How can you promote responsible use of edtech among K-12 students?

Technology integration is a major factor in the daily operations of schools. Teachers need to be well versed in technology success, objectives and timeline of projects listed in the building. Every school should have a technology network diagram which shows the logical flow of technology plans in the building. One way to accomplish this step is to consider interests, skills and experience. Personalized stake in the plan will allow leaders to emerge in the e-learning community. The success of the project would influence positive e-learning changes in each department. All departments would have a stake in the project, and perhaps the project could be showcased in individual schools.

Part of modeling and monitoring the behavior you want to see from your students regarding technology use is making sure you take the time to understand how the technology works and that you use it in an engaging way yourself throughout your teaching. My advice would be to start small and “go slow to go fast”.

Incorporate the use of technology and social media in all aspects of the instructional day and year. Admin needs to stop the blanket policy of "no cell phone use" or stop spewing how desperately they need more "technology in the classroom". It's a foolish contradictory set of circumstances. In my classroom, students are instructed and encouraged to use their phones daily, and here's why: 1. Students are more comfortable using technology that belongs to them. 2. Students are taught to keep their phones close and to pick them up only for purposes of research during the instructional periods. 3. Students are warned not to take photos or videos, and if found to, they lose their privilege to access technology. It works.

At the end of the day, technology is just a tool. The same social norms that we teach kids about interacting with each other in real life should be the same social norms we emphasize when teaching them how to interact appropriately online. The best way to do this is clearly define how you want to use the tool of technology in your learning. If it’s a research tool, then set expectations on how conduct research. If it’s a collaboration tool, then set some norms for how we assign roles and respect each person’s contributions to the work.

Students should create or co-construct a paper based plan of What they know about the topic, What they want to know, How they will conduct their research and an explanation/discriptio/illustration of what the product will look like, sound like and feel like before accessing IPads. Also do formative progress duscussions and presentatios accoursing to a time bound schedule so that they can refine their study skills, communication, collaboration and presentation skills.