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Reflect on using digital technology to enhance student learning. Consider:
- How can digital tools create engaging and interactive learning experiences?
- Apply School Self-Evaluation Guidelines to improve your teaching.
- How does developing your use of digital technology impact your school?
- During the 2023-2026 period, schools have the autonomy to choose the focus of their School Self-Evaluation (SSE). Align your SSE with the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 for best practices.
- Use the Digital Strategy to guide decision-making, instruction, and professional development.
Write a reflective piece (150-word minimum) as a reply to this post.
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Digital tools can be used to achieve a multi-faceted approach that involves utilising technology effectively to enhance the teaching and learning process., aligned with the School Self-Evaluation Guidelines and the Digital Strategy for Schools:
Identifying Learning Objectives and Technology Integration:
Start by identifying the learning objectives and outcomes you want to achieve.
Choose digital tools that align with these objectives and can bring variety and interactivity to your lessons.
For example, if the learning objective is to improve students’ writing skills, you might use online collaborative platforms or writing apps that provide real-time feedback and enable peer editing.
Engaging Content Creation:
Create or curate multimedia content such as videos, interactive simulations, and infographics to convey complex concepts more effectively.
Utilise tools that allow students to create their own content, such as podcasts, videos, or digital presentations.
Personalisation and Differentiation:
Use adaptive learning platforms and digital resources that cater to different learning styles and paces.
Provide opportunities for students to choose their learning pathways and explore topics that interest them within the curriculum.
Collaborative Learning:
Incorporate online discussion forums, group projects, and collaborative document editing to encourage peer interaction and knowledge sharing.
Tools like virtual whiteboards and padlets can facilitate real-time collaboration, even in remote or hybrid learning environments.
Assessment and Feedback:
Use digital assessment tools to create quizzes, polls, and interactive assignments that provide instant feedback to students and help you gauge their understanding.
Gamification and Interactive Elements:
Incorporate elements of gamification to make learning more enjoyable and motivating.
Use educational games to help students grasp complex concepts in a hands-on manner.
Professional Development and Teacher Training:
The School Self-Evaluation should include assessing teachers’ digital competence and identifying areas for improvement.
Offer workshops and training sessions to help teachers become proficient in using various digital tools effectively.
By aligning these strategies with the School Self-Evaluation Guidelines and the Digital Strategy for Schools, you can create a comprehensive plan to enhance the use of digital technology in your teaching. This approach will not only engage students more effectively but also equip them with the digital skills and literacies they need for the 21st century.
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Hi Conor,
Welcome to the online element of this course. Thank you for your post. You have identified many interesting points regarding the use of digital technologies in classrooms, and the links that can be forged with SSE. One of the key things you have mentioned is the importance of identifying the outcomes you want to achieve – if a change initiative is to be successful, the overall goal needs to be shared. Together with the teaching staff and school leadership, you can then set about making small goals that will help you on your way. The provision of real-time feedback for both the teacher and the children is something which can really help you clarify misunderstandings ‘in the moment’, and I’m delighted you have identified it here.
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Digital Technology can enhance student learning in many ways. It is clear that the use of technology makes lessons much more interesting and exciting for children as they can stimulate the interest of young minds. The ability to display photos, slideshows or videos on a certain topic at the beginning of a lesson give children a visual insight into the topic. This can lead to children engaging in computational thinking or can spark a conversation as the children can share their own thoughts and opinions afterwards. As a result, digital tools can help them to gain a better understanding of topics being taught.
There are also many apps can be used on tablets that allow for children to create videos or slideshows themselves on certain topics which is a fun and more effective way for children to complete project work in schools. This can be done individually, in pairs or as a group work project.
Digital technology can also be used as a means of assessment in the primary classroom. Games and tools such as Kahoot and Quizlet are fun and interactive methods of assessing the children’s’ knowledge when concluding a lesson. Children are motivated to try their best to recall facts that they have been learning on given topics.
Tools such as Seesaw and Class Dojo are great ways to reward children in an engaging and child-friendly way and this can therefore enhance student learning in many ways.
