As we begin a new school year Ontario, I am grateful for the opportunities I have had over the summer to read blogs, engage with other educators on Twitter and Voxer, as well as re-connect with so many friends and family members. I also learned about a whole new slew of tech tools!
The beginning of the new school year is very much like New Year’s Day. We look forward to a fresh start and make resolutions. I often hear teachers speak about the new tools they are going to try in the class this year. But I am also so keenly aware of the fact that for every tool I learn about or try, there are three others that do a similar thing. I often feel overwhelmed because I feel like in my role, I need to know the best and greatest tool.
Here is just an example of an exchange that happened on Twitter a short while ago around interactive quiz tools.
We all say, it’s not about the tool, but we get so caught up with them sometimes don’t we? The best solution of course is to focus on the learning goal and select the tool that most effectively gets the job done–even if that tool is a pen or pencil. In this case, though, all of the tools mentioned would help students create something to interact with a text, which is the learning goal.
So then, can actual let the selection of the tool become part of the learning? As Dina Moati suggests, it brings in student choice and voice, but I would add that it also allows for critical thinking. If there are a few tools that do achieve the same goal, why not have the students do the following?
- have students compare two to three tools and determine which one they would like to use;
- have students justify their responses and choose what they think is the best tool;
- reflect on their choices at the end to determine if they made the right decision;
- review the tool in the app store.
The assessment would look exactly the same as it would be based on the curriculum goals, not the tool used. What do you think?
