Technology to Empower

Theresa Cullen

Challenge to Change seminar

I am in the Instructional Psychology and Technology Program – a combination of an instructional technology program and educational psychology.
I lead a team that is doing a new online masters degree in 21st century teaching and learning.
I run our 1 to 1 iPad program for those studying to be teachers. Each student is given an iPad and expected to purchase apps and use it for their classes – upon graduation they get to keep it and use in their future classroom. We at the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education have been recognized as an Apple Distinguished Program since 2013.

Note for Seminars in Milano, Bologna, Roma. May 2016.

Challenges in the US

• Budget cuts;
• Low teacher pay;
• Limited funds for technology;
• Cutting of arts and extra programs (speech, debate, robotics, etc.);
• Cutting of staff – larger class sizes (~ 30 to 35) and lack of personnel like Educational Technologists regular teachers are needing to use technology in meaningful ways if it is going to be used at all.

But Wait?

• Even with limited funds more schools are going one to one with iPads and Chromebooks;
• Why?
• It seems innovative;
• People think it could reduce costs – teachers are asked to write their own textbooks;
• It prepares students to use technology – maybe;
• Often teacher training is not included so it requires motivated teachers.

Why Use Technology?

• We have found that iPads allow for more creative expression by having students pushed out of their normal types of written responses, more engaged better synthesizing of  data move up to higher levels on Bloom’s taxonomy;
• With technology education is more personalized and students are more in control.​

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Technology for Argument

Using Adobe Spark (formerly Voice) app to have students create a persuasive argument for technology for their classroom or why someone like Steve Jobs should have been encouraged as a teen and how that changed that world.

Technology for Efficiency

Use of Explain Everything to replace interactive whiteboards like Smartboard to allow teachers to archive their lectures to be able to have students watch them over again and also help with students who are absent.
They are also using the same tool to flip their learning – assign lectures on video at home and then use class time for problem solving and collaboration.

Technology to Include

Use of Notability to model adaptive note taking. Encouraging students to take notes but review audio of the lecture to be able to add additional tools.
Use of built in Apple tools to add accessibility to books – my students make Multitouch books in my course – then they plan on how they can create them adaptively with glossary and built in assistive tools.

Tech as Equalizer

• Students have headphones in their ears all the time.
• How do you know what they are doing?
• Are they having books read to them?
• Are they having words pronounced for them with online dictionaries?
• Are they using a calculator?
• Are gifted children given extra or harder work?
• With everyone on an individual device, no one needs to know.

Tech to Include

• In the United States we have many immigrants;
• When they come to our schools they may only receive 1 to 2 hour a week of language instruction;
• The iPad through tools like Google Translate allows us to be empower them to translate materials to begin interacting with the class;
• This can also be done with multi-lingual apps like Tiggly. It also empowers teachers to feel more comfortable with the students and have more choices and supports.

Technology as Creation

• Have students create Memes and infographics with apps like Canva and Pictograph to have them summarize and discuss how data is represented;
• Use iMovie,GarageBand, Book Creator and DoInk Greenscreen to create multimedia projects and integrate them into iBooksAuthor  to create large multimedia projects;
• The best thing I have begun to do, is not provide a rubric or scoring for all the points, only to get to a B. Then I tell students to “Wow me!” and find additional work to do earn full points.

Technology to Explore Careers

• In the United States, we recognize that we are not raising children to be programmers;
• We are focusing on elementary and even early childhood students to promote the development of programming skills and computational thinking;
• We use http://www.code.org free curriculum with both paper and computer based activities. It uses a blockly language (like scratch);
• We use robots including Wonder Workshop, Ozobots, with both their inherit apps and the Tickle App to teach coding.

Where Growth is Needed

• More training for teachers and ideas for curriculum integration;
• Encouragement and credit for using technology;
• More apps for older students that are meaningful and move up Bloom’s taxonomy;
• This is especially true for history and geography.

Thank you

• More training for teachers and ideas for curriculum integration;
• Encouragement and credit for using technology;
• More apps for older students that are meaningful and move up Bloom’s taxonomy;
• This is especially true for history and geography.