5 EdTech Tools You Should Try in 2020

Written by Mo Qureshi, BSD Education

There is no doubt that the learning and development of digital skills will be a big focus in Education this next decade. As we hope to prepare our students for the technology first future and help them move past being just consumers of technology and media to having the tools and skills to become innovators or creators. 

One of the best ways to slowly start bringing Technology into your classrooms is using fun EdTech tools that will help you and/or your students boost learning or teaching experiences. Check out the top 5 we thought you should try this year!

1. Thunkable
Mobile Apps have been a rage for over a decade now and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Thunkable is a free and easy to use online tool for students to learn how to build mobile apps using a simple drag and drop code builder. As you create you can test the app in real time on an iOS or Android device and tweak it as you go. Less experienced students can choose to “remix” an existing app instead of starting from scratch.

Image via MIT News

2. Roblox
Creating games is a great way to learn a wide range of real world digital skills, like storytelling, art and design, programming, maths, etc. Roblox is an online platform for creating and playing multiplayer online games. As a teacher you can take your students on a journey of how their favourite online games are created. They can learn to create games using Roblox Studio, test it with their peers and can even publish it online for users to play on a computer, mobile device or even Xbox. They can also choose to publish the game for free on the Roblox platform or charge them “Robux ”, the digital currency of Roblox. To support teachers, Roblox publishes resources like how to start guides and lessons.

3. Thinglink
Boost your classroom engagement by creating visual and interactive resources for your students. Thinglink makes it very easy for you to augment to images, videos and online tours with extra information using simple to use hyperlinks. Create an educational treasure hunt for students or mix it up and let them create visual learning journeys for their peers.

4. MindMeister
Mind maps are a tried and tested method for people to effectively take notes or brainstorm ideas. MindMeister takes this a step further by making mind mapping a collaborative exercise. Students can collaborate with peers real time in the classroom while a teacher explains concepts or can work virtually from home when creating a group project.

Image via MindMeister

5. Smiling Mind
Students (and all of us) can face a series of social and emotional challenges. To help them cope with these it is important they are aware of their mental well being and learn effective ways to be mindful. Smiling Mind is a free, not for profit app that encourages mindfulness and better mental being in schools. It is specifically built for students and teachers and breaks down activities for age groups 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18 as well as adults. It comes with Professional Development training for teachers, classroom resources and student workshops. 

6. Bonus – BSD Online
Of course, we would love it if you tried our own online learning platform BSD Online. Through scaffolded guided exercises, BSD Online makes the teaching and learning of digital skills and coding easy, fun and engaging. Wondering where to start? We suggest our Hour of Code Project – Life Under Water.

Image via BSD Education

We’d love to learn what other apps or technology tools you’d like to try this year!! Feel free to share by tweeting us at @Educationbsd or tagging us on Instagram at @BSDEducation, we look forward to hearing from you!

Our Favorite Ways to Boost Student Engagement with Tech

Written by Eva Yeung, BSD Education

At BSD Education, we are always exploring new ideas to help boost students’ engagement in the classroom. It is important to boost engagement levels because engaged students are more curious and motivated in any given subject matter. With a growing sense of curiosity and motivation, this can greatly elevate and improve their overall learning achievements and experiences. 

Can we boost student engagement with technology initiatives at schools and districts – for example, with increased computer lab time, 1:1 device programs, etc.? Just by introducing tech tools like smart screens, online quizzes and games will only boost engagement for a little while. What we want is to establish sustainable engagement that has a meaningful impact. 

Technology in the classroom doesn’t have to be a  distraction and burden for teachers. Let’s explore ways to take advantage of our students’ interest in technology as a vehicle for better student engagement. Here are 3 of our favorite ways in boosting student engagement:

  • “What’s in it for me (as a student)?”

