When teachers begin to explore the use of technology in their classrooms they start with online research, essay/report writing and student presentations in Keynote or PowerPoint. We commend teachers on their efforts to become comfortable with new digital tools. Not only do teacher have to learn to use the tools they must also learn to assess the products and manage the digital files. No small task for very busy teachers.
Not surprisingly however, once comfortable with these introductory tools teachers start to think about different ways (video, podcasts, blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 tools) for students to organize, manage and present their knowledge. Teachers soon realize that to automate simple classroom tasks, to organize learning and teaching and to motivate young learners digital technologies can be employed at any or all phases of the teaching and learning cycle.
Once teachers have the requisite technical skill sets mastered they begin to think past the technology itself and begin to ask questions like, how can I leverage these digital resources to guide students towards more complex, creative, and analytic thinking?
It is our goal to help teachers find a comfortable space from which they can seamlessly infuse technology at all/any phase of the teaching and/or learning cycle in such a way as to guide students to the highest possible thinking and learning.
