Issues
A few foundational premises and principles
Using technology
in education is more than just a trend.
Every veteran teacher can point to at least one trend in education that promised a revolution but instead faded from view in short order. But computer technology has been in use in schools and colleges for more than a quarter of a century already, and it's clearly not going anywhere soon (notwithstanding the "contrarian point of view" that can be found even in Silicon Valley).
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The exponential growth of technology use in schools has been striking, but the more significant shift in recent years has been the integration of technology into formal learning outcomes for students at every level. Professional organizations are developing ambitious standards to ensure that every student is prepared to be a "computational thinker" and a "digital citizen" in a rapidly changing world. While it may have been cutting edge pedagogy in the 1990s to replace Typing class with "Keyboarding" or to teach a bit of coding, today's curricular goals weave technology use throughout. Far from just a "trend," technology has forced teachers and institutions to reconsider and reconceptualize much of what they teach.
School administrators have been justifying the purchase of IPads and Chomebooks for many years with the idea that technology = engagement, the promise that these new tools will motivate and inspire otherwise bored students. But if we're using such tools merely to make traditional lessons more "fun" for students, then we're missing the real value of educational technology: its ability to transform in more fundamental ways how students learn and how we teach. (Not to mention that we're well past the day when using a laptop is novel or exciting for most students.)
Technology should be more than just
a "trick" or a "treat."
Technology offers more than just new ways to do the same old things.
Students sometimes think of the internet as a miraculous tool that has made libraries and reference books obsolete. (Thankfully, they all eventually realize that most of life's important questions require more than a Google search.) It's tempting for teachers, too, to see technology primarily as a tool for handling tedious tasks (such as calculating course grades) more efficiently or for delivering course materials to students while saving on photocopying costs.
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Without a doubt, technology tools offer many conveniences to both students and teachers; however, as Alfie Kohn argues, those tools can become "shiny things that distract us from rethinking our approach to learning and reassure us that we’re already being innovative." Kohn and others raise some serious questions about a wholesale embrace of all things "tech." But a thoughtful engagement with technology can, in fact, inspire teachers to do just the kind of innovative rethinking that Kohn calls for, acting as a catalyst for changes in teaching philosophy and practice, just as carefully selected tech tools can inspire students to (in Kohn's words) "create, design, produce, [and] actively construct meaning" in powerful new ways.
The "digital divide" has been a concern of educators since the early days of technology use in schools. As early as 1983, for example--long before Google existed--the National Council of Teachers of English passed a resolution urging "equity of access to computers among students of varying socio-economic levels." Schools have responded to such concerns by providing computer labs, then laptop carts, and now (in many districts) IPads or laptops that students can use at home. But beyond providing access to technology, educators who want to integrate technology into teaching and learning should be careful not to introduce unnecessary new challenges for their students, whether those challenges be financial, technical, or educational.
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Particularly at institutions such as community colleges, where students often have fewer resources (and where laptops are rarely provided), teachers should look for apps and other tools that are accessible, inexpensive (or free), and easy to use. Too many of the educational tools in use today are provided by textbook publishers as expensive add-ons; students are required to pay for these tools but often can't use them for anything but a single course. A better option would be for instructors to look for affordable real-world tools that students can use for more than one task (or class), perhaps even tools that they might need to use in in their professions after they graduate.​
Technology tools
should lower barriers,
not raise them.
With these and other issues in mind, the tech tools featured on this site were chosen with several criteria in mind:
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Cost: Many of the tools are free; those that aren't are fairly inexpensive (or, in a few cases, inexpensive for the teacher but free for students).
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Ease of use: Most of these tools have plenty of competition, but those featured here were chosen because they are fairly easy to learn and easy to use, even for novices.
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Design: The tools featured here aren't always the most elegant or aesthetically pleasing options (those typically had a higher cost or a steeper learning curve), but they are all well-designed and thoughtfully engineered with the user in mind.
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​Openness: Most of these tools can be used by students not only for teacher-assigned activities but also in ways that they come up with and for purposes they choose, in contrast to most learning management systems or proprietary software tools.
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Transferability: Students should be learning new technologies in individual courses that will also help them succeed in other courses and on the job. Many of the tools featured on this site are used widely not only in education but also in business and industry.
Ideas
Click on any question below to go to the relevant section of the main page
or click here to go to the top of that page.
How can tech tools help students collaborate with their peers?
What tools can students use to compose and share their writing?
How might tech tools help students conduct research?
How can tech tools help students polish and proofread their work?
How can tech tools help students find a genuine audience
for their work?
A curated collection of tech tools for teachers and students.
Click on any tool or heading to read more.
Tools for writing, storing & sharing
Tools for annotating
Tools for collaborating
Tools for editing
Tools for collecting
Tools for developing and organizing ideas
Tools for
communicating
Tools for researching
Tools for publishing
About
This website represents one part of a sabbatical project completed in the Fall of 2016 by Tony Dykema-VanderArk, an Assistant Professor of English at Grand Rapids Community College.
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I hope you found this website helpful (and I'm glad you found it at all!). Please feel free to contact me using the form below or to add your comments or suggestions using the Comment tool to the right.
Contact
Tony Dykema-VanderArk
Department of English
Grand Rapids Community College
143 Bostwick Avenue NE
Grand Rapids MI 49503-3295
