In the classroom

So what do TPACK, RAT, SAMR, ISTE, and all the other technological acronyms look like in the classroom? How do we know when tech is being used appropriately in the classroom? There are so many applications, platforms, and programs available to students now. They can't all be transformative!

(Barker, 2015)

Truly, many of them are not; but that is okay. Membean is the example that comes to mind most appropriately. Membean is an online vocabulary building program that students at my school are required to engage in every week. The program introduces vocabulary words to study in an algorithmic manner so as to ensure the deepest memorization. This is far from transformative. But the effort required to teach vocab as rigorously and efficiently as membean teaches it is so vast that teachers would not be able to accomplish much else if they created such a program off the grid. Membean is not transformative, but it is still important. And helpful. And it contributes to the enrichment of students, which is always a good thing.

There are so many technologies out there that it is impossible to fluent in all of them, but an excellent teacher needs to be able to recognize a useful technology when she sees it. If we are using tech as the $1,000 pencil, then something needs to change. I am a proponent of the idea that any technology can be transformative if it is used right. Conversely, any transformative technology can be substitution-level if it is not used correctly.

(Gartin, 2016).

References

Barker, S. Membean screenshot [Image]. Retrieved from http://ponderingsofalifelonglearner.blogspot.com/2015/02/thoughts-on-membean-from-math-girl-and.html

Gartin, J. (2016). RAT model prompt [Image]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1PhZUU_C8qOaMT-NF5jd_qtdQRPrRyq0NeVEPyeExVk4/edit