The SSE guidelines allow schools to highlight the school’s vision for the digital integration. It ensures that the whole school can be on the same wavelength when it comes to the importance of using digital technology in the classroom and it allows teachers to work collaboratively to identify how technology can be incorporated into subjects and other aspects of a child’s learning environment. The Digital Strategy supports, enhances and enriches the learning experience for both children and teachers through the use of technology.
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Hi Laura,
Thank you for our post here. It’s fair to say that there really are a plethora of apps that are available for tablet devices that can make the learning process that bit more engaging. The ability for children to respond to tasks through the creation of videos and presentations supports a UDL approach to teaching and learning. This approach is well suited to our classrooms, and promotes more inclusivity through the availability of choice.
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<p id=”docs-internal-guid-781f8251-7fff-f50d-5ae4-4bbcb4d7c2e1″ dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Impact of Digital Tools in the Classroom and the Wider School Community:</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Digital tools can be used to formulate a strategy which aligns with School Self-Evaluation Guidelines and the Digital Strategy for Schools: Enhancing Teaching and Learning.</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>The goals must be selected first. Online resources can then be sourced to add to the interactivity of the classroom lessons. For example, if the lesson was a maths lesson based on sorting shapes, interactive sorting games or apps with Venn/Carroll diagrams could be used to enhance the lesson.</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Digital technologies allow for a more personalised approach for catering for students’ needs. Adaptive learning platforms such as Spellings for Me and Read Theory allow for real time data that informs teachers’ assessment and planning which allows them to differentiate effectively.</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Content like movies, videos and infographics can be used to effectively communicate complex ideas in an engaging way. Students can also be facilitated in creating their own content, such as podcasts, videos and presentations.</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Digital technologies allow for easy collaboration between students and teachers alike. Working on the same document using different devices on Word and discussion forums can allow for great ideas to emerge. Padlets and other idea-sharing platforms can allow collaboration even if the team is not physically together.</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>The introduction of interactive games that consolidate learning can be engaging and effective. They increase motivation and enjoyment in learning. Learning through play has been shown to be an effective methodology, and this can be extended to all subject areas facilitated through digital technologies.</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Professional Development, Decision Making and Instruction:</span></p>
<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>The School Self Evaluation should be focused on identifying areas for improvement across teaching areas. Workshops and information sessions should be provided to allow teachers to develop their competency in using various devices, apps and websites.</span></p>
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<p dir=”ltr” style=”caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;”>An effective, school wide plan to incorporate digital technologies in the classroom can be created by consulting the School Self-Evaluation guidelines and the Digital Strategies for Schools. The benefits of this will be that students will be engaged and enjoy their learning, while also acquiring important skills and competencies that align with 21st century digital literacy.</span></p>-
Impact of Digital Tools in the Classroom and the Wider School Community:
Digital tools can be used to formulate a strategy which aligns with School Self-Evaluation Guidelines and the Digital Strategy for Schools: Enhancing Teaching and Learning.
The goals must be selected first. Online resources can then be sourced to add to the interactivity of the classroom lessons. For example, if the lesson was a maths lesson based on sorting shapes, interactive sorting games or apps with Venn/Carroll diagrams could be used to enhance the lesson.
Digital technologies allow for a more personalised approach for catering for students’ needs. Adaptive learning platforms such as Spellings for Me and Read Theory allow for real time data that informs teachers’ assessment and planning which allows them to differentiate effectively.
Content like movies, videos and infographics can be used to effectively communicate complex ideas in an engaging way. Students can also be facilitated in creating their own content, such as podcasts, videos and presentations.
Digital technologies allow for easy collaboration between students and teachers alike. Working on the same document using different devices on Word and discussion forums can allow for great ideas to emerge. Padlets and other idea-sharing platforms can allow collaboration even if the team is not physically together.
The introduction of interactive games that consolidate learning can be engaging and effective. They increase motivation and enjoyment in learning. Learning through play has been shown to be an effective methodology, and this can be extended to all subject areas facilitated through digital technologies.
