Tips and Strategies to Get Started
- Technology and Teaching: Finding a Balance (Edutopia, 2014)Consider these suggestions for three tools that can serve as technology-integration entry points and advice from Andrew Marcinek on how to balance technology use with the teaching of critical, information literacy skill sets.
- 3 Tips for Integrating Technology at the Start of School (Edutopia, 2013)At the start of the school year, you don’t need to do it all, all at once. Nick Provenzano recommends a slow and steady start for introducing your students to all the wonderful tech tools you learned over the summer -- and also some advice on how to learn, and keep learning, from efforts.
- Setting Technology Goals for the New Year (Edutopia, 2013)Though these suggestions were written with New Year’s resolutions in mind, technology goals and resolutions can be taken up at any time of the year. Monica Burns offers a few ideas on different tools you can try.
- Let Tech Organize Your Teaching (Edutopia, 2013)Technology can help you organize and simplify your classroom. Marcinek suggests three easy-to-use technology fixes that could save you from drowning in the details of your busy teaching life. Make sure to check out the comments for even more suggestions.
- How to Integrate Tech When It Keeps Changing (Edutopia, 2014)For students to embrace the skills needed in a changing technology landscape, teachers must coordinate knowledge, instructional practices, and technologies to positively influence academic achievement. In this overview of ways to effectively coordinate these elements, Todd Finley introduces several models and frameworks to guide your practice, including TPACK and SAMR.
- Redefining Learning Through Screencasting (Edutopia, 2013)Beth Holland of EdTech Teacher looks at the SAMR Model as she walks us through ways to redefine learning through screencasting.
- Getting Started with Technology Integration in Your Classroom (Edutopia, 2010)Mary Beth Hertz gives an overview of standards from the International Society for Technology in Education and suggests some transformative ways to integrate them in the classroom.
- Information, Media, and Technology Skills (Partnership for 21st Century Learning)Read about functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media, and technology by referencing the Framework for 21st Century Learning from the Partnership for 21st Century Learning.
- What Edtech Can You Trust? (Edutopia, 2014)Education needs reliable standards for validating edtech product claims. Judy Willis suggests a few potential sources: Consumer Reports, Edutopia, Graphite, the British Education Index, and What Works Clearinghouse.
- Technology Integration Research Review: Evidence-Based Programs by Subject (Edutopia, 2013)Technology integration is a broad umbrella; applications and strategies vary by academic discipline. Edutopia's former senior manager of research reviews subject-specific research and recommends programs for each.
- The Epic BYOD Toolchest (51 Tools You Can Use Now) (Edutopia, 2014)Vicki Davis shares a wealth of apps and platforms that can facilitate teaching and maximize learning within a BYOD classroom and school environment. She counts 51, and these are just her favorites!
- 5 Fantastic, Fast, Formative Assessment Tools (Edutopia, 2015)With tools like Socrative, Kahoot, Zaption, Chatzy, and Plickers, teachers can use tech for immediate feedback about how students are learning and understanding the lesson.
- Using Tech Tools to Provide Timely Feedback (Edutopia, 2012)Mary Beth Hertz offers ideas and resources for using technology as a way to help facilitate assessment and provide meaningful feedback on student work.
- 4 Technologies to Help Students Find Their Voice in Your Classroom (Edutopia, 2014)Terry Heick suggests helping students find their voice in the classroom through technology, whether a medium in which they're already comfortable or one that you believe will make them more articulate.
- Cardboard Box Tools (Edutopia, 2014)Three digital learning tools, much like an empty cardboard box full of open-ended possibilities, offer young minds the free play of imagination.
- How Educators and Schools Can Make the Most of Google Hangouts (Edutopia, 2013)Mary Beth Hertz gives us the basic on how educators and schools can make the most of Google Hangouts.
- A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom (Edutopia, 2015)Vicki Davis, in the first half of a pro-and-con discussion about social media in the classroom, positions it as a vital life skill and provides 12 positive examples of classroom use.
- Back-to-School Technology Checklist (Edutopia, 2012)Mary Beth Hertz runs through a back-to-school checklist of questions to answer to ensure that your classroom is technology ready.
- Introducing Mobile Technology Into Your Classroom: Structures and Routines (Edutopia, 2013)Are you using mobile technology in your classroom? Monica Burns explains how a few simple structures and routines can scaffold a successful 1:1 classroom.
- Four Troubleshooting Commandments (Edutopia, 2012)Nick Provenzano urges you not to panic. That tech problem might be easily solved with some basic troubleshooting.
- What Your Students Really Need to Know About Digital Citizenship (Edutopia, 2014)What will you teach your students the year about what it means to be a digital citizen? Vicki Davis reviews the "9 Key Ps" of digital citizenship, a helpful planning framework.
- Striking a Balance: Digital Tools and Distraction in School (Edutopia, 2014)Mary Beth Hertz discusses how she teaches students self-management skills in order to address the problem of digital distraction in school.
- Social Media at School: Teaching Safety on the Virtual Playground (Edutopia, 2015)Learn about some of the activities Mary Beth Hertz uses in her classroom to teach students lessons about their digital footprint and the responsibilities that come with using social media.