Use it or lose it! Build on your edtech skills to keep your school moving forward
Author: Mark Anderson
As Plato once said, “necessity is the mother of invention” and that’s certainly been the case for schools’ technology use over the last two years! From OneNote Class Notebook escape rooms to Bitmoji classrooms, we’ve seen not just an upsurge in the adoption of edtech, but a massive increase in the confidence and competence of educators in its use too.
So what?
People who, like me, work with schools to strategise about the adoption, use of and training with technology, have been hugely buoyed by the strides made by educators during the pandemic.
Even those influencers who write about teaching, learning, leadership and education have written extensively about approaches to using technology in hybrid, blended and remote settings.
Many have tried to unpick the facets of ‘what a good one looks like’ and have shared it on their blogs. Examples include this post from Tom Sherrington – “Remote Learning: Live or offline, cover the basic elements” or “Top 5 Online Learning Tips” from Olly Lewis. We’ve shared plenty here at NetSupport too as shown on our ‘Education Hub’ page. I’ve also shared plenty over on ICT Evangelist.
What’s happening now?
Whilst confidence and competence may have elevated over the last 24 (long) months, as schools return to what is considered as a more ‘normal’ approach to the school day, their use of the technology that previously helped so much has already decreased.
That’s a big problem.
If teachers’ edtech skills and confidence are not maintained, then the gains that have been made will also dwindle. So how do we continue to get edtech use buy-in from teachers and school leaders? And how can we help improve their cognisance of what works and what is available to them?
Where we are now
Regardless of the pandemic, edtech advocates have long seen the benefits that come from sharing learning materials online, engaging learners in online activities, using technology to help with assessment and feedback, and organising learning online.
It’s why the many schools that, over the years, had purchased hardware and invested in infrastructures such as Google and Microsoft, used Learning Management Systems like Frog, Moodle and Firefly, and classroom management solutions such as NetSupport School and classroom.cloud, found the transition to learning online easier than those that had not. Indeed, many leaders acknowledge that the schools that faced the biggest uphill struggle to move to remote teaching and learning at the onset of the pandemic were the ones that had failed to previously invest in technology and the professional learning required to make it work.
Why is it still important to continue using technology?
When done consistently across classrooms, teachers and lessons, the benefits of using technology can be significant (and this is the important part) – regardless of whether you’re in a lockdown and have to teach remotely or not.
From assisting with:
- accessibility (so that all learners can access learning materials),
- metacognition (where things such as learning intentions and rubrics for assignments can be more easily shared),
- reduction in workload and gains in efficiency (using audio feedback or automatically marked quizzes),
- improved communication about learning to parents,
…the benefits can quickly stack up.
And whilst it isn’t statutory for schools to have a remote learning policy, schools are statutorily required to provide remote education, if necessary. By continuing to use technology regularly for everyday learning, teaching, communication, and management activities as part of a clear digital strategy, there will be significant benefits – particularly when used consistently in areas such as:
- marking and assessment
- home/school communication
- home learning setting
- provision for feedback
- modelling
- low-stakes quizzing and retrieval.
In turn, this approach will help to sustain teacher confidence and competence in their use of technology, as well as benefit everyone across the school.
What about cognisance?
Cognisance is all about knowledge and awareness. To get teacher buy-in, my approach has always been to clearly demonstrate the benefits.
This isn’t about innovating to bring in new methodologies – although that might form part of this as new functionality is added to your existing platform (a good example might be the recent introduction of the ‘Reading Progress’ in Microsoft Teams). It’s about creating a level playing field of consistently applied technological approaches to support and enhance the work teachers and learners undertake.
As former colleague Zoë Elder shares, ‘Technology should enhance, not dictate learning’ and with that in mind, holding regular professional learning conversations with colleagues will be a key part of keeping their cognisance high. Examples of this might include:
- regular standing agenda items in department meetings discussing technology use
- termly teaching and learning with technology newsletters
- sharing of good practice on digital signage in staff areas
- sharing of good learner practice on digital signage in common areas
- sharing of good practice in staff briefings
- blogging about approaches on the school website
- sharing about approaches on the school’s social media
- sharing about approaches with parents at parental training and support sessions
But remember, within this initiative, if you are looking to make changes or add anything to an individual’s workload, to achieve balance, you’ll need to remove something too.
To sum up
None of this is easy, but what is? The more we use the approaches and edtech tools required to support learning and teaching, communication, management and other practices within schools, so the confidence, competence and cognisance of what works will always rise to the top, meaning schools can be efficient and responsive – not just to any future situation, but also to wider technology trends that can benefit everyone.