Resources

There are many more resources for researching educational tech as well as strategies for how to integrate it into the classroom. Below are a few examples of such, but by no means an exhaustive list.

Resources to Research Educational Technology

• Commonsense Media gives teachers and parents reviews for many resources (movies, websites, apps), including what ages the resource is appropriate for, where it’s accessible, learning ratings, privacy ratings, community ratings, what the resource it good for, and tips for how you can teach with it. Common Sense also offers articles regarding digital citizenship, professional development training, and how to connect with families.
• EdSurge is a website where educators can go to share their experiences with various strategies or resources, including technology. The website also publishes articles discussing hot topics in the education world.
• Learn Platform helps schools and districts figure out what technology is best for them, whether it is technology or programs that Learn Platform builds or resources that they find elsewhere. They recognize that each school has a different need for technology, and they want to help schools find their need.

Strategies and Methods for Integrating Educational Technology

• Teachers can integrate educational technology through formative assessment by using online game quizzes such as Kahoot or Quizzizz to monitor student understanding. This can be done either throughout the lesson or at the end of the lesson. It’s hard to do this without technology because it doesn’t provide immediate feedback to the teacher or student, plus students don’t normally find it as exciting as an online game.
• Teachers can also integrate technology by assigning online homework assignments. Many websites and programs give students immediate feedback either as they submit each question or at the end when they submit all of the questions. This allows students to know if they understood the lesson in the moment rather than waiting a day or two for the teacher to grade and return it to them, at which point it becomes more irrelevant because the class has already moved on to the next lesson. Additionally, when using online assignments, many times the teachers can view the class results ahead of time and be able to plan their lesson the next day around if the students understood the previous lesson or not.