Sarah Orme

EDIS 7010
Refined Technology Implementation Strategy

Strategy Refinement:
I have refined my technology implementation strategy based on feedback from my peers
and my own experience of applying this strategy to the two cases I wrote for this class. My
peers feedback was largely positive. Most individuals who responded to my discussion post
liked the cycle I used and my reflection questions. One peer mentioned that I should help
students understand why they will benefit from a new technology. He suggested that when
students understand why they will benefit from technology they have a more positive experience
with it. I agree with this suggestion and emphasized this more in the Implement and Test section.
When I was evaluating the two cases I had written, I found my cycle to be helpful in
collecting, analyzing, and evaluating new tools. A significant issue with my strategy, however,
is that it is student specific, whereas my cases were largely helping teachers. Because it is
possible that I will transition away from teaching students, and instead work with teachers once I
complete my doctorate, I think it is essential that my strategy reflect ways to help teachers as
well as students. To refine my strategy to meet the needs of teachers, I modified my strategy
statement to include my desire to help teachers. I also changed my cycle labeled Asses Student
Needs to Assess User Needs so that my strategy can be more universally applicable. Further, I
modified each section to reflect helping teachers as well as students during this process.

Strategy Statement
High school English classes are sometimes described as boring environments where
students simply read classical literature and write essays at the end of units. This style of learning
may have been commonplace at one point, but it is far from what I do in my classroom. Instead,
my classroom looks more like a hybrid course, which includes meeting students face-to-face and
having a strong online presence through a classroom website and Blackboard.
As a high school English teacher, I believe it is my responsibility to help students learn to
critically analyze the various types of texts they encounter and also communicate with others in a
variety of ways. The skills students need in order to be able to critically analyze texts and
communicate should be highly transferable so that they can use these in whatever environment
they find themselves in. I believe that students will encounter a wide variety of texts throughout
their lives, and engage in diverse communication, and because of this I need to prepare them for
a variety of situations. To do this I need to incorporate up-to-date technology in my classroom.
Beyond helping my own students, I am interested in helping to train teachers at the
school level and district level to help them achieve their unique goals. To do this, I need to
understand the goals of the schools and districts I am helping, know how these goals align with
state standards, and find tools that will help each individual or group reach their goals.
I hope to be able to find current technologies that can help me improve my teaching, help
students be better prepared for the content that they engage with and produce, and help other
teachers achieve their goals.

Overview
In an effort to continually improve my classroom through the use of effective technology
implementation, I will follow the cyclical process outlined below:
 Identify Learning
Objectives and Align
Them To Standards

Evaluate and Reflect Assess User Needs

Implement and Test Analyze Available
Resources

Incorporate
Technology into Lesson
Plans and Learning
Performances

1. Identify Learning Objectives and Align Them to State Standards

First, I will use Backward Design to craft learning objectives that align with my state standards.
This involves creating a detailed curriculum map that will align the state standards to various
learning objectives. I will modify my current curriculum map template to include a section for
various technologies that I will utilize. I believe this can help to better differentiate instruction
and promote transfer of knowledge. When helping teachers, I will encourage them to modify
their curriculum maps as well.

2. Assess User Needs

Ideally my curriculum map meets the needs of all my students, however this is not usually the
case. To ensure that my course does meet the needs of my students, I need to have a clear
understanding of where my students are in relation to state standards and learning objectives. I
can assess my students needs by having them do a short textual analysis of a piece of writing I
provide. This allows me to see their depth of reading, analytical interpretation of the text, and
written communication. Further, I will need to assess students technology needs, which can be
done with a simple survey asking them about their access to devices, Internet, and exposure to
various tools. I will use a similar survey when helping teachers so that I can know their comfort
level with technology and better assist them.

3. Analyze Available Resources

Technologies are like any tool, they can be highly effective if used correctly, or make very little
difference to student learning if implemented poorly. To ensure that the technologies I
implement elevate student learning I need to be highly selective about each possible technology I
might use. Instead of simply using technologies that I am comfortable with, or are easily
accessed, I will take considerable time researching various technologies to learn how they aid
student learning so that all students can meet the learning objectives. I can do this by working
with my schools Learning Technology Integrator to curate technologies as well as reading
various blogs dedicated to using technology in the classroom. When helping teachers, I will
make sure that this is a collaborative process so that teachers goals and expectations are met.

I will analyze each technology using principles from Technological Pedagogical Content
Knowledge (TPACK). Specifically, I will ask the following questions.

1. How does the technology engage with content and

does it help students or teachers to better understand the
course content?

2. How does the technology aid strong pedagogy,

specifically how does it help students or teachers
become more critical thinkers and communicators?

3. How would implementation of this technology

impact my classroom, or another individuals classroom,
and would students find success when using it?

In addition to using TPACK when analyzing

technologies, I will look at how each technology meets
the demands outlined by the Universal Design for
Learning Guidelines. I will specifically look at how the
technology provides multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and
multiple means of expression for my students.

Below are questions I will ask to better understand the needs of students and teachers.

1. What types of learning disabilities do my students, or the students of other teachers, have
and what types of technologies help reduce the effects of these learning challenges?
2. What types of physical and emotional disabilities do my student, or the students of other
teachers, have and what types of technologies help reduce the effects of these disabilities?
3. What specific needs do my English Language Learners students, or the students of other
teachers, have and what types of technologies can help with language and cultural
barriers?
 4. Where do my students, or other teachers students, differ in terms of content
understanding and what types of technology will help them access the material at
different instructional speeds?

4. Incorporate Technology into Lesson Plans and Learning Performances

After I have analyzed various technologies, I will select the ones that I believe will most
effectively help my students reach the learning objectives of my course and the state standards.
To ensure that I incorporate these technologies into the classroom I will add a section to my
lesson plan template that outlines what technology I plan to use during that lesson plan, or series
of plans, and how it will positively impact learning. Additionally, I want my students to continue
to increase their digital literacy and so I will make sure that the learning performances of each
unit are also aligned with specific technologies so that students are displaying what they have
learned in contemporary ways that will hopefully reach a diverse audience. These learning
performances will often be multimodal. This same process will be applied when I help teachers
access new technology.

5. Implement and Test

I will incorporate appropriate technologies in my classroom after my curriculum map, lesson
plans, and learning performances have all been aligned. To support my students I will provide
clear directions and a model anytime I expect students to engage with a new piece of technology
that so that students will feel comfortable engaging with the new technology and have a positive
experience. I will make it a priority to help students understand why I am incorporating a new
tool, so that they view it as a purposeful and important change. I recognize that technology
implementation within the classroom is often imperfect, so I will allow for some flexibility with
my students as we adjust to using new tools. During this time I will look for additional support
from my schools Learning Technology Integrator and librarian to make sure that the
implementation is successful. I will apply this same process when I help other teachers work on
implementing new technology into their classrooms.

6. Evaluate and Reflect

Finally, I will make sure that after I have implemented a new technology, I will evaluate and
reflect on its effectiveness in the classroom. The evaluation will largely include analyzing how
effective the tool was at assisting me in reaching my learning objectives and state standards.
Beyond evaluating the tools, I will reflect on how I can modify my teaching in the future to
ensure that the challenges I inevitably ran into do not happen again. Both my evaluation and
reflection will be added to my curriculum map, lesson plans, and learning performances, to
ensure that if I teach these same plans again the technology implementation goes more smoothly.
When I am working with another teacher I will have an exit interview so that I can identify other
areas to help or gain valuable feedback to use when helping other teachers. In an effort to help
teachers within my professional learning community, I will share my evaluations and reflections
with them for future use.