Ed Tech Tuesday: A New Installation of The Online Educator Blog

Since the Online Educator Blog is all about teaching online, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some Ed Tech tools you may want to incorporate into your online learning environments. Therefore, I will be starting a new installment into this blog called Ed Tech Tuesdays. One the last Tuesday of each month, I will highlight a new Ed Tech Tool and share how it can be used to enhance your online classroom.

Why Ed Tech is important

EdTech tools can really enhance educational concepts. Many of these tools can be used to make an abstract concept more understandable and relatable. They can also help to make content more appetizing and appealing.

How to use Ed Tech Liberally

It's not a good idea to include Ed Tach tools in your course if there is no reason to. You should always be clear about the reason why using a tool is necessary. To begin, consider the reason for using a tool. Is it to enhance instructor communication, like the use of a synchronous communication tool like Zoom? Is it to enhance student to student communication like through the use of a FligGrid assignment? Perhaps you want to assess a student's communication skills and decide to use a tool like VoiceThread so you can hear them communicate. First get clear about your objectives, then start delving into some tech options. That being said, you also do not want to include too many tools in your course so as not to overwhelm yourself or your students. 

Best Practices When Using an Ed Tech Tool

There are many ed tech tools that exist. With so many options, it helps to have a system for choosing which ed tech tools to use. For instance, use the guide I mentioned in the previous section such as determining your course objectives first.

• As a rule of thumb, I try not to introduce students to more than 3 ed tech tools per semester. If there is a tool I know they have all used already in the past, I do not include it in that count. Usually 3 tools is the magic number where students' threshold begins to wane.
• I always try to introduce a tool early in the semester giving the students lots of time to become familiar with it before having to use it on their own.
• Give students an instruction guide and even an instructional video of how to use a tool if possible. 
• If the student has an assignment to complete, try to create a sample of that the finally product may look like. For instance, one semester I had students create a newsletter presentation using a tool called SMORE. I created THIS sample assignment so students could see what the final newsletter should look like.

Why not take some time to consider what tool you might try using in your course next! 

Be sure to share your ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group by clicking the link HERE. Also, as a treat don’t forget to GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE to the 3 Secrets to Teaching Online Successfully.