Our students want to know how and why the content they are presented with is relevant to them. This concept is not new and has long been associated with social psychology (Frymier and Shulman). As educators, we are on the lookout to connect with students to ensure that their learning is relevant to them. Consider introducing a simple tech project where students can gain practical skills in digital design and coding through online learning projects, such as creating a reading blog, or creating a dynamic adventure game to showcase their understanding instead of a traditional book report. Students will feel accomplished with a new skill that they have practiced and are able to apply in other areas of study.

  • Change it up

When students get familiar and in a routine in your classroom, you might feel that you have your classroom management secured and that your classroom is running like clockwork, but it is also important to try something different from time to time to keep your students interested. You can pique your students’ interests if you introduce a new concept through an interactive tech project (that they can also code and build) instead of a more traditional approach, such as showing them a documentary.

  • Give them choice

Allow students to make a choice in the projects that they do and how they want to learn. When students are given the opportunity to have an active role in their learning, they will feel more compelled to listen, engage themselves and take ownership in their learning. Technology projects may not be suitable or interesting to all students,  but we shouldn’t take away the opportunity for other students to thrive through tech projects. Promote student agency in your classroom by giving tech projects as an option of creative learning and output.

As educators, we should also ensure the content and learning objectives are presented clearly so that the chosen tech activities are meaningful and have immediate value to your students. When it is done right, technology can enhance student interest and understanding, as well as open opportunities for student agency and creativity.  

What strategies do you use to spark your students’ engagement and interest in their learning? Let us know by tagging us at @educationbsd on Twitter or find us on Linkedin.

How Schools Are Bringing Real World Experiences to the Classroom

Written by Mike Dixon, BSD Education

If you were to visit any high school selected at random during the 2019-20 school year, you’d almost certainly stumble upon a conversation about career-ready technology skills for students. After speaking with hundreds of teachers, administrators and employers, we’re convinced that combining technology projects with real world outcomes and career ready skills is one of the most important emerging trends in education.

As educators, we understand that real world application is a key factor for engaging students with any course material. We can also observe that students who are able to demonstrate critical thinking and technical skills through real world outcomes are more likely to succeed when applying to higher education or to an upper entry-level role within the workforce. 

So how can schools deliver real world experiences to students in a classroom setting? Let’s take a look at some of the ways BSD’s partner schools are achieving this today.

Students as In-House Tech Support

This academic year, several of our school partners have shared that a portion of their IT needs are currently being serviced by student-led teams. Take Barringer STEAM Academy for example where a cohort of high school seniors (the self-proclaimed “Geek Squad”) spend designated class periods updating printer drivers, troubleshooting Smart Boards and administering tablets. These students are gaining real world experience while freeing up the school’s IT staff to focus on critical services.

Another school we spoke with went as far as to create a student-monitored online ticketing system for school staff to request assistance and reduce the load on their IT department. The BSD team is working closely with two additional schools now to help their students design online ticketing systems using the BSD Online platform. These projects empower students to use the technology skills that they learn in class to solve real problems for others.

Business Partnerships

Another approach to this trend that has been gaining momentum is developing partnerships between schools and local businesses. These relationships can vary from school to school but we’ve seen success in a couple of specific forms:

One method is for the company to provide resources to the students with the ultimate goal of identifying and acquiring new talent for internship and full time positions. We recommend speaking with nearby medium to large technology companies to see if they offer a community service program for their staff.  Mentoring can be a great way for employees to give back to their community while providing invaluable insight for high school students who may be unaware of local career opportunities.

Another example of authentic collaboration between students and local businesses comes from a BSD partner school that is connecting students with local small businesses to offer basic digital services. For example, teams of students are helping to build and maintain basic websites for small businesses that would otherwise not have the resources to reach customers online. Not only are they solving a real problem for small businesses but students are also building a portfolio of work that will benefit them beyond high school.

Students in Leadership Roles

When a partnership with real local businesses feels out of reach, there are ways to provide leadership opportunities within the school environment. Two of BSD’s partner schools, String Theory Schools and the Pathway School, operate student-run cafes where students participate in every part of the business, from customer service, to handling payment, to sourcing the raw material, and managing the online presence.

