Implementing EdTech into your teaching
In learning theory, you hear a lot about taxonomies and models - Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1956), Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning Experiences (1940), Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle (1984) are all great ones to start with - but what about something to help you frame the role of educational technology within your teaching? While engaged in adapting your course for online/remote learning, no doubt the use of (and frustration with?) technology will be part of the process. Much like the decision of what and how to teach, implenting technology forces consideration and selection of tools that work for your course and in your context. You can't do everything and you shouldn't!
Introducing the SAMR Model
The SAMR taxonomy and hierarchy illustrates the ways in which technology can act in your course:
Substitution: Technology acts as a direct substitute to a current process, with no functional change. You might hear this described as having high fideltiy to an in person experience. An example of this would be online proctoring, wherein the goal is to mimic the highly supervised nature of a high stake, in person final exam. Other examples would be posting PDF notes online instead of handing documents out in class or posting videos that capture lecture content. This is a great place for your "norms" to live - the syllabus, the etiquette for your online sessions, the expectations that you have of your students, etc.
Augmentation: Technology acts as a direct substitute, with functional improvement. An example of this would be Crowdmark, which is a tool that enables you to mark student work, more efficiently. It streamlines the feedback process by allowing you to create rich macros to re-use across students. It also facilitates the marking process by allowing graders to mark easily across questions and to mark from any location (since the submissions are digital). This is the zone where you start to add a new layer to your courses. If you are using videos, can you embed quizzes so that you are giving students formative feedback? Can you add supplemental resources (videos, articles, etc.) to your materials, to allow for deeper exploration (and a +1 for universal design)?
Modification: Technology allows for significant task redesign. This is where things really get fun. What were challenges that you've identified in class? Perhaps, for example, one student was frequently asking questions, while many others were a little less willing to do so. You could incoporate backchanneling mechanisms into your course to allow different voices to speak in different ways. For students who might not be on campus, or who were hesitant to visit your office hours for any of a myriad of reasons, you (or a member of the teaching team) can schedule 1-1 consultations and check ins to talk to them in a way that would have been impossible to do in person. You can also use Quercus analytics to get some insight into how your students are participating in your course - is there someone who isn't spending as much time as they should? Can you reach out and support them?
Redefinition: Technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconcievable. You could invite guest speakers from across the globe, asking them to interact with students in a way that is impossible in a bricks and mortar classroom. This part is the 'fun' part of this - what could you build into your course that you could not do before? How can you enhance what you were doing, or perhaps provide a new path for access? This area is open ended and ready to be defined by you.
SAMR is not a mountain to be summitted
It can be tempting to try to conquer a hieracrhy like this - are the "harder" tiers not the best learning experiences? In short: no. This is about making thoughtful decisions about how technology is implemented and ensuring that it maps to your course goals. Most live in the substitution/augmentation range for the vast majority of their course activities. But, it is important to be aware of the other opportunities available to you in the online ecosystem of technology tools and experiences. There's no right or wrong here, there's - what works for you? (To get started adapting your course for online/remote learning, see Online/Remote Course Design)
This article was inspired by an Edutopia post: A Powerful Model for Understanding Good Tech Integration By Youki Terada.