Professional Development, Decision Making and Instruction:
The School Self Evaluation should be focused on identifying areas for improvement across teaching areas. Workshops and information sessions should be provided to allow teachers to develop their competency in using various devices, apps and websites.
An effective, school wide plan to incorporate digital technologies in the classroom can be created by consulting the School Self-Evaluation guidelines and the Digital Strategies for Schools. The benefits of this will be that students will be engaged and enjoy their learning, while also acquiring important skills and competencies that align with 21st century digital literacy.
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Hi Sarah,
Welcome to the online part of this course. You are correct to point out the importance of identifying your goals at first. For buy-in to occur across the board, teachers need to know why you are planning this and what the benefits will be. This really steps to the ‘identify a focus’ step in the SSE process. As Ríona has already mentioned on this forum, the dynamism of digital technologies is one of their main benefits. As you have said, information can be presented and consumed through video, movies and infographics (to name but a few) – highlighting their dynamic nature.
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Reflecting on the integration of digital technology in education, it is evident that the landscape of teaching and learning has drastically transformed over recent years. The power of digital tools, when harnessed appropriately, can turn classrooms into dynamic, interactive, and engaging learning environments. However, to extract the maximum potential of these tools, a holistic approach is needed, one that aligns with best practices such as the School Self-Evaluation Guidelines and the Digital Strategy for Schools.
Digital technology allows for a more interactive and engaging learning experience. By precisely identifying learning objectives and choosing appropriate technology integrations, educators can bring both variety and a new depth of understanding to their lessons. These tools offer avenues for personalized instruction that caters to individual student needs, thus ensuring that no student is left behind.
Moreover, by incorporating multimedia content, educators can demystify complex concepts, allowing students to grasp ideas more intuitively. Furthermore, the capability of these digital platforms to foster collaborative learning cannot be understated. They break down geographical and temporal barriers, enabling students to collaborate in real-time, irrespective of their physical location.
The aspect of gamification in education, introduced through digital tools, instills a sense of motivation and fun into the learning process. It transforms mundane lessons into interactive experiences, fostering deeper comprehension and retention.
However, with all these advantages, it’s imperative to continually assess and evolve. The School Self-Evaluation, when aligned with the Digital Strategy, can serve as a feedback mechanism. It ensures that educators are not only implementing technology but are doing so effectively. Professional development plays a pivotal role here, ensuring that teachers, the primary torchbearers of education, are well-equipped and competent in the realm of digital education.
In conclusion, while digital tools offer a myriad of benefits, their effective implementation rests on comprehensive planning, continuous assessment, and professional development. By aligning with guidelines and strategies, schools can create a robust framework that not only enhances teaching but prepares students for a technologically advanced future.
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Hi Lorcan,
The education landscape has certainly changed over the past number of years, and will likely continue to change over the coming years. The onset of the Primary Curriculum Framework over the coming years will likely lead to changes in what and how we teach. I’m interested in your thoughts on how the incorporation of multimedia content can demystify complex concepts. I feel that being able to present material to children in different media forms allows all children to access it at some point – e.g. a child with reading difficulties may benefit from a video / the use of an assistive tool like Immersive Reader. We wish you the very best for the year ahead.
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Embracing digital technology in education has ushered in a new era of dynamic learning experiences. Digital tools have the power to transform traditional teaching into engaging and interactive journeys, catering to diverse learning styles. Through gamification, simulations, and virtual reality, students can explore concepts actively, fostering deeper understanding and curiosity.
Applying School Self-Evaluation (SSE) Guidelines to my teaching has been pivotal. Regularly assessing my methods, content, and student outcomes helps identify areas for improvement. Integrating digital tools aligned with the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 has led to remarkable results. Enhanced engagement and personalized learning pathways have emerged, empowering students to take ownership of their education.
