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 can be more than just a time saver.
Tech tools should be more than just time savers.
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Technology
Students sometimes praise the internet as a miraculous tool that has made libraries and reference books obsolete. (Thankfully, most 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 more efficiently or for
Without a doubt, technology tools offer many conveniences to both students and teachers; however, as Alfie Kohn argues, "these are shiny things that distract us from rethinking our approach to learning and reassure us that we’re already being innovative." But a thoughtful engagement with technology can, in fact, inspire teachers to do just the kind of rethinking Kohn calls for and to carefully select tech tools that enable students to "create, design, produce, [and] actively construct meaning."
The "digital divide" has been a concern of educators since the early days of technology use in schools. In 1983, for example, the National Council of Teachers of English passed a resolution urging "equity of access to computers among students of varying socio-economic levels." Today, many schools respond to such concerns by providing IPads or laptops to every student, while colleges provide easy access to computer labs. But educators who want to integrate technology into their courses still need to be conscious of two potential barriers that some students may face. The first is Perhaps especially articularly
ake tech tools But at many colleges--particularly community colleges--technology
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Today many schools are providing laptops or IPads in part to level these inequalties of access. But all teachers--perhaps especially at a community college, teachers need to be conscious of...
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Also, though, barriers of usability and cost and ...
--the tech isn't the point... (though learning new technologies and becoming literate in the language of the digital world is important, etc...)
With that in mind, many of the tools featured on this site were deliberately chosen with the critera of COST (free, mostly) and EASE of use, learning curve, etc.
Technology tools
should lower barriers,
not raise them.
A collection of ideas on using tech tools in teaching,
with a particular focus on teaching college composition.
How can tech tools help my students develop their ideas?
How can tech tools help my students organize their ideas?
How can tech tools help students collaborate with their peers?
Want to do some more research into teaching with technology?
Click here to use a custom search engine.
Tools to help STUDENTS with...
Writing
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Developing Ideas
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Collaborating
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Communicating
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The Research Process
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The Research Paper (Reimagined)
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Proofreading and Polishing
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Finding an Audience
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Tools to help TEACHERS with...
Communicating with students
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Collecting work
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Responding to assignments
A curated collection of tech tools for teachers and students.
Click on a topic or a tool to find out more.
Snagit
and other mind-mapping tools
Beyond its basic function as an online (cloud) storage center, Google Drive offers multiple benefits to teachers and students. Students can share documents easily with each other (for peer collaboration or writing workshops) or with their instructor (for feedback and online grading). Drive also works seamlessly with Google Sites, enabling students or teachers to share material with a wider audience on the web.
Camtasia
Relay
and other tools for sentence-level work
About
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It’s easy. Just click “Edit Text” or double click me to add your own content and make changes to the font. Feel free to drag and drop me anywhere you like on your page. I’m a great place for you to tell a story and let your users know a little more about you.
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This is a great space to write long text about your company and your services. You can use this space to go into a little more detail about your company. Talk about your team and what services you provide.
Comment Contact
Tony Dykema-VanderArk
Department of English
Grand Rapids Community College
143 Bostwick Avenue NE
Grand Rapids MI 49503-3295