Module 3: Technology Integration

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Integrating digital technologies into your curriculum is much more than just adding a computer to the lesson. Technology must be considered as a tool that will support learning experiences. It must be selected based upon pedagogical needs rather than the other way around.

Effective learning involves challenging learners with situations that are relevant to their lives and are challenging enough to interest them and engage them in the learning process. When educators discuss levels of intellectual challenge, they typically compare higher-order thinking to lower-order thinking.  These terms are best described by using Bloom's Taxonomy.

Thinking Blooms

Bloom's Taxonomy was first published in 1954 when Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues wanted to create a hierarchy of terms that they could use when they were describing various types of questions that they might use on a test.  Since then, the taxonomy has taken on a broader meaning which educators used to also describe educational activities.

In the 1990s, one of Bloom's students, Lorin Anderson, lead a group of cognitive psychologists who reconsidered Bloom's taxonomy and reworked it to reflect 21st century learning. You will notice that the new taxonomy has changed the static verbs to active verbs by adding "ing" to the end. They also removed Synthesis and placed Creating on the top.
While Bloom's Taxonomy is not an emphasis of this module, it is a common ground for all educators. 

Kathy Schrock created a page called Blooomin' Apps.  She provides an interesting graphic where she proposes that Creativity is the main hub of ALL levels of thinking.   

Further down the page, Schrock actually aligns a plethora of online apps with the various Bloom Levels.

Is there any sense in classifying teaching strategies, questions, online tools using an organizer like Bloom's Taxonomy? Can pedagogical activities actually be restricted to one of 6 classifications? Probably not. Grouping tools like these are designed to provide vocabulary for discussions between professionals.  Using these classifications I can distinguish teaching for memorization or developing problem-solving skills.

Adding Technology to the Mix

Technology can be used in a learning environment but will it make a difference? It all depends on HOW technology is used. Like Bloom's Taxonomy, technology can be integrated through a variety of ways. These may include teachers who operate at a basic level by using PowerPoint presentations to support their lecture-driven methods. They also include the teachers who step back and encourage students to use these tools in innovative ways to create new projects and experiences.

The problem has been to find a vocabulary to define these various levels of integration.  Apple Computer sponsored a decade-long research project entitled Apple Classrooms of the Tomorrow (ACOT). This project involved providing technology-rich classrooms by filling them with Apple IIgs computers AND providing one for each of the students' homes (20th century 1:1 computing.)  As they examined the various levels on which teachers used technology, they identified 5 stages including: Entry, Adoption, Adaption, Appropriation, and Innovation.  Please note that these levels of adoption exist in any teaching/learning situation whether it is in corporate, PK-12 or post-secondary settings.

SAMR -  Substitute/Augment/Modify/Redefine

Another model that is popular in schools today is the SAMR model. It was developed by Ruben R. Puentedura, Ph.D. to describe a ladder of implementation that occurs as you integrate technology into your curriculum. 

Here is a video that describes the four levels of SAMR:

Did it make sense?  Would you be able to identify and define the 4 levels of SAMR?
If not, here is a Pinterest board that I found that is dedicated to SAMR.  Did you find anything that better fit your learning style?

How would you match the ACOT 5 stages and the SAMR model?  Do they directly link to one another?

ACOT 5 Stages                             SAMR
Entry                                               Simulation
Adoption                                         Augmentation
Adaption                                         Modification
Appropriation                                  Redefinition
Innovation

How would YOU compare the ACOT 5 Stages and SAMR?  Explore your ideas using this Google Drawing.  You can't change the original, but you can make a copy of it and then modify it any way you can imagine.

Visit this Sophie tutorial about "Using SAMR to Transform the Classroom" by Tammy Austin.  Watch her video and then take the quiz in the upper right corner as many times as necessary to master the SAMR concept.

Technology Integration Matrix

The key to successful integration requires a system to integrate the research on Learning Environments with what has been learned about technology adoption. In 2005, the Florida Department of Education created their Technology Integration Matrix (TIM).  This is a matrix that uses a series of 5 steps in technology adoption that is similar to the ACOT set.  It also has a set of desired learning environment characteristics which include Active, Collaborative, Constructive, Authentic and Goal-Directed. 

USE THIS MATRIX: While the Florida TIM was the original, I would like to suggest that you savor the  Arizona flavor of this matrix. It is essentially the same but it has video examples sorted by grade level.  Past students have noted that this matrix is easier to understand and use.

Go see Arizona TIM and play around for a while to see what they have to offer.  You will find video examples of lessons and lesson plans for a variety of subjects.

Below is a 13-minute video of an ISTE presentation that describes the Arizona TIM.  It is quite informative.

NOTE: I have been looking for such a matrix that displays this in a corporate training format, but to no avail.

Click here to access this slideshow

Here is a link to some summary descriptors for the TIM.

Barriers to Technology Integration

Change is not always easy.  Even if innovation can obviously improve learning situations, there are a number of things that can get in the way.  In some cases, it has to do with institutional barriers that get in the way.  Review (look for the highpoints) an article, Barriers to Adopting Emerging Technologies in Education by Rogers.  This article looks at potential problems in the PK-12 as well as the University level schools.

Return to the Module 3 assignment description to see what you can do with all of your newly developed knowledge.