Chapter 7 Evaluating Educational Technology and Integrated Strategies

1. Chapter 7 Evaluating Educational Technology and Integrated Strategies Jordan Keller, Kirsten Wilson, Samantha Black and Brittni Coleman

2. OBJECTIVES • Evaluating Educational Technology • Evaluating the Effectiveness of Technology Integration • Integration Strategies • Curriculum Integration Activities • Finding Funds to Support Classroom Technology Integration

3. Evaluating Educational Technology • Evaluating the appropriateness and effectiveness of educational technology is an important aspect of integrating current technologies into your classroom curriculum. To Evaluate an item is to determine its value or judge its worth. To be considered appropriate, educational technology must be suitable for the educational situation, must be motivational, and must promote learning at the correct levels of student ability and academic achievements. It also must address curriculum standards and related learning objectives. • Times to Evaluate and Revise • Before Instruction • During Instruction • After Instruction

4. Evaluating Educational Technology • Sources of Information • To avoid confusion in this important task, teachers might rely on a variety of resources to help them identify and evaluate the appropriateness of educational technologies. These resources include material from school districts, state Departments of Education, professional educational organizations, hardware and software catalogs, recommendations of colleagues, published evaluations, technology conferences, and Web sites.

5. School Districts and State Departments of Education • Many school districts compile software evaluations that provide guidance on specific software. In addition, many state Departments of Education provide lists of software that are recommended and evaluated by educators. • Professional Educational Organizations • Many local, state, regional, national, and international educational organizations provide extensive information on how to evaluate educational resources. • Catalogs • Often, companies list hardware and software suited for educational use in their catalogs. • Colleague Recommendations • A good way to identify software and other technology that has potential for your classroom is to talk to other educators. • Published Evaluations • Departments of Education, professional organizations, and other educational groups publish evaluations of new products. • Conferences • Every year, dozens of national and state organizations host conferences about products. • The Web • By far, the Web is the most comprehensive source of tools and resources to help you evaluate educational technology.

6. Evaluating Software Applications • When you identify a software package as potentially suited for your curriculum needs, you should evaluate the software for appropriateness, review the accuracy of the content, and consider its relevance to the curriculum standards and related benchmark.

7. Evaluating Software Applications • Content • When examining software content, you need to determine if the software is valid. • Documentation and Technical Support • When evaluating software, consider the technical support and documentation the software offers. • Ability Levels and Assessment • Educators need to evaluate whether the software can be used with more than one ability or academic level. • Technical Quality and Ease of Use • Items to evaluate are clarity of the screen design; appropriateness of feedbacks and student prompts; and use of graphics, animations, sound, and other media elements. Software should be easy for both student and teacher, while at the same time maintaining the students’ attention. • Evaluating Web Resources • The Web is an incredible resource for teachers. Not all of the information on the Web, however, is placed there by reliable sources.

8. Authority • When evaluating Web sites, authority refers to the credibility of the person or persons who author and maintain the site. • Affiliation • Affiliation refers to the professional organization, school district, university, company, or government office with which a particular Web site is associated. It is good to examine the credentials and reputation of the organization or organizations affiliated with the website. • Purpose and Objectivity • As you evaluate a Web site, you must ascertain if it is being provided as a public service, if it is free from bias, and why the author or creator is providing the information. • Content and Learning Process • Content is the information a Web page provides. Web pages use a variety of media to convey facts, opinions, and news. Learning process is when the content engages students to use higher-order thinking skills to go beyond the simple acquisition of knowledge and become participatory learners. • Audience and Currency • The audience is the individual or group intended to view and use the Web page. You should review the Web page to determine if it is suitable for an audience such as your students. Currency is the measure of how up to date, or timely, the Web page content is how often it is updated. • Design • The design of a Website is the way it is arranged – that is, the way it uses instructional design principles to deliver content to the user.

9. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Technology Integration • Assessment Tools for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Technology Integration • Evaluating the effectiveness of educational technology can help you assess whether the technology is appropriate for the learner, meets learning objectives, and enhances the learning process. Traditionally, teachers use many different evaluation instruction techniques in the final stage of instruction or when assessing student performance. • Authentic Assessment • Authentic assessment can be formal or informal and aims to present students with tasks that mirror the objectives and challenges typical of their instructional activities. • Project-Based Assessment • Project-based assessment is an innovative approach to assessment that focuses on assessing student projects. • Portfolio Assessment • Portfolio assessment evaluates students assignments or projects over a period of time.

