Over the past year almost every conversation that I have been involved with around technology in the classroom has led to somebody talking about engaging students. I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of engagement, but I think we need to make sure that we define what that means. In Schlechty’s book, “Working On the Work” he describes five different levels of engagement. The top level is authentic engagement and during this level the work that students are asked to do has meaning and value to them and provides a relevant context. Another very important distinction that Schlechty makes in this book is the difference between the teacher being engaging (performer) and the teacher who provides work and activities for students that the students find engaging. It is obvious to me that there are a tremendous amount of technology resources available to support teachers as they create activities and tasks for students to engage in. There is also a lot of technology to help teachers be engaging as performers. This leads me to the question: Do we want students to perform or teachers to perform? 

I would think that there would be a mix of teacher and student performance in the classroom, but we would want the percentage to be much higher on the end of student performance. Given this scenario, I would like to consider two technologies that are currently being purchased for 21^st Century classrooms and make sure that our vision aligns with the resource.

Electronic Whiteboards

The first thing we have to agree on is the fact that this technology is being purchased on the notion that it will help provide higher levels of engagement for students. If we agree with this then we need to examine who uses the technology 90% of the time, the teacher. I would argue that we have tried to revolutionize the classroom with technology that continues to put the teacher up in front of the class and asks students to sit and watch as the teacher performs with the new tools. I do belief that it can be implemented in a way that will engage students more authentically, but for that to happen a bigger shift needs to happen in the flow of learning, from teacher-centered to student-centered. Most companies do have slate will allow the teacher to walk around the classroom and have all of the same resources that can be utilized with an electronic whiteboard. This technology will allow teachers to ask students to work in groups and allow the teacher to pass the slate to the students to they can interact with the content in a way that is meaningful.

My point is that engagement with whiteboard technology should be sold as teacher as performer, but can be sold as student as performer if the district is willing to engage in professional development around student-centered learning.

Student Responders

Student responders are an excellent way to obtain formative assessment data and measure how students change their thinking as they study a topic or concept. Thousands of classrooms are using student responders to engage students in learning, but what level of engagement are we talking about? It is true that in many classrooms a small percentage of students are willing to answer a question, especially if they are not sure of the answer, and in classrooms with student responders we get a much higher level of participation. The data is collected to help teachers make instructional decisions, but what happens if we don’t do anything with the data? You see, I think we should always start the conversation about student responders with a discussion about creating engaging questions and using the data from those questions to drive instruction. For example, when studying a current event it might make sense to ask students what they know about the event and what their opinion is about the event. After reading some information and doing some research you should ask some of the same questions to see if student’s opinions have changed and then discuss why. The teacher will have the ability to compare the data from the first time the students answered the question and the second time and the class can analyze the data for reasons that might have caused a shift or why there was no shift in the way the students think.

I also think the software that is available to teachers for presenting should be available to students and as they present their information to the class they should be formatively assessing the group and shifting their presentation based on the data they receive. In the end the level of engagement in a student presentation will be more about the activity that was designed and less about the technology.

I don’t usually create long blog posts, but this topic is becoming increasingly important to me. As you can tell I have put some thought into this, but I want to know what you think. What will it take to authentically engage students in learning and what are the best technologies to help us do this?

Adam is responsible for oversight of Pearson’s technology integration and national professional development program. A former elementary school teacher, Adam has presented at conferences across the country, including Alan November’s conferences and has written articles on technology integration for several education publications. He has been a national consultant on school reform, technology integration, and teaching and learning for seven years. Over the past four years he has provided professional development or managed the implementation of professional development for some of the biggest one-to-one laptop initiatives in the country, including Henrico County and the state of Texas TIP program.

Adam received a BA in Elementary Education from the University of South Florida, a Master’s in Teaching and Learning with a Technology emphasis from Framingham State College, and has a Certificate in Administration and Supervision from Johns Hopkins University.

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