3.6 - Selecting and Evaluating Digital Tools & Resources
Candidates collaborate with teachers and administrators to select and evaluate digital tools and resources for accuracy, suitability, and compatibility with the school technology infrastructure. (PSC 3.6/ISTE 3f)
Artifact: Lee County School System Teacher Technology Tools Website: Teacher Resources
Reflection:
The Teacher Resources page and subpages on the Lee County School System Teacher Technology Help website were created as an online resource to provide assistance to teachers with a variety of digital tools. The page and its subpages were created in collaboration with my colleague, our system’s other instructional technology specialist, and with the advice, recommendations, and collaboration of teacher technology leaders and administrators in our system. The page provides links to six subpages, each with its own set of resources and videos: Primary (K-2), Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), Special Education, and Google Apps Help. I was the primary author of the Primary, Elementary, and Special Education pages and assisted with the authoring of the Google Apps Help page.
Standard 3.6, Selecting and Evaluating Digital Tools and Resources, requires that candidates provide evidence that they can “collaborate with teachers and administrators to select and evaluate digital tools and resources for accuracy, suitability, and compatibility with the school technology infrastructure” (PSC 3.6/ISTE 3f). The Teacher Resource pages provide evidence of my mastery of this standard. The website was created in collaboration with instructional technology staff, teachers experienced in using technology in their classrooms, and administrators. Teachers collaborated by providing recommendations for tools that they found were effective in their classrooms that they wanted to share them with others. Administrators wanted us, the instructional technology staff, to make recommendations on various digital tools during in-service professional development sessions but also have a way for teachers to access what was shared online. Administrators also requested that we recommend digital tools that teachers could use to promote the 4 C’s (communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation, and critical thinking). Once we had a comprehensive list of tools and guidelines from teachers and administrators, we had to evaluate the tools for accuracy, suitability, and compatibility with every classroom and school’s technology infrastructure. For example, many tools that teachers recommended were apps that were only available on Apple devices, like iPads or iPhones. These were perfect for schools in which every teacher had one of these devices or these devices were available on a cart available for check out but unfortunately not all schools in the system have this. We had to narrow down recommendations to those that were device-agnostic or had comparable apps on other devices. Some other web tools that teachers suggested required additional add-ons or software to work. For these web tools, we had to work with our IT department to install the required software.
Creating this website and making recommendations for digital tools for teachers to use required me to work with quite a number of different people and different personalities. It was rewarding to work with teachers at all different levels and see what unique things teachers were doing in their classrooms. It was challenging to critique these recommendations to meet the needs of the administrators while also ensuring that teachers could use them with the available technology in their building. In addition, categorizing the tools into groups proved to be challenging because many of the digital tools could really be used across all grade levels, just applied in different ways. If I were to go back and do this again, I would begin in the same manner, by asking teachers for recommendations for tools and requesting guidelines from administrators. However, I would likely organize the tools in a different manner, likely by topic rather than grade level.
The impact on student learning, faculty development, and school improvement from this experience could be assessed by observing students in classrooms, analyzing lesson plans, or by interviewing both students and teachers. In this case, teachers have used the website to locate tools they might use in their classrooms and observation of classrooms shows students have been using these tools in a variety of ways. Overall, the collaboration in creating the website has had a positive impact on all aspects of school improvement.
The Teacher Resources page and subpages on the Lee County School System Teacher Technology Help website were created as an online resource to provide assistance to teachers with a variety of digital tools. The page and its subpages were created in collaboration with my colleague, our system’s other instructional technology specialist, and with the advice, recommendations, and collaboration of teacher technology leaders and administrators in our system. The page provides links to six subpages, each with its own set of resources and videos: Primary (K-2), Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), Special Education, and Google Apps Help. I was the primary author of the Primary, Elementary, and Special Education pages and assisted with the authoring of the Google Apps Help page.
Standard 3.6, Selecting and Evaluating Digital Tools and Resources, requires that candidates provide evidence that they can “collaborate with teachers and administrators to select and evaluate digital tools and resources for accuracy, suitability, and compatibility with the school technology infrastructure” (PSC 3.6/ISTE 3f). The Teacher Resource pages provide evidence of my mastery of this standard. The website was created in collaboration with instructional technology staff, teachers experienced in using technology in their classrooms, and administrators. Teachers collaborated by providing recommendations for tools that they found were effective in their classrooms that they wanted to share them with others. Administrators wanted us, the instructional technology staff, to make recommendations on various digital tools during in-service professional development sessions but also have a way for teachers to access what was shared online. Administrators also requested that we recommend digital tools that teachers could use to promote the 4 C’s (communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation, and critical thinking). Once we had a comprehensive list of tools and guidelines from teachers and administrators, we had to evaluate the tools for accuracy, suitability, and compatibility with every classroom and school’s technology infrastructure. For example, many tools that teachers recommended were apps that were only available on Apple devices, like iPads or iPhones. These were perfect for schools in which every teacher had one of these devices or these devices were available on a cart available for check out but unfortunately not all schools in the system have this. We had to narrow down recommendations to those that were device-agnostic or had comparable apps on other devices. Some other web tools that teachers suggested required additional add-ons or software to work. For these web tools, we had to work with our IT department to install the required software.
Creating this website and making recommendations for digital tools for teachers to use required me to work with quite a number of different people and different personalities. It was rewarding to work with teachers at all different levels and see what unique things teachers were doing in their classrooms. It was challenging to critique these recommendations to meet the needs of the administrators while also ensuring that teachers could use them with the available technology in their building. In addition, categorizing the tools into groups proved to be challenging because many of the digital tools could really be used across all grade levels, just applied in different ways. If I were to go back and do this again, I would begin in the same manner, by asking teachers for recommendations for tools and requesting guidelines from administrators. However, I would likely organize the tools in a different manner, likely by topic rather than grade level.
The impact on student learning, faculty development, and school improvement from this experience could be assessed by observing students in classrooms, analyzing lesson plans, or by interviewing both students and teachers. In this case, teachers have used the website to locate tools they might use in their classrooms and observation of classrooms shows students have been using these tools in a variety of ways. Overall, the collaboration in creating the website has had a positive impact on all aspects of school improvement.