What You Might See in a Technology Integrated Classroom
Published January 10, 2008 by Rick Biche
I was asked the other day what a technology integrated classroom may look like. Certainly there are many answers to that such as Clarence Fisher’s classroom in Snow Lake. But what might you see in a classroom walk-through? To see or experience all of what makes a technology integrated classroom would require discussion with the teacher and students, a longer observation period, or analysis of planning. The list below indicates some of the things that should be readily apparent when you enter a classroom where the focus is on using technology to learn.
- Technology in the hands of students and the teacher
- Collaboration, with others in the room, the building, or globally
- Students creating
- Creations for larger and authentic audiences
- Students doing different things in the same room at the same time
- Decentralized classroom layouts, with technology dispersed throughout the room
- Access to technology in the room is student controlled
- Technology is or can be made part of individual learning spaces in the room
- Teacher in small group or one-on-one discussions
- Teacher modeling the use of technology to create, collaborate, locate, evaluate, and communicate information
- Teacher modeling of, and instruction in, discourse (thanks to Brad for clarity)
- Content rich explorations and activity, conducted by students
- Content rich discussions among students
While there are really so many different things you might see in a walk through, this list is meant to show the things you are most likely to see on any given day. Please comment anything I may have missed.
Filed under Technology Integration
Rick, this is the first time I’ve seen someone do a checklist for technology integration in the classroom. This should be a must read for all technology oriented teachers and admin.
How could this list be adapted for middle school and high school? I work in a computer lab where furniture cannot be moved. Would I fail?
mrsdurff, I’ve read your blog many times, and read your students blogs. No, even from my humble and likely naive vantage point, you clearly do not fail. I thought about the section on the room for precisely the reason you point out. If you have hard wired computers, then you have them where they are. Integrating or better yet embedding tech into teaching means having it fluidly accessible throughout much of the day (I teach middle school). Getting the equipment into classrooms is something for school and district admin to contend with. In your case, there is no reason why you couldn’t work this backwards using a lab to teach 21st century literacy skills as you do.
[…] I wrote about what someone might see when walking through a technology integrated classroom, my goal was to provide a quick view for a group of administrators and school board members in my […]