How do you integrate digital content with other instructional methods and strategies?

I'm a preschool teacher whose goal is to prepare our students for kindergarten through school readiness. The knowledge that our students are expected to demonstrate is letter recognition, letter sound, segmenting sentences, syllables, onset-rime, alliteration, and rhyming, which are literacy skills. The math component is rote counting, addition/subtraction up to five (operations), counting, identifying shapes, recognition of numbers or letters, patterns, measurement, and ordinal numbers. I measure their progress through informal assessment by checking for understanding, thumbs up/down, and exit tickets. I document their progress utilizing a progress monitoring tool or a journal and give my students immediate feedback

Another name for this process is lesson internalization. Great practice is to create teacher exemplars for every activity/assignment. Teacher exemplars are completed at the highest level the teacher can do and as they work through the thing they want their students to do they can identify where the hang ups, need for clarity and or more info may be. They also can plan their laps while students are working — intentionally checking in at specific times looking for specific things in the student’s engagement. For more— read Get Better Faster!

Dr. Liz Kolb, a clinical professor at the University of Michigan, proposes a simple solution for educators: if a tech tool doesn't Engage, Enhance, or Extend learning objectives, don't use it! Her research underscores that effective technology use relies on sound instructional strategies. Using her Triple E framework, educators can evaluate how well tech tools facilitate student engagement, enhance the learning experience, and extend learning goals. True learning through technology happens when tools become allies, fostering collaborative, distraction-free environments that motivate students to become active, socially engaged learners. Check on tripleeframework.com. Great resource!

I usually assign homework in my physics courses (K-12) as pen-and-paper exercises. I have always wanted to find a way to correct them more efficiently and, at the same time, to involve all students in this process. One idea that came to me during the COVID-19 pandemic was to try a small amount of digital technology. The students continued to do their homework the old way. However, I also asked them to take pictures of their exercises and then share them on the Jamboard app of Google Workspace for Education. The final request was to show their work to all classmates and start a discussion. Mixing old and new tools worked so well during the pandemic that I now use this method daily in the classroom.

Backwards planning lends a holistic perspective to ensuring that goals are intentionally crafted during the learning process. Having an end goal/outcome/experience in mind first, really helps to break down the instruction to a personalized level. If we can clearly define the expectation for an outcome/end goal, we allow learners to not only give us the data that we need to check their progress, but we also allow for the opportunity to give them agency over the learning experience.

I agree with the statement about meeting all of our student's needs, backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives. The content that the students use is easy and easy to access. They are able to utilize educational technology with no problem.

Agree that content should align with the learning objectives and curriculum standards. The structure of the content, along with the learning activities, assessments, and other components, must align with the objectives. Before incorporating any component, we should ask and reflect upon whether that component is aligned with the objectives.

Considering the extent to which teachers are now required to memorialize their content in a digital environment, it is understandable that many of them keep their primary instructional delivery in that same format. The goal of housing content in an LMS is laudable, but the requirement is pushing many staff to conflate the platform for holding information with the necessity to deliver it in the same ecosystem. Teachers should always begin with their content and the level of knowledge that they are attempting to achieve and then utilize technology to bridge that content to each learner's modality. Utilizing technology in a collaborative format to enhance both content knowledge and crucial interpersonal skills is key.

Definitely plan your digital content before you create it. There are many great k-12 resources on Teachers pay Teachers. This is a great place to start for using digital instruction or assessments in a k-12 classroom. My favorite higher-ed digital integration is using Google for Education tools.

I personally prefer making digital materials available before any instructor led session. But please make sure all digital materials pass accessibility checks!

Pro tips from an Instructional Designer. When implementing the integration of digital content... 1. Always test on a different browser and on a phone 2. Always do a practice run 3. Have your learners do a practice run 4. Explain the purpose, task, and criteria for success 5. Go into it with a growth mindset 6. Solicit and listen to learner feedback

Let's consider the differences between learning in an in-person classroom and learning online. Online, digital, and tech have become scary words for parents and teachers. They all get excited when something "cool" is made via new tech, like it's a special one-time thing, but when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of learning with tech or online, many people run in the opposite direction. Too often, people try to compare apples to apples: "In person, this happens, and we can't do that online," which is true but obvious. When we come to the realization that online learning is a different pathway for learning, with its own pros and cons separate from the traditional classroom, we will have more success.

When evaluating new tech I like to ask the question "Did _____ contribute to your learning?" A Likert scale poll or a discussion can give you a lot of insight into the effectiveness of a new integration. Don't be discouraged. Sometimes it takes a few iterations for the integration to be mature. Trust your instincts.

As an education technologist, I am seeing some very poor integrations of technology. Let me first say that there has been some good insights on here. My complaint lies with those instructors (K-12 & higher education) who just toss things at students - who really have no clue about what blended learning is or just assume that every student knows how to use/has access to technology. Poorly implemented technological experiences can actually become a barrier to learning. I believe that technological experiences are important, but if we don’t incorporate technological instruction in pre service teacher training, we will continue to underutilize the potential of technological resources and tools.

Start small when integrating digital content with other instructional methods and strategies. Let your learners know that you are trying something new. This will model the lifelong skill of resiliency.

I’m reminded of the famous scholar Marshall McLuhan’s quote “the medium is the message.” Indeed, digital media is an important part of today’s learning experiences. And, it prepares students to be productive citizens.