels of the model. This model is not stating that every activity should aim to be in the Redefinition level. It’s a useful and efficient model offering teachers a way of understanding the results of the way technology has been used in a lesson activity.

This info graphic is probably the simplest break down of the SAMR model I’ve seen and it give some basic examples of each stage. It’s from https://www.principals.org

The levels of integration I’ve written are in agreement with the SAMR model. Rather than being focused on the opportunities for lesson tasks created by the technological integration as in the SAMR Model, the Levels of Technology Integration focus on how technology was used to improve educational outcomes within a lesson.

The Levels of Technology Integration focuses teachers on what is most important, educational outcomes for their students. We integrate technology to improve these outcomes. For example; we should not be taking the class to the computer lab to learn how to make flashing graphics on a new website. We should be taking the class to computer lab to make a ‘Fakebook’ page of a famous Prime Minister. This task would force students to expand through research their background knowledge of the person. Who their colleagues and friends were, what topics they felt strongly about and so on while teaching the ‘Digital Awareness’ and ‘Researching and Processing Information’ which are 21CSS. Student can than comment on each other’s Fakebook pages. In the latter case we are focusing on the syllabus content and educational outcomes, but use technology to improve student achievement of the outcome and teach them some 21CSS at the same time. This would also sit in the Redefinition level in the SAMR model.

21st Century Skills for Students - 21CSS

21st Century Skills for Students  21CSS

We are well into the 21st century and every educational organisation involved in technology has acknowledged a different(additional) set of skills is required by today's students. They are a set of skills required by a 21st century employee and therefore they need to be learnt by the students who will become those employees.

When integrating technology into education we should be aware of the syllabus outcome we are treating and the 21st Century Skill  for Students (21CSS) we are addressing. We should know this BEFORE we choose a technological device/tool/application/website that we might use to help the student learn the outcome and 21CSS.

Technology in education should aid learning. Students should not learn about technology. The technology should help the student understand the content the teacher is teaching. Technology is a tool to aid learning, not something to learn. As Louise Thomas from www.innovationunit.org  said, “Technology that allows children to learn for themselves and enables discovery and a lot more inquiry.”

I've compiled this list to try and simplify and summarise the skills you all know and already teach, to make teachers actively aware of what they are probably already doing. And to make the skills are easier to work with. Real classroom teachers don't care for academic jargon and marketing spin, they want real world, easy to use language and ideas.

It's not surprise they are very similar when compared from one organisation to the next. Mine most closely marry up with ISTE. So on this page I've given my six with a short explanation of each. 

I've also included references to several organisations and how they fit together when grouped. See below for the references.

1.Collaboration and communication Communication and collaboration -ISTE Collaboration - 21CLD - Microsoft  Skilled communication - 21CLD - Microsoft  Ways of working (communication and collaboration)- ATC21s Collaboration - skills21 Communication - skills21 Collaboration across Networks and Leading by Influence - 21stcenturyskills.com (Tony Wagner) Effective Oral and Written Communication - 21stcenturyskills.com (Tony Wagner) Communication -  Brian Miller Collaboration -  Brian Miller	2. Creativity and innovation Creativity and innovation -ISTE Ways of thinking. (Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and learning) - ATC21s Creativity and innovation - skills21 Initiative and Entrepreneurialism - 21stcenturyskills.com (Tony Wagner) Curiosity and Imagination - 21stcenturyskills.com (Tony Wagner) Creativity -  Brian Miller	3.Researching and processing information Research and information fluency - ISTE Knowledge construction - 21CLD - Microsoft  Tools for working. (Information and communications technology (ICT) and information literacy) - ATC21s Information literacy -  skills21 Accessing and Analysing Information - 21stcenturyskills.com (Tony Wagner) Critical Thinking-  Brian Miller
4.Problem solving and critical thinking Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making - ISTE Real-world problem solving and innovation - 21CLD - Microsoft  Problem solving - skills21 Critical thinking and problem solving - 21stcenturyskills.com (Tony Wagner)	5.Digital awareness Digital citizenship - ISTE Self-regulation - 21CLD - Microsoft  Skills for living in the world. (Citizenship, life and career, and personal and social responsibility) - ATC21s Responsible citizenship - skills21 Connectivity -  Brian Miller	6.Technological adaptability Technology Operations and concepts - ISTE Use of ICT for learning- 21CLD - Microsoft  Agility and Adaptability - 21stcenturyskills.com (Tony Wagner) Culture -  Brian Miller

Links for each of the organisation from where I have grouped their 21st century skill (or equivalent)

ITSE - The International Society of Technology in Education https://www.iste.org/standards

21CLD - Microsoft - 21st Century Learning Design by Microsoft http://www.pil-network.com/pd/21CLD/Overview

ATC21s - Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (University of Melbourne) http://atc21s.org/index.php/about/what-are-21st-century-skills/

Skills21 - Centre for 21st Century Skills at Education Connection  http://www.skills21.org/

21stcenturyskills.com(Tony Wagner) - Based on The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner. Read more http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/What_is_21st_Century_Education.htm

Brian Miller - http://flipped4science.blogspot.com.au

Program Evolution

Program Evolution

I'm doing some research into program evolution. How many years does it take for a teaching program to reach it's potential and does it eventually start reducing in quality?

If you're a teacher please take 5-10 minutes to complete my survey on this topic.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZV2MWRQ