Goals - Tips for Integrating Technology

When you’re using technology in your classes, it can be tempting to try lots of different things, or go for tools that try to solve lots of problems at once. Some of the ideas below can keep the process manageable for both you and your students. Remember, contact Educational Technology (id@highline.edu) for assistance with this process. It’s what we’re here for.

Stick to your pedagogical goals

This is the most important. Make sure that each tool you implement aligns with what you are trying to do strategically and helps students meet the course outcomes. Tools can be implemented in many different ways.

  • Would you like students to get more practice at integrating ideas in their writing? Consider writing assignments graded with rubrics that contain criteria that emphasize integration.
  • Would you like students to develop their oral presentation skills? Have students record videos of themselves giving a presentation using Panopto or other recording software.
  • Would you like students to get better at working in teams? Use groups in Canvas or some other collaboration tool like Google Drive.

Start small

Don’t try and apply all the tools you see at once. That can overwhelm both you and your students, many of whom may not have much experience working in technology-rich environments. You can build in new tools each successive quarter that you teach. 

Don't assume that your students are inherently technologically savvy. Many students will have limited experience with the tools you are using. Although the concept of ‘digital natives’ is appealing, it often describes familiarity with tools that are rarely used in class (e.g. Facebook) and with use of technology as a consumer of content, instead of as a creator. Students know how to use the tools they are using day in and day out, such as messaging services and music apps. Students may not know how to use tools useful in academia, like Google Drive or their phone's calendar app. 

For many students at Highline, the ‘digital divide’ is a far more salient description of their life experience. Students who are less affluent have not had the access to technology growing up that many of their peers have had. That 'digital native' experience will be significantly different, for instance more experience with mobile phones than the more expensive broadband/computer model.

Having students shifting from one tool to another creates extra overhead, as students (and you) try to remember which activity needs to be performed in which tool. You can expect the number of questions, misplaced assignments, and confused students to go up roughly proportional to the number of different tools used in the class.

While there is no hard rule for how many different things you can use, remember to carefully consider how closely the activity you are doing supports your instructional goals and how well the tool supports that activity. Look for ways to leverage a single tool (e.g. Google Collaborations) to support multiple activities.

Assess the impact

To see what tools and implementation approaches are working, assess the results. Did the class meet your goals, or the learning outcomes that you’d hoped the technology would support? Did the benefits of the tool outweigh the challenges in implementing it? Review each tool and how you used it, then explore whether to revise the way it was implemented in the class or the choice of tool. 

Big groups can be overwhelming

Large group activities in online spaces can quickly become unwieldy. They’re difficult for students to wade through to make a valuable contribution or to learn from, and they’re mind-numbing at grading time.

Within Canvas, it’s relatively easy to break students into smaller groups for a few weeks, then dissolve those groups and re-create another group. For many tools in which students interact with each other, this can be a valuable way to better connect them to the class and to each other.

For more information

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Integrating Technology in Your Classroom Links to an external site.Integrating Technology in Your Classroom Note: The only audio with this video is music. Mute your speakers if you find it as annoying we do.