Curriculum design and teaching technology programs are critical for educator and professional growth. It can help prepare students to find, utilize, and assess the purposeful use of 21st-century technology for their education and training.
Teacher preparation programs should consider the following touchpoints when designing a curriculum: Content, pedagogy, technology, and context. The order of these may vary depending on the vision of a program.
Incorporate Technology in Every Classroom
The curriculum serves as the roadmap for students and teachers. It helps them choose appropriate learning materials and teaching strategies to meet their goals and objectives.
Technology makes it easier for educators to reach students from anywhere. Online grading systems, forums, and discussion groups open lines of communication between students, teachers, administrators, parents, and other stakeholders. Training in curriculum design and teaching technology is essential for teachers’ professional development.
Teacher candidates can learn to incorporate technology into their classrooms by taking foundation courses, methods courses, and student teaching. But they also need experiences beyond those courses to gain a more holistic understanding of integrating technology. These experiences can include a variety of EdTech experiences, such as challenge-based gamification and virtual games. They can also involve collaborative classrooms and acoustic designs, encouraging collaboration and engagement. These experiences are essential to developing the pedagogical knowledge and skills teachers need to effectively use digital tools in their classrooms.
Make Technology a Part of Every Learning Activity
Technology allows students to learn in various, more engaging ways than traditional learning methods. It also encourages collaboration and helps students become more familiar with the software they will use in their careers.
For example, if you have a visual learner student, you can assign them to create an online video explaining a subject they are learning or even a guide on how to use a program. This way, they can share their work with classmates and will be able to review their work whenever needed.
In many developing countries, lesson time is dominated by lectures where the educator explains topics to the learners, and they passively copy notes. However, this approach doesn’t always allow learners to understand a topic correctly, and they often struggle with their homework or exams.
Make Technology a Part of Every Assessment
Curriculum can be segmented, with new ideas added to match contexts (such as the knowledge gained during a Geography field trip or fundraising skills developed through one-off charity activities) or spiraled, where previous learning is revisited at age and stage-appropriate times (such as in a history lesson on how to make an argument). Technology can help reimagine assessment in several ways, from unobtrusive measurements during student design work to virtual simulations that require students to manipulate parameters.
Technology can also reduce time and costs in a teacher’s workflow, with online tests able to provide immediate feedback. This allows teachers to focus more on teaching and less on administrative tasks.
Make Technology a Part of Every Learning Experience
Educators are always looking for ways to reinvigorate their classrooms and lessons. However, finding an engaging and relevant curriculum that meets standards can be imposed. Challengingology is one of the best tools to create and deliver a personalized learning experience for students. It can be used to provide customized instruction for students at different stages of the learning process, and it can also help students develop critical information literacy skills.
Technology also allows students to connect with instructors and peers in new ways, breaking down communication barriers. For example, students can work on projects with classmates in other schools or countries, allowing them to collaborate and build a sense of community. This type of collaboration is essential to preparing students for the future, where they will use technology in their personal and professional lives.
Make Technology a Part of Every Class
Technology is a big part of students’ lives now, so not teaching them how to use it in school would be a disservice. This is especially true when preparing them for the work world, which increasingly requires being comfortable with new technology.
Using technology to deliver education can help reach learners poorly served by traditional methods. For example, many learners in developing countries struggle to get the most out of class lectures that present information, leaving no time for practice or for students who may not understand explanations in the first place.
A tech-powered learning approach could provide those students access to online resources that adapt to their needs. This can include everything from word processors identifying spelling mistakes to adaptive tools highlighting or reading text.
