169 Tech Tip #80–17 Ways to Add Tech without Adding Time

In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.

Today’s tip: #80–17 Ways to Add Tech without Adding Time

Category: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Sub-category: Teaching, Writing

Let’s start with seven ways to blend technology into your everyday teaching:

1. Include digital ebooks in your class library.
2. Include online libraries with student resources.
3. Expect digital class presentations to include video, audio, music, or a mixture of digital tools.
4. Encourage students to tape class presentations to replay later and/or study from.
5. Allow students to join the class virtually–through Skype or Google Hangouts–in emergencies.
6. Make research tools like dictionaries and thesauri accessible from all digital devices.
7. Empower students to solve common tech problems.

Then, add these next ten to redefine your classroom:

1. Offer a backchannel
2. Only use tech tools that are intuitive and can be learned in five minutes.
3. Instead of writing out answers to homework questions, have students record themselves, take a video, or write a blog
4. Include blogging in your curriculum to teach writing, perspective-taking, and speaking/listening.
5. Use Twitter novels to teach writing skills.
6. Write serialized novels, one blogpost at a time.
7. Have students create crossword puzzles (or other games) to review for an upcoming assessment.
8. Use a digital timer for quizzes or other events.
9. Have students take videos of each other and upload them to the class blog/website.
10. Load ascanning app onto student devices and have them scan their work into a digital portfolio.

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.