As Tom Brady looks to earn his fifth Super Bowl ring Sunday in Houston (and who doesn't want that?), it’s one of the biggest weekends of the year for both sports fans and unhealthy food fans. Not to diminish the significance of the rest of the calendar, but this week is also pretty big for 21st century education fans. As schools near their 100th day celebrations, they’re also starting to look forward to next year as well. And, if you’re looking to launch any new EdTech initiatives come September, it’s important to start developing a good gameplan now.
Developing an Education Gameplan
Both the Patriots and Falcons will enter Sunday’s Super Bowl with detailed gameplans based on hundreds of hours of studying and almost two weeks of preparation with the ultimate prize at stake. For teachers who are actually able to find some time to enjoy the big game, there is plenty to learn from how these two teams prepare. While the goals of professional football teams and professional teachers are quite a bit different, educators can still learn a lot and apply a host of innovative approaches to how they prepare for teaching in the 21st century. One thing you’re sure to notice is that the coaches on the sidelines make use of all sorts of technology—basically whatever they have available to them. This includes headsets, tablets, telephones, microphones, and even tools to help keep their players safe and hydrated. Using your resources is very important and we’re here to get you started with some serviceable ideas for creating and maintaining innovative education.
To develop a successful plan for building an impactful curriculum—whether it centers on technology or not—teachers might need to get creative and they will certainly need to stay disciplined, just like—you guessed it—NFL players. In fact, there are some guidelines educators can follow to ensure they’re optimizing the resources they have and expanding on opportunities for their students. Before beginning, it’s important to decide what you want and determine specific goals you want to accomplish by implementing your new plan. The goals must be attainable, measurable, and able to be enhanced by the use of data. The plan itself would also benefit from having a consistent tone—one that’s student-friendly and easy for everybody involved to understand.
Since it is the 21st century after all, another important element these gameplans need to incorporate is technology. There’s 1:1 technology, hands-on technology, and even robotics that are able to personalize learning and offer teachers the chance to utilize innovative assessment strategies. It’s also important (if possible) to create a gameplan that’s easily adaptable so that it’s easy enough to integrate new tools when they become available. While it is important to include technology if possible, classroom plans need to ensure students are able to develop the essential skills they will need to thrive in the future. Through hands-on learning, which is enabled and enhanced by technology, kids are better able to build important skills, like creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. With these elements in place, it’s much more likely students will have access to a beneficial learning plan that cannot fail—and that’s all we can really ask for.
Planning at All Levels of the Education System
Innovative educational plans aren’t created only by teachers. Sometimes, others get in on the fun as well. In this case, we’re referring to state and national governments, which have a large role to play in determining the plans that teachers and students will follow in the classroom. If you’ve read any of our posts in the past, you’re probably familiar with the fact that we like (okay, love) promoting the importance of computer science education across all grade levels. It has become so important that students get the opportunity to take part in hands-on computing classes so that they may build foundational coding skills as early as possible. What you might not realize, however, is that the creation and maintenance of these kinds of classes does not just happen. Districts, schools, and teachers need a plan in place in order to help their students learn and, in Computer Science, this is no exception.
Today, the number of jobs that require knowledge of computer programs and coding is rising at a fast and steady pace. Employers are looking for intelligent workers who know how to run a series of inputs that lead to a series of particular outputs, otherwise known as coding. At the current time, however, so few students have access to regular Computer Science courses for one reason or another. Whether it’s a lack of funds, resources, space, or qualified teachers, many children are forced to forgo learning the language of the 21st century. We understand these restrictions happen and are sometimes unavoidable, but there is one thing schools can avoid and that’s a lack of preparation. Students shouldn’t be denied this opportunity because their school and district leaders are not adequately prepared to give it to them. There should be a plan in place so that when the resources do become available, the program is ready to launch.
In K-12 schools, Computer Science programs do more than simply prepare students for future jobs. They are integral in teaching computational thinking and the algorithmic process—skills that all modern students need to have. Having a framework to follow will greatly help all teachers, especially those at the elementary level since, in these grades, computer science is best served as integrated into the current day and not as a standalone class. With help available online in the form of rubrics and other educators always available as resources, it’s fairly easy to get started. Heck, learning the basic concepts of coding doesn’t even necessarily require a computer. There are different strategies teachers can use when constructing their Computer Science gameplan and the decisions they make will hinge on the ages and abilities of students, the resources available to them, and even their own expertise. Whatever the case may be, however, don’t try to dive right in without a solid plan in place to guide you.
Formulating a Plan for Personalized Learning
Just because it’s one of the newer educational trends on the block does not mean personalized learning should be forgotten. Just like the other education innovations we’ve discussed, personalized learning is best implemented when there is a specific plan in place to help students learn and help teachers optimize the transition. Perhaps in no other area, however, does having a plan prove more successful in the final outcome than in personalized learning. Trying to individualize learning for a classroom full of unique kids can be pretty daunting and, you guessed it, it can be even more of a mountain without a proper plan in place. The first thing most teachers feel compelled to do is put technology in the hands of their students and create a 1:1 classroom. Even though they are all given the same kind of technology (and probably even the same brand), each student will use it differently—and that’s perfectly okay.
