What’s that? You don’t have an interactive whiteboard or Classroom Response System? That’s okay! You don’t need fancy gadgets to effectively integrate technology into your class.

As they say in that other program, the very first step is admitting that you have a problem. Go on—you can do it. Scream it at the top of your lungs!

“My name is Shelly and my classroom is as technologically advanced as my grandmother’s favorite antique store!!!”

Wow. That’s inspiring. Don’t you feel so much better?

You’ve just accepted the Teacher Technology Rehab Program into your life and there’s no looking back. This is the intervention that your students will thank you for, so, let the transformation begin!


STEP 1 – Familiarize yourself with jargon
In this post (and in the real world of teacher technology), you’re going to hear a lot of spiffy acronyms and foreign-sounding words. In order to complete the Teacher Technology Rehab Program, you should probably know what they mean.

Doctor’s Orders: Study the following list of terms.

BYOD - an acronym for “Bring Your Own Device”. A school that has a “Bring Your Own Device” policy allows their students to use personal laptops, tablets and mobile phones in class (for educational purposes).

CRS - an acronym for “Classroom Response System”. A Classroom Response System is a package of technological devices that comes with software for your computer and a set of “clickers” for your students. These “clickers” are used to electronically respond to questions that you ask and report the results to you.

Digital Teaching Materials - electronic versions of conventional teaching materials such as textbooks, transparencies and DVDs. Digital teaching materials include eBooks, interactive games, PowerPoint presentations, digital videos and more.

Read my other post, Digital Teaching Materials: What Are They?, for more information about Digital Teaching Materials.

Ed Tech - short for “educational technology.” It is a broad term that includes technological devices such as laptops, tablets and smart phones, but also intangible things like software and web-based tools.

Interactive Whiteboard – a device that displays the contents of a computer screen on a large board. You can interact with the elements on the board just like you would on a computer. They are great for group activities and presenting information.

Screencasts – recordings of your computer screen or interactive whiteboard.

Social Media - a term used for a wide variety of websites that quickly communicate and disseminate information between social connections.

Web 2.0 - a term used to describe a service provided by a website that goes above and beyond just displaying information or images.

Web Browser – the program that you use to view the internet. Popular web browsers include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

STEP 2 – Develop a written plan of attack
Integrating technology into your classroom is too big of an undertaking to fly by the seat of your pants. Things can go HORRIBLY wrong if you don’t carefully structure the approach you take to using it.

Doctor’s Orders: Think about your classroom, how it’s set up, how you structure your lessons and how comfortable you are working with different technology tools. Think about your students, their needs and their maturity level. Finally, think about how dedicated you are to the cause—this will be the defining factor in how successful you are at implementing change.

Write your ideas down and try to formulate an actionable plan. Remember to include goals that are identifiable and challenging, yet achievable.

STEP 3 – Get your administrators on board
If your classroom technology is stuck in the Stone Age, it’s likely that your entire school is in the same boat. What’s even more likely is that technology has never been addressed at an administrative level and there are no supporting policies in place.

Doctor’s Orders: Set up a meeting with your principal to discuss technology and how you would like to use it. Before your meeting, make sure you also read Jean’s post, School Cyber Policy and Internet Ethics for Beginners.

STEP 4 – Establish a BYOD policy in your school or classroom
A BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy is a great solution for schools that don’t have the resources to purchase expensive educational technology.

Doctor’s Orders: Depending on how receptive your principal was to your ideas about incorporating more technology into your classroom, set up another meeting with them to discuss a BYOD policy.

NOTE: Some administrators will be against establishing this kind of policy for the entire school; however, you may be able to work something out where students are allowed to use their devices during specific periods of your class.

STEP 5 – Teach with interactives (without an interactive whiteboard)
You can still use interactive activities even if your school doesn’t have the resources to furnish your classroom with an interactive whiteboard.

