Ideas for using edtech in different ways in a classroom

‘The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.’ ― William Arthur Ward

Teaching is an art as much as a science. It is conceptual and intellectual in nature, as well as abstract and tangible, creative and sequential. It’s about individuals, yet it’s told through the lens of ideas. It’s all about content, hearts, minds, the past, and the future–whatever we can think of, teaching and learning are both causes and consequences.

Teaching is a difficult profession, and the constantly evolving society doesn’t make things any easier. The teachers were doing a good job a generation ago if they made sure to cover the curriculum according to pacing standards and best practices. However, as students’ needs and society’s expectations have grown, so have the responsibilities put on the teachers. They must bring changes in their ways to teach too. Luckily, edtech is here to help them with it. 

Here are some ideas for using edtech in different ways in a classroom!

• TPACK (aka technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge)

TPACK, introduced by Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler of Michigan State University in 2006, is a technology integration framework that highlights three forms of knowledge that teachers must combine in order to implement edtech. These knowledge types include technical, pedagogical, and content knowledge. 

Source: tpack.org

The diagram’s centre demonstrates a complete grasp of how to educate with technology. Keep in mind that this is not the same as knowing each of the three fundamental ideas separately. The goal of TPACK is to learn how to utilize technology to teach concepts in ways that improve student learning experiences. It may be a great thing to remind the teachers to look at the bigger picture and evaluate their whole approach. It works competently in the lesson-planning phase as an inventory. 

• SAMR (aka substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition)

The SAMR framework assists teachers in thinking about how they presently employ technology in their classrooms; it is sometimes viewed as a hierarchy, with each term inside the acronym representing a level. It is a framework for introspective and qualitative assessment rather than an inventory.

Teachers make use of the SAMR framework to see if the gadgets they have in their classrooms are helping or hindering their students’ learning. They don’t have to strive for modification or redefinition with each session, and they can shift between SAMR levels from lesson to lesson.

• PICRAT (aka passive, interactive, creative, replacement, amplification, transformation)

PICRAT addresses the influence of technology on a teacher’s prior practice and incorporates a student’s engagement with technology in a specific educational setting. It is very similar to SAMR. 

Students would participate in a passive lesson by watching teachers play a video on a whiteboard, an interactive lesson by answering embedded questions while viewing a video, and a creative lesson by creating their own film. PICRAT is a beautiful alternative to SAMR for teachers who wish to focus on the qualitative components of student interaction with technology.

Is it difficult to change the way you teach? Yes. So is it worth it? Also, yes. E employing technology to extend the teaching repertoire will take time and effort. However, it will allow teachers to have more of the sorts of interactions with children, something that gravitated them toward teaching in the first place.