With the advent of Web 2.0 technology and the increasing affordability of mobile devices, it seems that the choices for educational technology tools are virtually limitless. While, this provides teachers with unprecedented access to technology tools, it also creates a challenge for systemic integration of technology. To go back to the tool analogy of hanging a picture with a hammer and nail, with the current technology, it would be as if there were thousands of choices of the type of hammer and nail to accomplish the task. While the variety may be helpful to some and offer a great deal of choice, it makes it difficult to choose which tool might be best. The same can be said for educational technology. When there are too many choices, it becomes difficult for teachers to select the best tool for the task. Some teachers may enjoy the wide amount of choices, but some may feel overwhelmed, and are less likely to integrate because of that.

To help alleviate this problem, I am proposing a set of “focus tools” for each school. Focus tools would be a series of 3-5 tools that a school can identify for use across the entire school. These focus tools will help to focus professional development and curriculum planning. The focus tools can be chosen based on the following criteria:

1. Ease of use / Prior Exposure
2. High flexibility
3. Affordability / Access

The first criteria of a focus tool is that it must be something that has a relatively low learning curve. It should be something that teachers and students should be able to use with little or no training. Wikispaces  is an example of a tool that is easy for both staff and students to use. Essentially, the most important components of using a wiki are “edit and save”. Obviously, a wiki can be far more robust, but by mastering those basic functions, both teachers and students are able to use a wiki. By selecting a focus tool based on the ease of use, it allows for faster adoption of the tool, and less classroom or professional development time for training. The second component of this is that it may be important to select a tool that staff and students had had some prior exposure to. While they may not have used the tool extensively in the past, it may help that they are at least aware of the tool and its capabilities. Just because a tool is easy to use, it does not guarantee that teachers will be able to evaluate the tool for its affordances and constraints, or that they know how to integrate it into the curriculum.

Secondly, the tool should be one that is highly flexible. Mitch Resnick describes these types of tools by saying, “Technology needs to provide us with a low floor (an easy way to get started) and a high ceiling (lots of possibilities for taking things even further). There also needs to be wide walls, so that projects can be extended into other domains”. When selecting focus tools for a school, this is an important consideration in that it is important to not select a tool that is typically only used for a limited purpose.

Lastly, the tools need to be something that are affordable, or something that a school has wide access to already. For example, while iPads may be more affordable than laptops, it would be unwise to select that as a focus tool unless the school already had a great deal of iPads, or enough to logically accommodate most lessons. Another aspect of access, is does not deal with the question of how many, but rather how accessible the tool is to students. Applications or tools that are only available at school, or  for that mater a particular location in the school (e.g. a computer lab), would not be a good choice as a focus tool because the access is limited. Tools that are available to students and staff from home and school would make ideal focus tools based on the availability and access, and would be far more likely to to be used by students and staff.

Based on these criteria, I would recommend that the entire staff of the school be involved in the selection of these focus tools. This would allow for shared decision-making, but it would also provide an opportunity for discussion and evaluation of these tools, thus laying the groundwork for the on-going professional development for the year. By identifying these focus tools, it will help guide professional development for the school year. Trainings can be offered on those particular tools, and they can also be used to help facilitate future professional development experiences.

By selecting a small selection of focus tools, it also helps in building common vocabulary and common experiences amongst the staff. Curriculum planning meetings can focus on those particular tools, and the resources and lessons created can be used more universally amongst the staff. Sharing sessions can be built into building meetings or professional development days that highlight both the successes and the struggles teachers may have had while using these tools. However, because there is a common understanding or implied usage of the tools amongst staff, they may be more likely to assist in troubleshooting and brainstorming of ideas than before.

It is important to not that these tools do not limit teacher’s ability to select alternative tools. Rather, by focusing on how to evaluate the focus tools and apply them to learning tasks through professional development, teachers will be more likely to use those skills to identify alternative tools that fit the learning task.

Next, I will introduce how these focus tools will become the guide for professional development and how we can begin to build teachers capacity for evaluation and how they can be integrated into curriculum.

Part Two

Part One

Tags: Focus Tools Professional Development Technology Integration