Developing my use of digital technology hasn’t only impacted my classroom; it’s resonated school-wide. Collaborative online platforms facilitate knowledge sharing among educators, while data-driven insights inform targeted interventions. The autonomy granted during the 2023-2026 period empowers schools to tailor SSE to align with the Digital Strategy, fostering innovation and long-term growth.
The Digital Strategy’s influence transcends classroom walls, guiding decision-making, enriching instruction, and driving meaningful professional development. As I reflect on this journey, I’m reminded that embracing digital tools isn’t just about technology; it’s about enhancing education’s very essence—empowering students to thrive in a digital world.
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Hi Ríona,
Welcome to the online element of this course. I really like your use of the word ‘dynamic’, and find it so relevant in these contexts. We always hear talk about digital technologies can transform education, but I think the level of dynamism they carry are their greatest strength. The versality you have with a digital device and the ability to create learning experiences that go beyond what can be achieved with concrete materials is a clear benefit. The emergence of personalised learning pathways on your digital learning journey is something to be proud of, and it’s great that the SSE guidelines helped you on the process.
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Digital tools can be easily aligned with the School Self-Evaluation Guidelines and the Digital Strategy for Schools to help schools improve their practices. Digital tools can be used for a wide variety of purposes and subjects to create engaging and fun learning experiences. One exciting aspect of these experiences is that they allow for a completely child-led approach to learning. From researching to delivering and assessing, the journey is driven by the learner’s interests and curiosities. It’s a great way to keep them engaged and motivated!
I can use these guidelines to constantly evaluate my teaching. By gathering evidence I can ask the children what they would like to learn about, what devices they want to use, what kind of learning do they want to undertake. I can use this information to make a plan for the children’s work by analysing and making decisions from the information gathered. Then put the plan into action and monitor and assess how the project/learning wet, what was the quality of work produced, did it work, what would I change?
Developing my digital skills can positively impact my school. As the digital post holder and a member of the Digital Strategy committee, I write and implement our school’s digital strategies. Continuously improving my skills and staying updated can greatly aid my school’s strategy development. I have also been lucky enough to have a SET position that had some digital slots where I went from class to class teaching children and advising teachers how they can implement digital teaching and learning in the classroom. We also try to provide some digital training slots during school to try and support teachers in their upskilling. We have been using Canvain the senior end which has really helped learners be I control of their learning journeys. Our digital strategy has been paired right back to try and make it attainable to acheobe the goals. We had found that it is hard for teachers to embrace change and use the technologies but we hope that this is changing.
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Hi Dee,
Welcome to the online element of this course and thank you for sharing our thoughts with us here. The child-led approach to education that can be facilitated through digital integration is certainly an important factor in prioritising their increased use. In schools, very often the use of digital technologies (or any other subject/methodology) can vary widely from teacher to teacher. The SSE process is a great way of streamlining the integration across the school, and ensuring that all members of the school community are working towards this improvement initiative. Monitoring the progress of the plan is so important – some staff members may be encountering issues and there may need to be revisions made to ensure its success.
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Digital tools are a fantastic means of creating engaging and interactive learning experiences in our classrooms. Even the youngest of our students are arriving at school familiar with digital tools such as tablets, and their enthusiasm and confidence when using IT tool means they need little persuasion to engage in the set work.
Digital tools are part of our student’s world and when we use them to support learning, we are also ensuring that our classrooms reflect the modern society we live in. In so doing the learning is relevant, meaningful and exciting whilst promoting skills like critical thinking, teamwork, digital literacy and collaborative learning. The adaptive nature of technology also ensure that our learning is inclusive and caters to the unique needs of all our students.
The SSE framework definitely helps improve teaching in this area as it reminds us to reflect and assess and keep updated with the ever-evolving role IT can play in our schools. It also ensures that our digital plan isn’t over-reliant on one particular approach, but rather incorporates a variety of methodologies that are used across multiple curricular areas.
I strongly feel that engagement of staff in professional development is crucial to leading digital learning in schools. In my experience there is still hesitancy and fear amongst some staff to engage with IT. Creating a digital team in our school has allowed us to promote a positive culture of digital learning in the school whilst spreading the workload of supporting staff with their concerns and questions.
