Evaluating Learning Technology

In a learning environment choosing the right technology tool can be overwhelming. Educators are trying to meet the needs of every type learner and in the process find themselves in scenarios where their well thought out plan fails. The following is a scenario where the chosen technology tool does not fit the desired outcome.

After attending a professional development a first grade teacher learned about Wordle. Wordle is a web based presentation tool.  She decided to have her students take their spelling words and create a Wordle.

She scheduled a time to use the computer lab, had prior knowledge that the link to the site was on the school web site, and made enough copies of the spelling list for each student. 

The students were then seated in front of a computer and advised to go to the wordle site. Many hands began to raise and students began approaching her. She had the knowledge of where to find the link on the school site, but the students weren’t. After several minutes of confusion, she approached every computer and took the students to the desired site. Then once again hands began to go up. Now that the students were on the site they had no clue what to do next. By the time she was able to give instructions on what to do it was time to go.

In order for this scenario to have been a success the educator should have taken into consideration the student’s prior knowledge of navigating the school site. A prior introduction is required in order for students to understand navigating. Then upon entering the lab the educator should have placed students at their assigned computers and directed their attention to the front of the room. Once she had their attention, she then should project a computer onto the Smartboard and walked them through the steps to finding the link. This would have allowed the students to see each step one at a time in order to complete the task.