At Downey High School in California, teachers have found a different way of providing leadership experience to their high school seniors. This year, they’ve launched a new enrichment program where a team of seniors are empowered to teach coding skills to younger students through a Video Game Development course. This format put students in the teacher’s role and was a  great way to build confidence and communication skills that will prepare them for life.

Directly Transferable Technology Skills

Finally, there is one guaranteed way to prepare students for career opportunities: teach technology skills that are directly transferable to the workplace. At BSD, our curriculum is based on the same text-based coding languages used by professionals from website developers and software engineers to data scientists and app designers. The projects that our students build are rooted in real world context and their outcomes are directly transferable to solving real world problems.

If you are a teacher or school administrator and would like to insure that your students have the technology skills they need to be college and career ready, feel free to reach out to BSD Education. We can help you prepare your students for the ever-changing challenges of tomorrow and help them build digital portfolios that will follow them into their future ambitions.

Technology Education Trends That Took Over 2019

Written by Mo Qureshi, BSD Education

At the end of every year,  our Education team dedicates time to research new developments and trends in education and technology, to ensure we create cutting edge, sustainable and up-to-date roadmaps for our future curriculum.

In 2019, the world of technology saw a wave of many new releases and updates, some of which can directly impact and transform Education. 

Here’s a list of trends we found that you should also stay updated on:

1. Digital Citizenship:
Although digitalisation has increased student and teacher access to information, there is no guarantee that information online and associated search results are accurate and factually correct. Due to the ubiquity and variety of social media platforms, it has become much easier to disseminate false and inaccurate information. To counter this, we’ve seen schools and education program providers create activities and lessons to teach about digital citizenship, with specifics around fact checking, countering misinformation, having civil dialogues online and general good online behavior. 

ISTE Student standards define Digital Citizenship as students having the ability to “recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical”.

For example, a school in France has begun teaching lessons on which information to trust on social media platforms like Twitter. The International Baccalaureate (IB) has also announced a new course called Digital Societies which will teach about fake news, social media algorithms, and privacy.

2. Genius Hour:
Genius Hour – “is a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom.  It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school”.

The last few years have seen a growth in teachers giving their students more control over their learning. Teachers are playing the role of a facilitator of learning or a learning coach, and students select, define and lead their learning. One strategy is to introduce Genius Hour in the school timetable.

3. Teaching Empathy:
In an ever changing world with growing global connections, being empathetic will help students become more understanding, compassionate leaders and solve problems with  sustainable, human centric approaches. Lauren Owen states these 3 benefits of empathy in education: 

  • Empathy builds positive classroom culture. 
  • Empathy strengthens community. 
  • Empathy prepares your students to be leaders in their community.

Want to introduce empathy in your classrooms? Read guide by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

4. Managing Screen Time:
After investing in devices for each student or shared devices in a classroom, teachers, parents and schools have been trying to balance how their children use these devices. It is essential to find a happy medium between a child’s offline and online time, as they also  need to play outdoors, interact with real people, navigate the world around them as well as use digital devices to learn important digital skills like communication, learning, collaboration and planning. This happy medium can be found by asking if the use of the device is appropriate, meaningful and empowering. Here’s a handy set of strategies by Common Sense Media to help you manage your students’ screen time effectively.

5. Maker Education:
We’ve seen Makerspaces or plans of creating one emerge at almost all the schools we work with. Some schools are creating special spaces for Maker Education, while others are modifying their Libraries, Art Rooms or Science Labs to include a Makerspace.

Maker Education allows students to develop a wide range of knowledge and skills and the opportunity to innovate, create real-world applications for classroom concepts and to learn from failure.

Planning on starting your own Makerspace? Here are 5 things we learned from running our own.

What exciting trends in education and technology did you come across this year? I’d love to hear from you! Share it with me at mq@bsd.education or tweet to me at @msaifq. 