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Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for you post here and you are very welcome to this part of the course. Like one of the earlier posters, you have mentioned how the use of technology can promote inclusion within classrooms. I fully agree with this – children are working with the same device and ‘everyone is the same’ visually. However, there is scope to provide alternative media types to some children, allow them to respond orally to certain actions or to use an assistive tool such as the Immersive Reader. The scope it offers certainly allows pupils to maintain pace with their peers, which may not be possible through ‘traditional’ means.
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Reflect on using digital technology to enhance student learning. Consider:
How can digital tools create engaging and interactive learning experiences?
Apply School Self-Evaluation Guidelines to improve your teaching.
How does developing your use of digital technology impact your school?
During the 2023-2026 period, schools have the autonomy to choose the focus of their School Self-Evaluation (SSE). Align your SSE with the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 for best practices.
Use the Digital Strategy to guide decision-making, instruction, and professional development.
Engaging and interactive learning digital tools create opportunities for all types of learners to learn 21st century skills like computational thinking, problem solving and resilience skills.
With SSE, schools should have a whole school progressive approach to digital skills where digital technologies are used as resource to enhance learning in other curricular areas. Staff, students and the wider school community are at the centre of SSE and should be liaised with and involved throughout the whole school implementation of digital technologies.
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Hi James,
Thank your for your contribution here. You have raised a central point that is really at the core of what SSE should be, when you point out that staff, students and the wider school community are all at the core of SSE. It is a whole-school effort to enact the improvement plan, and all parties should be consulted at different stages. With regard to the incorporation of digital technology use within SSE, we must ask students (as well as staff) how they found the new initiative when you are monitoring and evaluating the actions within the improvement plan.
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Digital tools offer many ways to create engaging and interactive learning experiences. They allow for collaborative learning, using shared documents and presentations. Assessments can be made interactive, engaging students in a competitive and fun way. Feedback is also immediate. Using digital tools to ‘gamify’ learning experiences is another way to grab students’ attention. Using digital tools develops many 21st century learning skills.
School Self-Evaluation Guidelines allow me to reflect on my teaching practices and identify areas for improvement. Using the guidelines and collecting relevant data, I can make informed decisions about what changes to implement. It is important to prioritise areas that require immediate attention and areas that will have the most impact on student learning. By regularly reflecting on my teaching practice and the outcome of any interventions I can adjust my strategies based on evidence and feedback.
Digital technology can make lessons more interesting and effective. Students benefit from having access to the vast amount of educational resources online. Digital tools can provide accommodations for students with additional learning needs by providing multiple means of engagement and expression. Digital tools facilitate collaboration among students, allowing them to work together on projects, share ideas, and give feedback online. Teachers can also collaborate with colleagues, share best practices, and access professional development resources more easily.
The SSE guidelines allow our school to clearly define the school’s vision for digital integration, outlining specific goals to be achieved within a timeframe, while reflecting the Digital Strategy’s objectives. We aim to identify opportunities to infuse technology across subjects, fostering active and engaged learning experiences.
The Digital Strategy serves as a guiding compass for schools, helping them use technology to enhance teaching and learning. It outlines a clear vision and goals for teacher professional learning, infrastructure, inclusion and curriculum and assessment.
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Engaging and interactive learning digital tools create opportunities for all types of learners to learn 21st century skills like computational thinking, problem solving and resilience skills.
Gamification and robotics for example excite and engage all pupils. Pupils in SEN with social difficulties are more intrinsically motivated to engage in groupwork enhancing their social skills, wellbeing and resilience skills as a result.
During SSE, schools should have a whole school progressive approach to digital skills where digital technologies are used as resource to enhance learning in other curricular areas. Staff, students and the wider school community are at the centre of SSE and should be liaised with and involved throughout the whole school implementation of digital technologies.
The use of digital technologies like google classroom for students, online drives for teachers and school websites/social media can be used to communicate the digital vision of the school with the whole school community.
