Ways of Using Technology in Classrooms

(Originally titled “Teaching Above the Line”)

In this Educational Leadership article, Doug Johnson (a district technology director in Minnesota) describes some of the ways technology is being used in classrooms. The bottom line, he says, is how effectively computers, tablets, e-books, online texts, Moodle courses, and other devices and platforms are helping students learn what they are supposed to be learning. In a sidebar, Johnson presents four levels of technology use in classrooms (Puentedura, 2013), all of which can be appropriate in different situations:

Transformation:

• Redefinition: Technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable.

• Modification: Technology allows for significant redesign of tasks.

Enhancement:

• Augmentation: Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with functional improvement.

• Substitution: Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with no functional change.

“Teaching Above the Line” by Doug Johnson in Educational Leadership, December 2013/January 2014 (Vol. 71, #4, p. 24-29), 

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership.aspx; Johnson can be reached at doug0077@gmail.com.

From the Marshall Memo #515