I am reviewing past posts, articles, and podcasts to share my main lessons learned. Here is an article written that I wrote with Mark Hofer and Margaret Carpenter.

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Collaborative Planning and Design for Technology Integration

Technology initiatives are continually in the headlines as schools and districts purchase iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, Learning Management Systems, and other technologies. Without a good focus, however, such expensive programs could have unintended consequences: stress among colleagues with varying agendas on how to spend the funds, purchasing of apps and hardware without a strategic vision for professional development, technology as a distraction for students, and considerable energy spent on matters that might undermine rather than enhance what students can do or understand. Furthermore, as parents show increasing concern with the mounting screen time their children are experiencing, technology’s use must be rationalized and grounded in the curriculum standards. With these obstacles in mind, school leaders should develop a systematic approach to technology infusion that brings together the community’s expertise to improve the students’ learning experience. We argue that curriculum and pedagogy, rather than technology, should drive the technology integration process.

The goal of technology initiatives and integration programs from the start should be to enhance student learning through higher­order thinking, deep learning, collaboration, and student engagement. To ensure that technology supports and enhances student learning, a collaborative approach to curriculum review and design that draws upon the distributive expertise of team members and their respective technology,​ pedagogy​ , and content knowledge​ (TPACK) is a practical approach. TPACK represents the interconnected knowledge in these three domains teachers must draw upon to integrate technology effectively. While TPACK is often conceptualized as the knowledge a single individual holds, it may not be reasonable to assume that all classroom teachers have extensive knowledge and experience in all three areas. This is particularly true regarding the ever­-expanding technology tools and resources increasingly available to them. In collaboratively designing and implementing a technology initiative, educators can leverage the TPACK construct for technology integration to identify the optimal fit between these three domains.

The integration of technology inherently changes the teaching and learning experience. While the “T” in TPACK may stand out as the goal or driver of the integration process, it should be noted that the technology also brings challenges and new opportunities for schools, teachers, and students. As educational leaders, we should consider the affordances and constraints of technology efforts as students encounter the different literacies encompassed in technology­ enhanced learning experiences.

Fortunately, schools have skilled curriculum, pedagogy, and technology experts. The specialists enjoy the advantage of understanding the needs of all students to offer strategic, articulate, and focused skill development. Classroom teachers and instructional technologists quickly come to mind. In many schools, librarians also play a leading role in helping students to develop their visual, media, design, information, and technology literacies​. In some schools, the instructional technologists partner with librarians and classroom teachers to form a collaborative, team­-based approach to developing standards, learning outcomes, and curriculum that integrates technology among multiple literacies to enhance student learning.

So how does a school encourage, support, and systematize this collaborative, team­-based planning? One approach is to build a “curriculum collaboration team” of teachers, learning specialists, and administrators who draw on their various areas of expertise to create effective, curriculum­-based technology­ infused initiatives and curricula. 

Who are the members of a curriculum collaboration team? The answer depends on the individual school, but here are some examples of curriculum, pedagogy, and technology experts that many schools can empower in this process:

● Curriculum Director/Department Chair/Team Leader­ provides curriculum expertise and guidance for the big picture of the school/division scope and sequence

● Principal or Assistant Principal­ provides insight on the school’s goals, instructional leadership, and validation for the importance of the work

● Librarian/Media Specialist­ provides expertise in both resources and tools as well as strategies to support student learning for multi­-literacies

● Instructional Technologist­ provides experience in understanding the technology options, as well as their educational affordances and constraints

● Learning Support Teachers (e.g., ESL, reading recovery, gifted, special education provide insight on ways to support differentiation for specific student populations

The Curriculum Collaboration Team partners with the classroom teachers​ in structured and ongoing curriculum meetings. They bring their various degrees of curriculum, pedagogy (including understanding the school context and student learning), and technology knowledge to the meetings. One key element of this process is that the classroom teachers are in charge and manage the meetings. In terms of process in the elementary setting, it is helpful to divide the units of study with two teachers assigned to each unit depending on the size of the school. This sharing of curriculum review responsibilities adds to the efficiency of the process while also building trust among grade level, team, or department members. One teacher provides the leadership to facilitate the meeting. At the same time, another takes on the role of scribe updating the unit plan in a collaborative word processor (e.g., Google Drive) or curriculum mapping system for all to see on the projector screen. These two roles guide the meeting and empower the teachers to take ownership of the curriculum entirely. The administrators and learning specialists bring their expertise to the table in an atmosphere of shared creativity and responsibility.

As the meeting progresses and revisions are made to the unit plan, any possible deletion of actions or materials is changed to red text. Any additions to the unit plan are added in green text. Learning specialists who cannot attend the meeting can post ideas ahead of time and respond after the meeting via the mapping tool.

The teachers meet with their grade level, team, or department teaching partners to finalize the unit plan. A “to do” list is created in one section of the unit plan with specific assignments for each team member to work on after the meeting. This may include identifying specific technology resources, developing an assessment rubric, or exploring features of a suggested technology tool or resource. The scribe then shares this document with all members of the Curriculum Collaboration Team. The lead teacher oversees the follow-through of these tasks as each participant is responsible for returning to the unit plan to add “Completed” to their tasks once accomplished. This highly structured procedure holds everyone accountable while moving the discussion and creativity of the meeting into action steps.

Team members participate in all aspects of the meeting, not just in their area of responsibility. As everyone becomes more comfortable sharing ideas and strategies, they learn from one another, thus increasing their level of expertise in each domain of the TPACK construct. Professional growth continues when the curriculum creation process includes differentiation for the content, process, and products. This is where the learning specialists add value to the process as they contribute curriculum strategies for teachers to draw from as they work to meet all students learning needs.

The implementation stage of the curriculum collaboration process allows the classroom teachers to co­-teach with the librarian or instructional technologist, gaining confidence not only in teaching the lessons on their own but also in expanding their technical knowledge to support their future curriculum planning. The same is true for the librarian and instructional technologist who gain a deeper understanding of content for units that they help teach to the point that they can begin to provide input on content and pedagogy for upcoming units of study in the collaborative meetings. This distributive approach to shared expertise can significantly enhance a school’s efforts to integrate technology into the classroom to enhance student learning.

Educators at all levels recognize the opportunities and challenges inherent in integrating technology into classroom teaching. It can seem quite daunting to envision successfully planning a school­-wide 1:1 initiative or even pulling off a single lesson using Skype for an inexperienced teacher. The authors recommend that for the greatest success, teamed teachers new to using this approach focus upon no more than one unit per semester during their first year of implementation and then build upon that success. With this collaborative approach to planning and TPACK development, all school community members can tackle these challenges and capitalize on these opportunities together.

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