Passionate Teaching and Inspired Learning

Written by Eva Yeung, BSD Education

What do you remember most about the teachers you encountered in your school days? There might have been the one joke your philosophy teacher made about Immanuel Kant in Grade 11 that still makes you laugh decades after. Or it might be your English teacher who encouraged your Grade 12 class to get through some tough literature pieces by allowing you to take a chance to connect with it through culturally relevant comparisons. It might have been your Grade 7 science teacher who starts their lesson by engaging the class with a fresh review of the most recent sci-fi movie they saw over the weekend. 

A common trait between these three teachers is that they really care about students’ success in their subject area and saw that it had relevance in enhancing their lives – they want students to genuinely care as well! These teachers are usually the ones you want to listen closely to, because their passion is infectious.

There are many qualities to an effective and memorable teacher: they are keen to spread positivity, and they genuinely enjoy teaching and engaging with students. They are reflective, open to change and always welcome new ideas. But with all these great qualities  there is one common driving force behind – the passion in what they do. 

Robert Fried defines a passionate teacher in his book The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide (2001) as “someone in love with a field of knowledge, deeply stirred by issues and ideas that challenge our world, drawn to the dilemmas and potentials of the young people who come into class each day — or captivated by all of these”. 

In Alfred Thompson’s post “Why Passion is Important for Teachers” (2007) he observed how a teacher’s passion is such a powerful driver of student outcome and performance in the class. Thompson observed the progression of a mathematics teacher who had been assigned to teach a computer science class to the same group of students, the teacher was experienced but the lack of enthusiasm in computer science really dampened the learning of the class. Thompson also mentions that passion is not something we can fake. 

Then for all of us who have been assigned to teach something outside of our passion areas or even comfort zone – what can we do? Luckily, passion is something that can be cultivated. Here is a suggestion of 3 tips to get passionate to better engage your students in the upcoming school year:

Just get started – be inspired!

This might be the hardest thing to do, but start with simple things such as doing a simple search on Google about a topic area, you might be surprised and find something you connect with. Another great place to start is to watch some Ted Talk videos or podcasts about the subject area to get inspired. 

Find a community

Talk to teachers who are enthusiastic about the subject you are trying to get passionate about. It is helpful to see the subject through another teacher’s eyes. This technique is powerful, as you will not only find out new approaches to teaching that you can try in your own classroom, but you can try to see how the teacher sees their subject is relevant to the students’ future. You may also find great communities online in Facebook Groups and especially Twitter under #edchat!

Try new approaches in your own professional development

It is not necessary to try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to teaching a new subject that you are unfamiliar with – there are many educators in your local community that shares tried and tested classroom approaches. Through social media or a simple Google search, you can find relevant workshops, events or social gatherings organized for teachers to exchange ideas in new areas of teaching such as Tech and Computer Science.

These are just a few ideas to get you started and hopefully gets you excited about the new challenges that may be ahead this coming academic year!  Another great place to start is to subscribe to Read Something Different, where our team at BSD will share upcoming teacher events, ideas and tips to enhance your classroom. 

If you have any ideas, recommendations,  thoughts or questions, feel free to contact me at ey@bsd.education and I would love to speak more about Passionate Teaching.

How Coding Projects Promote Design Thinking

Written by Mo Qureshi, BSD Education

When it comes to Technology Education at BSD, we hope to inspire students to create with technology but also highlight the importance of developing solutions that solve real world problems. We believe that creating any new technology should be rooted in a strong purpose to help people. We help emphasize this by weaving technology education projects into all subjects and infusing them with Design Thinking skills. 

Design Thinking is a process for solving problems creatively. The three core pillars of Design Thinking are: 

  1. Empathy — Understanding the needs of those you’re designing for.
  2. Ideation — Generating a lot of ideas. Brainstorming is one technique, but there are many others.
  3. Experimentation — Testing those ideas with prototyping. 

Design Thinking helps capture the needs of the people, gives insights into the opportunities that are available and gives clear ideas for a refined human centred solution or product. 

