Technology

The big picture wouldn’t be complete without the ’T’ word–technology. Love it or curse it, we teachers need to work with it. It’s a marvel when it works as planned, a right pain in the butt when it doesn’t.

Often, our students know more about it than we do, or they know more about tricks and hacks than we do. We also need to embrace this concept. Remember, your students have always had an internet connection as close as their nearest device.

You, dear teacher, may be young enough to know only an internet-linked world. Current students have access to truckloads of data. So do you.

Embrace it. Use it to your advantage. I don’t advocate unrestricted mobile phone use at school; many Australian schools have banned it.

Of course, technology encompasses more than electronic devices. Design principles also need to be addressed, which drags up another truckload of active verbs, such as evaluate, analyse, plan, produce, investigate, generate, manipulate, transfer, and critique.

There’s a whole year of study unpacking and engaging with any of those processes. Today’s students are tech-savvy. They learn from each other as well as you. Engage the more advanced to upskill others.

Set them rich tasks that require them to actively use the abovementioned verbs. Make the tasks multidisciplinary, incorporating math, history, civics, and science concepts.