Total number of educational technology tools used by each school district It's on the rise, with many districts implementing one-to-one computing programs..
Equitable access to technology Educating every student is still unrealistic, and educators are not always using technology to meet the needs of all students, experts said during a panel discussion at the International Association for Technology in Education conference here on June 24.
The panel explored the role of technology in facilitating inclusive and equitable digital learning environments.
Panelists were Brittany Wade, senior manager of curriculum and assessment at Ed Farm; Yaritza Villalba, instructional coach at Samsung Education; Kimberly Niebauer, elementary teacher in Duval County, Florida; Stevie Frank, technology integration specialist at Zionsville Community Schools in Indiana; and Renee Dawson, instructional technology specialist at Atlanta Public Schools.
Here are three key takeaways for educators from the panel discussion.
1. Focus on building good teaching practices
To ensure teachers are using technology in an inclusive and equitable way, panelists emphasized the importance of focusing on pedagogy.
“As we've seen, tools come and go,” Frank says, “but good educational practices don't go away.”
Frank recommends starting with standards — what students should know by the end of the school year — and then thinking about how to get there and what role technology plays in that — and, he stressed, sometimes technology doesn't play a role.
2. Train teachers to use technology's accessible features
Access is more than having software and hardware, panelists said.
“Without the training, without the intent, without the real ability to empower people to use technology in a meaningful way, there's no real access,” Wade said.
In her job training educators, Wade often hears, “I have all these tools, but I don't know how to use them.” Teachers ask her how to use accessibility features and how to design lessons that are meaningful to all students.
“You have to start beyond the tool,” Wade says, “and start with the intention of how you're going to use the tool to meet the needs of each individual learner. How are you going to use the tool to help learners understand themselves?”
3. Make sure technology works for students who need it most
The easiest way to make a classroom inclusive is to create a level playing field by making sure the technology works for the student with the greatest needs, Dawson said. If it works for that student, it should work for everyone in the classroom, he said.
That could mean using tools that have accessibility features built in so teachers don't have to reinvent the wheel, she said.
Using these features takes time and practice, so teachers shouldn't feel like they have to get it right the first time, panelists said.
Creating an inclusive digital learning environment also means teaching all students how to use accessibility features like text-to-speech and live captions, even if they don't need them, “because you might encounter a student who does,” Wade said.
Villalba said educators should also teach parents how to use these features because they'll be at home with their students and need to know how to help them with schoolwork that needs to be done outside of regular school hours.