Technology is now pretty much synonymous with 21st century education in part because it helps personalize learning. To implement an ideal personalized learning program, teachers will need to plan out the data they will be basing their approach off of, such as which subjects each student prefers, their overall grades, and how their grades are improving (or if they are not). Developing assessments (and probably a few different versions to best fit the preference of each student) is important, too, so that teachers can easily see how far their students have come at the end of a week or a unit or whenever they feel like it. As long as teachers have some kind of student data—as simple as their quiz scores—they will be able to use the information to personalize how they deliver their instruction going forward.
Breaking things down by each skill—perhaps with a spreadsheet— is an easy way to track if students have mastered each essential concept. If anyone appears to be struggling with something in particular, teachers should also make sure they try teaching it in a different way so that students have the chance to see things from a different perspective, which could be much clearer to the way they learn. Videos are a good way to either reinforce concepts or to get kids thinking in new ways. In this case, it is good to assign work that is simple, making it easy for teachers to check and return it, so students can revisit the material while it is still fresh in their minds. When they know exactly where they stand on a particular skill, students tend to be much more motivated to complete the journey of mastering it since they have a clear picture of just how much further they need to go. Using an approach like this—or customizing something similar—will allow students to flourish in a system that’s catered to them (just like those NFL stars).
How to Plan Tech Training for Teachers
Getting a teaching approach just right is hard enough when teachers know exactly what they are doing. If the new endeavor involves integrating technology that’s brand new to them, however, it’s going to take some more extensive planning. If there is one on the staff, Tech Support Specialists or Instructional Specialists can be a major asset in developing this plan. Like any new initiative, there should be goals that are clearly defined and within reach of all those on the staff. There will be tons of opinions floating around both inside and outside the school regarding the best ways to go about implementing an EdTech plan, so it’s important to collectively decide on specific goals you want to accomplish and stick to the course you map out. There really is no wrong way to go about it.
Some of of the commonly followed advice for developing an effective EdTech gameplan may be things you have already heard of and maybe are even already doing. The first thing to do is to get to know your audience. Knowing things like the grade they teach, the subject area, how they currently use technology in their classroom, how they want to use it, whether or not they’re comfortable with it, and what they want to know more about are key in developing a thoughtful plan for somebody else—and can even be applied to developing a plan for your own classroom. Sometimes, the creation of a technology plan is best executed when attacked as a team, so enlisting the help of fellow teachers often proves to be incredibly beneficial. Likely, somebody has experience in building a similar plan, so be sure to treat them as a valuable resource and, if not, there are other options to consider, like EdCamps and student feedback.
Why aspire to use a technology tool if you’ve never even tried it yourself? Teachers must be willing to get hands-on and try out some of the tools they’ve heard good things about so they can get a sense of whether or not it will be something useful in their particular classroom. While it’s slightly different than the traditional learning process, developing an EdTech plan is still very much a learning process, so teachers should treat it like one. Teachers are trying to learn something that could be vital to their students’ success, so high-quality instruction is imperative. And, just like in a regular, student-filled classroom, differentiated learning can help educators develop new ideas and formative assessments can help them get a sense of how much more they have to accomplish before they are ready to launch their newly created program. Try some of these and, hopefully, that technology program you’ve been dying to start will be a huge hit from Day 1.
How Teachers Can Develop an EdTech Gameplan
Designing a new technology plan for schools or classrooms is best done with a lot of strategic planning at the start. Whether it’s a schoolwide plan or a statewide one, educators tend to work better when they have each other for support. Especially for schools looking to harness the power of technology, a collaborative effort is very often the best way to go as it can significantly reduce the growing pains educators experience and even lead to the formulation of new and innovative ideas along the way. By working with the entire education team (administrators, teachers, curriculum designers, and even EdTech specialists), schools that want to spark lasting change will have a much easier road on the way to getting just that accomplished.
By including people from all of these different levels, there will be a great amount of diversity in the development stage and a ton of valuable ideas to get you started. As soon as everybody gets on the same page, the finer details of the plan can really start being developed and some parts can be implemented as early as possible. It’s probably best to wait until the start of the next school year to integrate the entire plan, however. During these brainstorming sessions, everyone involved will consequentially be exposed to other educational innovations they can try in their classrooms, such as blended learning, computer-based projects, and collaboration. Joint efforts like this give educators the flexibility they need and the inspiration they crave when trying to design a new teaching plan, formulating their goals, and developing the layout of their classrooms.
It’s important for teachers to first determine their most important needs. Once aware of what’s most critical, they can start building a plan and coming up with solutions at their own pace. For example, deciding if your school wants to focus more on Computer Science, robotics, circuitry, or even 1:1 options is something you obviously need to know. Teachers essentially have a choice between two kids of technology: hands-on technology and computing technology. Both are valuable in education and both are able to help children develop key skills. When using hands-on tools, like robotics kits and DIY devices, for example, kids are able to unmask their inner creativity and develop vitally important problem-solving skills. With powerful computing tools, however, they can begin learning the foundations of coding and even how these machines operate. Either of these two options are great for students, but it’s up to these groups of education leaders to decide what will work best at different grade levels and in each teacher’s classroom.
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