What Does Good Technology Integration Look Like?
Updated: Mar 5, 2019
Over the past several months, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what makes a good EdTech leader after partnering with and learning from local technology directors, instructional coaches, and tech-savvy inservice teachers. We can confidently describe one primary characteristic of an EdTech leader as the ability to effectively integrate technology into the school community; but what does that mean? Good technology integration can take on many forms, but just like the best EdTech leaders, they all have a few key traits in common. Read on to learn more about what good technology integration looks like in the K-12 classroom!
What Is "Technology Integration"?
"Technology integration" refers to the ways in which different educational technology tools and resources are incorporated into school and classroom life by teachers, technology directors, instructional coaches, and other EdTech leaders. This includes everything from the installation of SMARTBoards in classrooms and the 1:1 adoption of student and teacher devices to technology used to store and analyze data related to transportation, assessment, and even lunch programs. Though this may seem like a straightforward process at first, there are actually a variety of factors that contribute to the technology's success and numerous different instructional approaches to consider before integrating the technology.
What is NOT Good Technology Integration?
Before delving into the components of good technology integration, let's first establish what is not good technology integration:
Using a new piece of technology every day: Including technology in your classroom doesn't mean using a different, high-tech resource in every class. In fact, this would likely be overwhelming for both you and your students. Instead, research and evaluate the tools that interest you and then commit to 1-3 to incorporate into your daily classroom life. This will ultimately help you establish a stable classroom technology routine (and your students will thank you).
Adopting every flashy, attractive new tech tool: Though it is tempting to immediately adopt exciting new pieces of educational technology, it is imperative that you first evaluate the technology and ensure that it will be compatible with both your students and the curriculum.
Prioritizing technology over the curriculum: Technology should never be forced to fit into a lesson. Its use should always be justifiable as a support to the teaching and learning objectives. If the technology is not making the learning more effective and the teaching more efficient, it does not belong in the lesson.
Including technology because "you think you should": Although some teachers may feel pressured to include more technology in their daily classroom life, this should not be the sole reason they integrate it. In other words, the technology should still be grounded in the curriculum and learning intentions.
Technology integration that isn't sustainable long-term: This is particularly applicable to 1:1 device adoption (such as Chromebooks or iPads). Before integrating technology on this scale, EdTech leaders must determine if the devices and software are sustainable. They must consider not only the cost to purchase and implement the technology but also additional "hidden" costs like repair fees, professional development, and license renewals.
Technology integration without recurring professional development or scaffolding for users: Any kind of technology integration--big or small--requires modeling, scaffolding, and/or professional development for its users on a continual, recurring basis, especially if the technology will produce a dramatic change in school life and culture (as with 1:1 device adoption). If teachers and students do not have consistent support in learning how to effectively and productively make use of the new devices and resources, they will likely not be used as envisioned.
Good Technology Integration Begins with Good Technology (But Doesn't Stop There)
It's difficult to integrate technology well if the technology itself is not useful or effective. This is why it is imperative for teachers and technology directors alike to critically evaluate every tech resource prior to its implementation. These are the most important criteria for evaluating technology: (For more on this subject, see my post on evaluating technology here.)
Relevance: Is the technology relevant to the lesson, course goals, and/or school mission/objectives? Does it support learning standards? (This should be your primary concern when evaluating technology to implement.)
Differentiation/customization: Does the technology support/encourage differentiation and student customization? Does it make learning easier for a greater number of students? Can students change the settings to fit their individual needs?
Feedback: Does the technology make providing students with feedback easier/more efficient? Is the quality of feedback better?
Thinking skills: Does the technology encourage students to engage in higher-level critical thinking and/or promote the development of that skill?
Usability/reliability: Can students easily and independently use the technology? Is the interface user-friendly? Has the technology been positively evaluated and used widely enough by its target audience to ensure its reliability after implementation?
Engagement/motivation: Are students more engaged when using the technology? Does the technology motivate students to learn and do their best?
Sharing/collaboration: Does the technology promote student collaboration and support the sharing of student work with other students, teachers, community members, and online audiences?
However, as the educators and technology leaders in this video from Edutopia point out, just having good technology isn't enough; we must use that technology in a purposeful way that extends student learning:
"Outstanding Young Educator of the Year" Adam Bellow, who is featured in this video, remarks that technology integration is "using whatever resources you have to the best of your abilities." He also asserts that "Technology is a tool. It's what you do with that tool...that's really what technology is all about." In other words, good technology does not guarantee good technology integration. The way we use (or misuse) the technology resources really matters.
