Byrne - 4 C's of Technology Integration

Rebecca Byrne

The Four C's of Technology Integration

Collaboration

Creativity

Critical Thinking

Communication

Introduction

Index

My thoughts on technology integration

Introduction

01

• There are opportunities for a lot of value added, but it must serve a purpose - not just tech for the sake of using tech.
• The value added must be higher than the cost of distraction.

• Any required technology (hardware, software, app, etc) must include time for training.
• As faculty and students have more demands on their time, technology allows for sharing and collaboration that would not otherwise be possible.

My thoughts on technology integration

Technology can be leveraged to enhance and encourage communication between staff, students, and families - all stakeholders in a student's education.

Communication

Teachers and students have many constraints on their time. Technology allows for collaboration even when there is not time to meet in person.

Collaboration

Creativity is often limited by the skill of the user. Time needs to be spent on teaching faculty and students how to use apps and technolgy to encourage creative use.

Creativity

Videos, pictures, and data collection apps offer opportunities to improve critical thinking skills that can go beyond the classroom.

Critical Thinking

“Excellent communication doesn’t just happen naturally. It is a product of process, skill, climate, relationship and hard work.” – Pat McMillan, author, CEO

Communication

02

• Families can attend without transportation or babysitting
• Translators can attend conferences easily and help more teachers and families
• Use LMS to send classwide announcements to students and families

Parent teacher conferences

• Learn from experts in the field
• See places that we can't take an actual field trip to
• Exposure to more jobs and career fields
• Interactive activities and resources

Virtual Field Trips

• LMS allows students who are absent, suspended, or out of the country a way to stay connected to the class by seeing the class schedule and videos of content, and submitting assignments online
• Videos and lessons for students who need a second look
• Additional resources for differentiation

Students outside of the classroom

Leveraging technology for better communication

"Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve." - Roger Lewin

critical thinking

03

What in the world?

Chemistry labs using LoggerPro data collection

Digital Literacy

Lesson ideas that promote critical thinking

Use videos like this one from Nathan for You to introduce the importance of digital literacy, lateral reading, and verifying sources

Digital Literacy

digital data collection by Vernier

• Several modes of data collection - temperature, pH, conductivity, etc
• Collect more accurate data
• Graphs data
• Students can spend more time analyzing data and graphs rather than creating them

LoggerPro

from Scholastic's Science World magazine

Students view an image and 1. Observe - what do they see? What do they notice? What do they wonder? 2. Use prior knowledge to explain what they see. 3. Compare their explanation with their classmates. What's different? Similar? What's the best explanation? Why? 4. Use the conversation to change and/or strengthen their explanation.

What in the World?

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” - Maya Angelou

creativity

04

Students research science-related careers and create artifacts about those careers and how they relate to their own plans. E.g. - a sound engineer records a musical artist.

Career Exploration

Students read a science related children's book then create an ad for the book. These ads are sent to elementary school libraries.

Science Books for younger students

Students explore different fields of chemistry and then create infographics to share what they've learned

Infographics on fields of chemistry

Students create a themed project to state and show understanding of Newton's Laws of Motion

Newton's Laws Summative Project

Leveraging technology for creativity supports personalized learning. Students can use technology to gather information and curate it into a final project of their choice. This method is used in all subject areas in our building.

Many opportunites for creativity

“Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

Collaboration

05

Colleagues, students, and club members all leverage technology for collaboration

Busy students who cannot attend all club meetings can communicate, stay current on club happenings, contribute to projects, etc.

Clubs

Students can collaborate during class using Google drive and the Apple suite. Group projects, peer editing, and sharable notes are a few examples.

In class

As districts reduce the amount of scheduled collaboration time, teachers use LMS and Google drives to share lessons and ideas

Teachers

Collaboration - not just for class time!

Teachers need to be active and diligent participants in how technology is used in their classroom, weighing the benefits versus the distractions, and promoting student learning and collaboration for tomorrow's leaders, creators, and digital citizens.

Technology can be a valuable resource if leveraged to support student learning.