Throughout this series, I have been inviting you to question the kind of experience technology is providing you and your school community. Modern learning is messy, but it doesn’t have to be unmanageable. The goal is twofold: 1) to offer a framework for evaluating your school’s technology use 2) to provide some processes for maintaining a progressive technology policy.
In my first post I discussed technology born with a purpose; choosing tech that puts pedagogy first. The second post looked at selecting the right tools that fit your school’s unique culture and frees teachers to guide and adapt the learning journey in their own way. In my last post, I emphasised the value of really getting to know the ed tech your school has adopted and going further with the right tools not more tools. This post focuses on habits. If technique is the engine that will take you the distance, good habits are the oil that keeps the engine running smoothly.
If you have been in education for any time, you would have watched an initiative or two die. Sometimes, they flame out in spectacular fashion and other times they die the slow death of partial implementation, minimal follow through and nonexistent support. Whatever the case, it is only natural that educators and school leaders will be sceptical of anything that seems too good to be true.
That’s the catch though: education is all about working towards the good that isn’t true just yet. We’re building on yesterday’s good - that smooth read aloud or detailed lab procedure from a student. Those little steps count. What’s too good to be true won’t be so forever so long as we make a little progress each day.
Closing this series of posts, I want to suggest some habits of mind and practice to make those little steps count. With your new ed tech initiatives, it is about retention as much as it is about uptake. I am primarily speaking to school leaders who are making decisions, but everyone at the school has a responsibility to build a culture that makes the most of the available tools and resources. An engine is made of many parts after all. When they’re all engaged, the engine is taking you places. Here’s a few habits to keep the engine well oiled.
Prioritise replacement
“And now I have to ______ in addition to all the other things I do as a teacher?” If you haven’t said it, you’ve heard it from a coworker. New initiatives or tools can be seen as yet another to do. Just one more reporting measure. Just an additional learning resource for students to access. Just another app to download. In an era where “teacher workload” is often a synonym for “stress” and “mental health issues”, ed tech is best positioned when introduced as a give-and-take proposition. By giving up my time to adopt a new tool, how will my workload be reduced? As a parent, can I access my child’s information from a single, central hub? As a student, can I access my homework for all classes with a single login?
The push: look for the opportunity to replace old tools or expectations. Your expectations and the tools you use should be purpose-built for your school’s current needs and aspirations. Sometimes, there will need to be an overlap of new and old practices, but I think this can be the exception to the rule. While there is always a learning curve with new ed tech, people want to know what they will get in return for their investment. What will you be replacing? How will your new ed tech be more effective in meeting the whole school community’s needs and goals?
Set expectations
In our minds, the image of something growing “organically” conjures positive feelings. It sounds liberating and natural. When introducing new ed tech, one instinct can be to let use “grow organically”. Best practice will develop out of everyone using it in a sensible way for their role. Organic farms still grow their fruits and veg in rows and orchards though. The gears of the metaphor begin to grind a bit. Metaphors and imagery aside, clear expectations for new ed tech need to be set in order for it to be successful. Think of it as a threshold for “minimum engagement”. Should students expect to find all homework tasks on the latest learning management platform? Will parents receive all of their reports through the new MIS? Are all teachers expected to record student behaviour on a recently introduced app?
While I am a firm believer that teachers need to be allowed room to create, I also know that too many different systems and tools at play overcomplicates things. A lack of minimum expectations will also lead to partial implementation. Some will adopt the new tech; others won’t be bothered. Teachers, students and parents want to know what is expected of them. Let’s refer back to the chef’s knife analogy from the last post. Set clear expectations for when and how the chef’s knife should be used in the kitchen; let your cooks choose what other knives they might add to expand their capabilities.
Invest in understanding
I am recycling this point from my previous writing: a little technique goes a long way. While it is easy to feel the rush to implement new technology, we are limiting our long term success by failing to understanding how to best work with the new tech. We can even miss out on some of a tool’s best functionality.
This applies for the entire school community - students, teachers, parents, managers, governors, etc. Are students being taught how to use new tech in the classroom as it is introduced? Do parents have support for logging on to the new app you want them to use? Are staff comfortable with the new reporting software as the end of term nears? Consider all of your user groups carefully.
By training, I don’t simply mean big investments in time like half an INSET or a separate session at a parents’ evening. Think small: the email to parents with a short video reminding them how to access reports. To start the next staff meeting: a short demonstration of how to set up a rubric in the homework tool. Many of our most successful schools use our help centre to provide reminders and guidance to their community’s most timely Firefly needs. Little investments like this can pay big dividends too. It also communicates that the school is committed to using the tool effectively. When people know how to use the tools you’ve adopted, they’re more likely to engage with them regularly.
Curate and celebrate success
The best kind of expertise is in house. A little setup on the part of management can yield big returns in ongoing teacher engagement. When new ed tech is being well used at your school, recognise it! Everybody loves a little recognition. Better yet, make a copy so that others can have a go. A database of examples cuts down on teacher workload over time while also inspiring new ideas. Teachers can reuse and modify these examples as templates. It is also bespoke for your school - a use case based on your students, available resources and the rest. School leaders can contribute too; try your hand at creating a diagnostic assessment with the new quiz tool. Perhaps contribute ideas you come across on Twitter or other professional networks. For Firefly schools, our community site can be a great place to start. A culture of sharing best practice can’t be undervalued.
Redefine success regularly
Eventually, your school community will get comfortable with the new ed tech you have introduced. In any successful uptake, you are bound to reach this stage. So go a little further. Set new success criteria for the coming year or term. Perhaps you introduced a new homework tool. In the beginning, getting all staff setting homework was the success criteria. Now that all staff are setting homework, what’s next? Should staff upload resources? Use the tool to give feedback? By routinely redefining success, you ensure you are getting the most value from your tools and reducing the chance that usage will decrease over time. Best of all, you are taking steps towards what previously sounded too good to be true.
We all want one thing: better. Better takes a lot of forms though. And a lot of perseverance. It can’t really be grasped unless we have a sense of where we are today. We also won’t achieve it alone. I hope that each post in this series has pushed you a little further along. I hope you have a sense of your pain points. With clearly defined areas for growth, I hope you begin to select tech that expands and enhances your work. With a little practice, the best tech will become foundational to the great work you are doing every day. That’s the modern learning experience that you and your school community deserve.