RECAP: My Definition of Good Technology Integration
Overall, two main themes emerge from these evaluation criteria and guide my personal definition of good technology integration:
1) Technology should make learning more effective for students, increasing their abilities beyond what they could do without technology. It should help students achieve a deeper, personalized, more authentic kind of learning that was otherwise impossible.
2) Technology should make teaching more efficient, automating certain daily classroom processes to increase instructional time for teachers.
If the technology does not achieve one or both of these goals when implemented, it is not worth using.
I believe that good technology integration also considers the following:
An explicit and widely accepted purpose: At the classroom level, teachers can clearly illustrate how their use of technology supports standards and promotes grade-appropriate learning intentions; at the school/district level, there is a consensus among teachers, administrators, and technology directors regarding the purpose for and intended uses of technology. All stakeholders should know these purposes and rationales and they should be publicly available for review.
Prior knowledge and necessary skills/training: Technology leaders are aware of their students' and teachers' prior knowledge and skills related to the new devices and software and are prepared to plan and carry out extensive, continual professional development on the new technology. The technology leaders have enough experience with the technology prior to its integration to confidently troubleshoot problems when needed.
Feedback and assessment plans: The technology leaders have developed and carried out extensive evaluations of the new technology prior to adoption and follow up with additional assessments and feedback surveys subsequent to integration. All stakeholders--teachers, students, parents, and administrators--should be involved in the feedback process and EdTech leaders should be willing and prepared to make modifications if necessary.
Digital citizenship and information literacy: There are plans in place to educate students, teachers, and parents on how to safely and respectfully use the technology and engage with media and other people online.
Necessary resources and sustainability: Prior to integration, technology leaders in the school community evaluate the additional resources that will need to be purchased to support the new technology. They also determine how sustainable the technology is long-term, based on their established budget.
This may seem like a lot of criteria to think about before making the leap to adopt new technology, but it is imperative that each of these factors is critically considered. Technology integration requires a lot of time, resources, and effort, which means extensive preparation is crucial for its long-term success, regardless of the size of the resource or scale of adoption.
What Are Examples of Good Technology Integration?
Here are some examples of the diverse ways in which technology can be effectively integrated to support teaching and learning in the K-12 classroom:
Students use technology to create an anti-bullying campaign in their school:
By using technology to create videos and posters, these students were able to plan, develop, and execute a school-wide anti-bullying campaign:
Rather than creating a simple piece of writing that illustrates their abilities to craft an effective argument and persuade others, these students collaborated to develop a campaign for an authentic audience on an issue that was relevant to their lives. Through the use of technology, these students were able to produce something much greater and more profound than a traditional paper would have allowed.
Students use Minecraft to practice digital citizenship:
Minecraft has been used by educators in a variety of ways to gamify learning, but one of its greatest uses is as a practical and engaging method of teaching digital citizenship:
By collaborating with peers in a safe online space, students learn how to interact respectfully online in a way that feels authentic and relevant to them. Without the use of technology like Minecraft, this deep understanding of how to act and treat others online would not be possible.
Students use movie-making software to create a book trailer: As a preservice English teacher, this example is especially attractive to me:
By creating book trailers using movie-making software like Adobe Spark or iMovie, students are forced to grapple with and then visualize the interplay between key elements of a text--setting, theme, and mood, to name a few--that they may not have considered when developing a traditional book report. This ultimately leads to a more profound understanding of the text and produces an artifact that students can share with their peers and community (and even the author!).
Students share and synthesize their learning with robots: Students from this first grade class decided to use Dash and Dot robots to synthesize and share their findings from a class inquiry project on bees:
By using technology to achieve this, the students are able to reflect on and illustrate their conclusions in engaging and meaningful ways so that their learning and research become productive and valuable to others (and not just themselves). Without technology, this would have been much harder to achieve.
Teachers use technology to streamline communication with parents and effortlessly share behavior and growth reports: Using programs like ClassDojo, teachers can easily record data about students' attendance, participation, and behavior in class and then share it directly with parents:
Tools like this can help break down barriers between teachers and families while making it simpler for teachers to keep track of their students' performance and growth. The technology is truly able to transform the relationships between the teachers, parents, and students.
Each of these examples of good technology integration illustrates what teachers and students are capable of doing when supplied with EdTech resources in ways that are sustainable, supported, customizable, and curriculum-based. Educational technology can truly revolutionize the way we teach and learn, but it all hinges on how it's implemented.
Now it's your turn! What are some of your most inspiring examples of good technology integration? What does good technology integration mean to you?
-Miss Hennings
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