Let’s see how we prepare students on their Design Thinking skills via BSD programs of learning. 

All of our courses end with creating a project for a specific use. This encourages students to listen to their end users and find out who they are, their demographics, why and how will they use the project effectively. This helps foster students’ empathy – starting the process of Design Thinking. 

After understanding the end users, students will start to code their project. Depending on the topic and level of the course, students are introduced to the basics of coding or other additional coding concepts. Based on the requirements of the project, students may learn additional technical skills like designing characters or logos, understand color theory or branding or even writing copy for their project. 

As they work towards finishing their projects, students are guided to share and test their prototype with their peers and, if possible, with some end users using an automatically generated URL or QR code. This helps them get real time feedback and adjust their project based on the response.

For instance, in our Game Development course, after creating the first version of the game, students are asked to demo their game and share it with their peers for testing and feedback. Based on feedback, the students may enhance their game by adding additional challenges, levels, additional characters, updating the scoring system or even re-writing the gameplay. 

As in any game, the experience of the users is key to its success. While their peers are trying the game, they are asked to observe how it’s being played and request for feedback.

Students will then need to consider the feedback they receive, and learn to exercise their judgement as to what will ultimately be a compromise between the features they like versus the feedback they have received on what the users want. Based on the observations and peer feedback, students can determine how they can continue to improve their projects to test it again. This testing and feedback cycle is not limited to a single cycle, it is repeated as often as needed to make the game perfect – emulating the Design Thinking process of prototyping -> testing -> tweaking -> testing. This is great preparation for their lives as a whole as and an excellent exercise in giving and receiving feedback.

With technology becoming ubiquitous it is an increasing and urgent responsibility to teach our students that technology is not the solution to problem but tools used by people to solve problems. To effectively solve problems, technologies should be built with keeping the people using them at the center; and employing Design Thinking skills helps achieve precisely this.

Non-Traditional Tools for the Classroom

Written by Gabo Tse, BSD Education

In today’s digital age, an increasing number of schools are recognizing the value of introducing non-traditional learning tools in the classroom – namely, digital and “educational technology” (edtech) tools. This includes tools such as online learning platforms, mobile devices, web services, even AR (augmented reality)/VR (virtual reality) and more! 

Introducing edtech tools in the classroom doesn’t mean relying on technology to teach a lesson for you – but rather, it is incorporating them in such a way that allows you to deliver lessons that enhance student learning and engagement. This also helps students foster valuable digital skills that are so highly sought after in today’s job market all while learning at school. You may quickly realize that embracing technology as a learning tool in the classroom opens up a vast array of possibilities, especially when it comes to teaching curriculum and organizing classroom activities. Some students may struggle with the traditional, lecture-based classroom structure, but technology offers a variety of different approaches when it comes to teaching course material, and helps to create a more fun, dynamic, and social learning environment. 

 

Let’s take a look at a few popular examples of edtech tools and how they are used in the classroom:

 

  • Gamifying Student Learning: Gamification is an approach that involves using game design and mechanics to structure your classroom in such a way that it that promotes student engagement and participation.

    Tools like Classcraft, GradeCraft, and Rezzly transform your lesson material into a class-wide adventure game. Your students can create their own characters and work with their classmates to complete quests! Instead of earning grades such as “A” or “C”, students can earn experience points and badges to level up, and instead of traditional assignments, classroom tasks can be transformed into “quests” that help students earn experience points and badges.

    Using gamification edtech software means that set-up, management, and assessment are taken care of for you, and you can avoid the headache of creating all the elements you would need for gamifying your classroom, such as quests, rewards, challenges, leveling, and progress-tracking.

 

  • Game-based Learning: Not to be used with gamification, game-based learning uses games as a direct source of learning material. There is no doubt that students respond well to games, but rather than shunning video games as a distraction or reprimanding students for playing games in class, you can learn to embrace games as an edtech tool by using them as a direct source of course material instead.

