About a week ago, the following question was left for me in my Building Confident Learner’s contact form by a reader named Madison who is also a student in a Masters of Education program with an emphasis on Instructional design and technology:

I have an assignment where we are creating a checklist that teachers can use to evaluate technology use when creating lesson plans. We’re doing this assignment through interviews of educational bloggers. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?

Madison went on to ask me four questions.

Thought all y’all would be interested in my answers, too:

1. How do you know what technology to use when you want to teach a new skill?

I always begin my evaluation of digital tools by reminding myself of the core instructional practices that I believe help more students to learn at higher levels, regardless of whether I’m using technology in my teaching or not.

For example, I think giving students opportunities to engage in discussions with other learners is an essential practice because it gives kids the chance to revise and edit their thinking around core concepts. I also think that asking students to document the progress that they are making towards mastering essential outcomes is an essential practice because students who gather evidence of the progress that they are making towards mastery become confident in their abilities to succeed. Finally, I think it is important to give students multiple different opportunities to interact with content through different media that they can return to and revisit because not all students master concepts at the same time or in the same way.

Once I’ve established those priorities, choosing new technologies is easy. If a tool makes it easier for me to facilitate a core practice I believe in, then I explore it. If I can’t see a clear connection between a tool and a core practice that I believe in, they I ignore it.

2. What program do you use to create a formative assessment?

It’s tough to answer this question because it depends on the outcome that I am assessing.

Here’s an example: If I am assessing a knowledge-driven outcome, I tend to create short, multiple choice assessments simply because they are the most efficient and effective way to assess mastery of basic facts. In those cases, I tend to use Google Forms primarily because every student in our district has a Google account and I use Google Classroom to share content with students on a day to day basis.

Google Forms isn’t the fanciest tool available for formative assessment of knowledge-driven outcomes. But it is the most efficient because I’m already using Google products for everything else.

Can you see the reasoning there? I don’t chase new technologies to say that I’m using the “latest and greatest” tool. Instead, I look for something that does the job that I need it do do effectively and efficiently.

3. How do you choose a summative assessment tool?

Again — my answer mirrors the answer that I’ve given you above. It depends on the level of rigor of the standard(s) that I am assessing. If an outcome requires a demonstration of student mastery, I’m going to need to use a different tool than if an outcome requires simple recall of basic facts.

One other thing that I look for in summative assessment tools is the ability to tie individual questions to the specific standards that they are designed to measure — and to generate reports that can tell me (1). Which students have mastered each essential standard? and (2). The kinds of patterns demonstrated across all of the students assessed. I need that information to intervene and extend on behalf of my students and to more effectively study the efficacy of my instructional practices.

4. Is there a type of technology that you use frequently? Why?

The tool that I have used most over the last few years has been PearDeck — and the reasons may be instructive to you. PearDeck is a tool that allows you to insert interactive elements into any Google Slides presentation. For example, you can embed a video, have students watch it, ask them a question, see their responses as they are happening, and then anonymously share responses for the class to reflect around.

Think about why those features resonate with me.

First, PearDeck interacts seamlessly with Google Slides — a product that I have already told you that I am using heavily in my work because we are “a Google district.” I can add interactive features to content that I’ve already created, I can launch interactive lessons directly from my Google Drive, and I can easily copy and paste interactive PearDeck slides from one presentation to another.

That ease-of-use is invaluable to me. It allows me to sustain an instructional technology practice, rather than use it once in a while.

Second, PearDeck allows students to “participate” in class anonymously. That matters times a million because eighth graders — the grade level I currently teach — rarely participate publicly in class for fear of standing out in front of their peers, BUT they are more than willing to share their thinking as long as they know that their names will be kept private.

That psychological safety pays huge dividends in class. If I ask for participation by raising hands, I get about three or four willing volunteers — and it is always the same 3-4 kids. If I create an opportunity to participate through PearDeck, I get 25-30 thoughtful responses every single time. If actively participating is a part of learning — and we all know that it is — then PearDeck is an essential instructional tool.

Hope this helps somehow!

Bill

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