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21.5: What is enhanced learning with technology tools?

  • Page ID
    87601
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    The video lecture is 3:20 minutes

    LEADed501x Leading Ambitious Teaching & Learning. (2016, Nov. 14). MCHLATLX2016-V001300. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/5pLhfoybeUI

    Now that we’ve had a chance to look at what engaged learning with technology tools is all about, let’s look at the characteristics of an enhanced learner using technologies.

    Often the words engaged and enhanced get thrown about together, but they’re very different when it comes to technology tools. There are three different things we want to be looking for an enhanced learner.

    Technology should add value to the learning goals

    First, we want to look for this idea that there’s a value added. That somehow, students are able to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the content learning goals because of something that’s happening with the technology.

    Technology includes supports and scaffolds to help make learning more attainable (accessible)

    Technology can often bring in scaffolds, or supports, for the students, whether it’s feedback, whether it’s a way to differentiate instruction through leveled learning, that would help the student understand the learning goals better.

    Do we need the technology?

    If the task is something that we can easily do with traditional tools, then we don’t need to use the technology. But if it’s something that we can’t do with traditional tools, then that’s where the value-added is realized.


     

    Technology absolutely should be something that integrates, supports, and scaffolds to help make learning more attainable. Making sure that there is this value-added is an important element we should be looking for.

    A few examples of that would be such as differentiating learning or personalizing learning, which again two terms that are often thrown around but very different.

    When we’re differentiating learning, we’re looking at students who are learning at different learning levels. An example of differentiating learning would be software that allows students to read the same article or read the same book based on their Lexile level of reading. If a student is at a lower Lexile level, they can read the same article that another student is reading, but just the text looks different and it’s formatted differently for them, so that it meets their learning needs. Newsela is an example of a program that provides multiple Lexile levels of the same news article.

    Personalizing learning software, is software that allows the teacher to actually create different activities for different learners based on their interests and the way that they like to learn. While the students are learning, the teacher can weigh in during the process of learning by seeing what the students are doing and putting in comments or even drawing on the student’s screen. Google docs is an example of a program that can be used for personalized and collaborative learning. That would be a value-added element to the learning and notice that there is co-use woven throughout it as well.

    Lexile level of reading. If a student is at a lower Lexile level, they can read the same article that another student is reading, but just the text looks different and it’s formatted differently for them, so that it meets their learning needs. Newsela is an example of a program that provides multiple Lexile levels of the same news article.


    Reflections

    • Reflect on your own experiences using technology in the classroom, think about how the learning is enhanced or value is added to the learning process through the technology tools. Look for scaffolds and supports for the learning that’s provided by the technology, and notice if there’s any differentiation of instruction or personalization that’s happening through the technology.

    21.5: What is enhanced learning with technology tools? is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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