    Tools such as Kahoot, Quizizz, and Socrative allow teachers to create interactive trivia games as a way to reinforce or revise course material. After creating a game, teachers can run these quizzes as a classroom activity by displaying the game questions on a primary display. Students can use any device to “sign in” to the game to choose their answer, and compete against their classmates.

    Teachers will be able to visualize, display, and track analytics in real-time, such as the number of participants, highscore, time taken to answer each question, and progress. In addition to trivia games, many of these game-based edtech tools also allow teachers to create interactive questionnaires, discussions, and surveys. 

 

  • Creation and Collaboration: Essential classroom activities such as brainstorming, collaboration, communication, and sharing ideas can all be made easier with tools such as Padlet and Buncee. These edtech tools are like virtual “bulletin boards” where students can create a variety of projects, such as a storyboard, mindmap, flowchart, bulletin board, scrapbook, newspaper, discussion forum, and more! Students can add text, multimedia (e.g. videos, images, music, etc), and invite others to collaborate on a project together.

    Other ideas include hosting a live collaboration lesson where students can add their comments to your board in real time, or have students brainstorm ideas for a group project together, where they can see each other’s changes and comments.

Implementing non-traditional tools in the classroom helps increase students’ digital literacy and fosters valuable digital skills like computational thinking and collaboration, which not only help them prepare for the future but also which are all high in demand in today’s job market.

Integrating technology into the classroom can impact student learning in many ways, and this sentiment is echoed wholeheartedly in this article by Top Hat, which argues that while technology does indeed have its limits, integrating it into the classroom increases learning outcomes, student engagement, opens up education to beyond the confines of a classroom, and offers a multitude of ways for students to interact with course material.

If you’d like to find out more about non-traditional learning tools, or even try BSD’s very own online learning platform, you can email us at info@bsd.education.

BSD at ISTE 2019: Highlights

Written by Mike Dixon, BSD Education

The ISTE conference is a wonderful time of year where educators from around the world gather to discuss the latest trends and technologies impacting education. It’s a time to look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that face students with a positive attitude and an open mind. This year, BSD was fortunate to have the ISTE conference land straight on our doorstep, here in the city of Philadelphia.

During the weekend leading up to the conference, BSD hosted nearly one hundred educators onsite at our office atop the String Theory School in Philadelphia. The teachers in attendance represented states from across the US as well as multiple countries including Nigeria, Singapore, and Brazil. Over the course of the day, teachers shared experiences, built their personal networks and engaged with interactive workshops, lead by the BSD team. Here are some of the highlights!

Why Code? The Student Advantage

To kick off the day, teachers gathered in the assembly hall at String Theory School to learn about the current innovations and future trends that are most impacting the modern workplace. We reflected on how the exponential growth of Big Data has thrust the world from a manufacturing centric economy into the Innovation Economy where information is king. Thinking ahead, we discussed how Artificial Intelligence is poised to challenge the idea of human employment and what it means to add value to society and fulfillment to your life.

As part of the opening remarks, we touched on two major benefits of students learning code: practicing Computational Thinking and Design Thinking. In many ways, Computational Thinking is problem-solving and fits nicely into many existing school subjects. Conversely, Design Thinking is an emerging focus for industry as a process for solving real-world problems for others. Coding can help to bring this aspect of learning into the classroom experience.

During the presentation, several insightful discussions arose from teachers including thoughts about Machine Learning and the future role of the computer as well as the negative consequences of under-represented minority groups in the development of Artificial Intelligence. As one teacher noted “Computer programs are a reflection of the human who coded them.”

Interactive Workshops 

Next, teachers broke up into smaller groups to participate in hands-on workshops where they had the opportunity to experience real world coding using BSD Online. Just as with our students, the experience level amongst teachers ranged from absolute beginner to experienced coding teacher. With the help of BSD Online’s guided projects, everyone was able to take something away from the experience.

The first session revolved around the challenge of incorporating technology into traditionally non-tech subjects. BSD’s platform was able to scaffold teachers to build a website about their chosen subject using real HTML and CSS code.

