EdTechTalk

Choose a New Tool Each Month

Whether you have one laptop or a class set of tablets, there are tons of educational technology tools to explore. Choose one new tool to try out each month. This will give you enough time to really see if it works with your teaching style and if it is relevant to the content you're teaching.

Join a Twitter Chat All around the globe, educators are doing exciting work in their classrooms. Instead of just following a couple of your favorite teachers and education organizations, engage with your peers in a Twitter (1) chat. There are weekly chats on a wide range of subjects. Follow the hashtag (2) to read about what other people are saying and post your own answers to questions posed by the chat's facilitator.

students will want to use something that they're familiar with, that they own, and that they won't have to change out of once they leave school.

Technology doesn't need to be involved if a teacher is already flourishing without any device in the classroom. Standardizing a device across an entire school pushes the feeling of an "add-on" and must be used consistently and effectively. Many times that usage is contrived and misses the purpose of the classroom. In short, it becomes technology for technology's sake. In higher education, professors don't contrive technology use, and students can choose whether or not to use a device. The focus is less about the devices and more about the best tool on the menu for learning.