Doctor’s Orders: Download SMART Notebook onto your classroom computer. SMART Notebook is a program that allows you to view and interact with interactive notebook files on your computer just as you would on a whiteboard. Send your students to your computer in groups and rotate through the entire class so that everyone gets to participate.

STEP 6 – Use Web 2.0 tools to conduct polls and pop quizzes (without a CRS)
If you want to get instantaneous feedback from your students but don’t have access to fancy clickers, opt for tools on the internet.

Doctor’s Orders: Check out online polling services like Socrative, Poll Everywhere and Classmarker. Depending on which service you choose, students can answer with their own smart phones (if you have a BYOD policy), classroom laptops or computers.

STEP 7 – Integrate digital teaching materials into your lesson plans
Leave your old textbooks, games, transparencies, DVDs, video tapes and other outdated teaching materials behind.

Doctor’s Orders: Use eBooks, PowerPoint presentations and streaming video whenever you can. They’re less expensive, more versatile and more easily transported than their tangible counterparts—often times, all you need is a digital projector or television that is connected to your classroom computer.

For a more in-depth look at why you should integrate digital teaching materials into your classroom, read Top 5 Benefits of Using Digital Teaching Materials.

STEP 8 – Start your own blog
Regularly blog about your school, classes and students to keep people informed about important things like assignments, exams, and your expectations.

Doctor’s Orders: Sign up for a free blog at Edublogs or Wordpress and start writing! Using your lesson plans, create a calendar that details all of the relevant information that you should include in your posts. It’s much easier to write when you’ve got a structured plan. Also, don’t forget to give your URL to your students and their parents!

STEP 9 – Interact with students on social media sites like Twitter
Like blogging, using social media is a powerful way to keep people informed about assignment due dates, exams, etc.; however, it is more versatile than blogging because it’s easier to ask questions and give quick responses.

Doctor’s Orders: Sign up for a Twitter account. Before you start tweeting, read Jean’s blog post on School Cyber Policy and Internet Ethics for Beginners (if you haven’t already)

Twitter is nice because it’s super easy for students to interact with you. Some teachers even use Twitter’s private messaging system as an inconspicuous way for students to let them know when they do not understand a lecture during class.

STEP 10 – Make how-to video screencasts
Include how-to videos on your blog for complex projects and assignments. Videos are great teaching tools because students can follow along with your instructions and watch them as many times as they need. Best of all, your colleagues will be jealous of how tech savvy you are.

Doctor’s Orders: Use Web 2.0 screencast tools like Screencast-O-Matic and Screenr. They run from your web browser, so you don’t even have to download a program. You can even include audio if your computer has a microphone. When you’re done recording, save the video to your computer and upload it to YouTube. Then, it’s easy to embed it into your blog and share it on Twitter.

Here's an example of an instructional video I made with Screencast-O-Matic:
 

STEP 11 – Encourage student collaboration with Web 2.0 tools
As the world becomes increasingly connected, collaboration has become one of the most coveted skills to employers. Aside from giving your students valuable real-word experience, collaboration has educational applications in group assignments. Online collaboration tools help to facilitate group work from any computer with an internet connection.

Doctor’s Orders: Familiarize yourself with online collaboration tools like Google Docs, Writeboard and WeVideo. Share these Web 2.0 tools with your students and assign group projects that use them. The neat thing about these online collaboration tools is that students can edit documents on classroom or school computers (if you have them) and at home.

STEP 12 – Make it fun!
Start to spice things up now that you’re on the verge of Teacher Technology mastery.

Doctor’s Orders: Check out some of the following Web 2.0 tools for teachers and surprise your students with how creative you are.

- Gizmoz
- Make Belief Comix
- Disapainted

Give yourself a pat on the back because you’re a proud graduate of the Teacher Technology Rehabilitation Program! Go out and share your success with the world.

Let me know in the comments if there are any other steps you have taken to implement technology in your classroom.

Please share this post with your colleagues by using the social sharing buttons on the left-hand side of your screen!


Signing out,

Erik Schreefel
Marketing and Operations, GoEd Online