The second session examined the benefits and limitations of block-based coding platforms such as Scratch and Tynker. We concluded that they serve an important role in getting young students, K-3, engaged with computational thinking but suffer when students try to apply their skills beyond games. Teachers experienced how BSD Online’s guided projects make the learning of JavaScript programming accessible, even for early readers.

Key Takeaways

The full day workshop was a powerful experience, not only for the teachers who participated but for BSD as well. We exchanged insights and experiences with teachers from around the world, received an inside view of the concerns and struggles that teachers face in an ever-changing world, and built relationships that will grow to impact students around the world!

If you are a teacher or school administrator and would like to learn more about using technology in the classroom, please reach out to us! We can help you prepare your students for the ever–changing challenges of tomorrow and help them gain digital skills that will follow them into their future ambitions.

Student Agency in Educational Technology Integrations

Written by Mo Qureshi, BSD Education

Earlier this month I was invited to present at the ACAMIS Spring Leadership Conference on Student Agency in Educational Technology Integrations. This article summarizes the key points from my presentation – definition and importance of student agency, concrete examples of student agency in action with teachers taking a lead in enabling this; and some tips school leaders can take back to school.

As Head of Learning Experience at BSD, a huge part of my job is to deliver professional development and coach teachers, as well as observe a wide variety of classroom settings.  During coaching and classroom observations, I get the opportunity to see a wide variety of student agency in action.

But what is student agency? Eric Sheninger’s definition in his article, Student Agency: Moving from Talk to Action, captures the essence of what it’s about – “Student agency is about empowering kids to own their learning (and school) through greater autonomy. It is driven by choice, voice, and advocacy.”

Access to Internet-enabled devices in and outside the classroom has encouraged and allowed students to take control of their own learning. As educators, it’s now up to us to help students take responsible ownership of their learning as well as provide the right environment and support to nurture this.

In my visits to schools, I have observed that those which best promote student agency in technology settings have these common traits:

  1. They invest time and resources to develop clear and strong objectives and outcomes for teachers and students. After this is defined, choosing the right devices, infrastructure and software become easy.
  2. The school leadership supports the decisions made by the teachers and promotes buy-in from the teaching community. Developing agency in students is, in fact, starts with giving the same autonomy to teachers to make their own decision.
  3. They promote interdepartmental collaboration. Bringing together teachers with a wide range of skill sets and from different backgrounds helps bring out and inspires the best in everyone.
  4. They listen to the student and parent community and involve them in the decision making process.

Now, if you are a teacher who uses technology in the classroom and wants to develop agency in your students here are some handy tips:

  1. Give up control: When you bring in technology and the internet in the classroom you open the world of new possibilities. This makes it impossible for you to plan every detail of your lesson plan so I recommend carving in ample time for exploration and tinkering.  
  2. Let students decide: It’s time for the end of term project presentations? Encourage students to be creative and let them choose what they want to do – shoot a video, create a website, even enact it or just stick to a slideshow – the choice is entirely up to them!  Doing so helps build confidence and bring out students’ hidden interests and skills.
  3. Engage your students by asking for suggestions and feedback: Ask students to peer review their work by giving each other “three stars and a wish” – three things you liked about your colleagues’ work and one thing you wish they would do next time.
  4. Solve open ended problems: Ask big questions to solve big problems. Questions like – “how would you decrease traffic congestion in X city?”, “how would you improve the food and water distribute chain so everyone gets equal access to it?”, “how would you incentivise people to pay their taxes?”, etc. Asking such questions opens the doors to a series of follow up questions encourages students to gain a deeper understanding of how complex systems work, which in turn helps them to potentially discover the root cause of the problem.
  5. Be a coach or facilitator for learning: When it comes to technology, students need a supportive and experienced adult to guide them. They also need an environment where trying, learning-by-doing, and not being afraid to make mistakes is encouraged.

If you would like to see my entire presentation and would like me to share it with you, get in touch with me at mq@bsd.education.

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