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I believe the use of technology in the classroom today is vitally important. Students are more engaged and excited in lessons with we use technology. Students learn in so many different ways and the use of digital tools makes it a lot easier for all students to access the curriculum and feel confident in their abilities. It also is a fantastic tool for teachers when assessing their students.
The reason for School Self-Evaluations are to unsure everyone is constantly reviewing and improving. It is easy as a teacher to find a style they like and to stick with it. However, this might not suit their class every year. It is important that we are evaluating our teaching and learning all the time. Evaluating ourselves and learning new ways of teaching (by using technology or not) is very important.
Over the last couple of years our school has begun to invest more into digital technology. More teachers are becoming interested in implementing it into their everyday teaching. We have bought more iPads and laptops. We have also developed our Digital Learning Policy. Using SSE, we identified key objectives and created a timeline to achieve these. One of our main objectives is to provide support to staff members who are not confident in technology and help them integrate it into their lessons more.
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Hi Ciara,
Welcome to the online part of this course. Thank you for your contribution here. The ease at which digital tools allow students to access content at their own pace and own level make them very useful in schools and classrooms. It is great to hear that your school has been in a position to invest in its digital infrastructure in recent years. It is very challenging to implement a Digital Learning Plan with poor access to devices for students – once the infrastructure is in place, you can work as a team to ensure that a plan is being put in place to ensure the full benefit is being reaped from their use.
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Education is always changing and developing and a key part of this is integrating digital technology in the classroom. Using technology and digital tools in schools, holds the potential to foster engagement and learning experiences.
Applying the SSE Guidelines, I’ve recognised the importance of regularly assessing the impact of my teaching. By beginning to introduce digital tools (iPads, Chromebooks etc.) in my position as an SET teacher, I’ve been able to gather real time data on my students performances and engagement. This In turn allows me to differentiate my teaching to meet the individual needs of the children.
As my use of digital technology evolves, the impact on my school becomes evident. Improved student outcomes, increased collaboration between students and educators are all outcomes that can be seen.
Guided by the Digital Strategy, decisions are made thoughtfully and instruction becomes more student centred. As educators, we have a responsibility to try to prepare our students for society, this involves harnessing digital technology as a part of the learning experience.
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The Primary Curriculum Framework promotes diverse, interactive and interdisciplinary STEM learning experiences, using a variety of digital tools to engage students while the Digital Learning Framework provides guidelines for schools in how to maximise effective use of digital technology to enhance teaching and learning experiences. Both documents will guide teachers in best age-appropriate practices in effective use of digital tools.
Using digital tools in classrooms helps to foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills while promoting those vital 21st century life-long skills of collaboration and communication. Equipping students with the correct digital skills and competencies from a young age ensures that they can thrive in the working world as adults. It is incumbent upon us as educators to promote inquiry based learning so that students using 21st century skills for learning will be second nature to them as adults.
Using ICT effectively in schools promotes both differentiation and inclusion as it caters for personalised learning experiences and diverse student needs. There is a direct correlation between teachers becoming skilful in using digital tools and resources with improved instructional methods and heightened student engagement.
Developing digital technology within our school has the potential to make a huge difference to our cohort of pupils. Every child in our school has a professional diagnosis of dyslexia. It is expected that all will qualify for ICT accommodations at Leaving Cert level. Many qualify for assistive technology so it is incumbent on the teachers at our school to given our pupils the skills to maximise their learning opportunities.
The Digital Strategy for Schools dovetails with STEM education and ICT integration. We can use the Digital Strategy to inform our planning and to implement STEM education by employing appropriate digital tools, resources, and platforms to heighten our students’ engagement and their learning outcomes. Being a digital learner means enhancing their curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication and competencies through the effective use of digital tools.
SSE guidelines gives us a structured framework to evaluate and build our practices, including the integration of ICT. It allows us to identify the specific area that will be the focus of the SSE process and how we can incorporate critical and computational thinking into our chosen focus area going forward. Student voice is critical to this process.
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