10. Checklists, Rating Scales, and Rubrics • A checklist is a predetermined list of performance criteria used in project based and portfolio assessment. A rating scale is a more complex form of a checklist that lists a numerical value, or rating for each criterion. A rubric is a detailed assessment tool that makes it easy for teachers to assess the quality of an item, such as a learning project. • Teacher Observations • When evaluating technology integration or curriculum integration, one of the more widely used authentic assessment techniques is teacher observation. Teacher observation is the result of teachers actively observing their students during the learning process. • Evaluating Technology-Supported Student Projects • Today, technology skills are essential for students to learn. Technology-based student projects help facilitate integrating technology into the curriculum. In the process, students learn how to use, manage, and understand technology, as well as how technology is used to synthesize and present information on a variety of subjects.

11. Evaluating Content • Your standards and benchmarks will help determine the content to include in student projects and how to assess this content. • Evaluating Planning • Effective presentations involve planning. Students also must plan a project before creating it, if it is to be effective. When assigning technology-based projects, establish how you want students to plan and what tools they will use. • Evaluating Creativity • When evaluating students’ projects, teachers should consider students’ originality, imaginative and innovative approach, and artistic abilities – all aspects of creativity.

12. Integration Strategies • To help meet the constant challenge of motivating students to learn, teachers must change their traditional roles and become facilitators of learning. Technology plays a key role in easing this change because it allows teachers to use technology tools to enhance the learning environment, motivate students, guide students in a participatory learning process, and encourage them to learn.

13. Integration Strategies • One-Computer Classroom • Most classrooms are equipped with one digital media computer and are referred to as one-computer classroom. • Multicomputer Classroom • Having two or more computers in your classroom fosters additional learning opportunities that allow flexibility in computer usage and make technology integrated an integral part of the curriculum. • Computer Labs / Media Centers • Computer labs and media centers offer teachers instructional opportunities that are not possible in a one-, two-, or even a five-computer classroom.

14. Curriculum Integration Activities • Many teachers already use computers and technology in their classrooms and computer labs to help meet curriculum standards. For curriculum integration to be effective, however, the curriculum should drive the technologies used in the classroom; that is teachers should use the applicable technologies to enhance learning at the appropriate times.

15. Curriculum Integration Activities • Curriculum Pages • One of the main technology integration challenges that teachers face today is determining exactly how to use the Internet in their classrooms. Teachers who integrate the Internet successfully are using it in ways that engage students in problem solving, locating research information, and developing higher-order thinking skills. • Creating Lesson and Project Plans • Planning is one of the most important variables for good instruction, and curriculum integration demands a great deal of planning. When first introducing technology into the classroom, many teachers try to incorporate technology into their existing lesson plans and activities. • Language Arts Integration • Language arts curriculum usually includes instruction in reading, writing, listening, viewing, speaking, and literature.

16. Social Studies Integration • Social studies curriculum usually encompasses instruction in history, geography, civics, and economics. • Mathematics Integration • Mathematics curriculum usually includes instruction in basic number concepts, measurements, geography, algebra, calculus, and data analysis. • Science Integration • Science curriculum usually contains instruction in physical sciences, earth and space sciences, and life sciences. • Physical Education and Health Integration • Physical education and health curriculum usually includes instruction in basic health and physical education literacy.

17. Arts Integration • Arts curriculum usually incorporates instruction in the visual and performing arts, including drawing, painting, dance, music, and theater. • Exceptional Education Integration • Exceptional education curriculum, or special education curriculum, usually contains instruction in all curriculum areas with adaptations made for students with unique characteristics or special needs. • Interdisciplinary Integration • An interdisciplinary curriculum usually includes two or more academic disciplines or curriculum areas to form a cross-discipline or subject-integrated lesson.

18. Finding Funds to Support Classroom Technology Integration • One of the more difficult aspects of implementing technology in schools is finding and obtaining the funds for new technologies and the associated ongoing expenses. • Fund-Raising Drives and Academic Contests • Class car washes, bake sales, and other activities can help raise money to purchase additional computers, hardware components, and software for classrooms. • Grants • The majority of outside funding sources for technology fall under general category called grants. Grants are funds provided by a funding source that transfers money, equipment, or services to the grantee.