The Technology Mix: A Healthy Tossed Salad

The recipe for a delicious and healthy tossed salad – select the right lettuce, fresh fruits and vegetables, cut them up just right, and toss them together in a bowl for both healthy eating and visual appeal! It sounds wonderful for a balance of taste and healthful eating. Isn’t that what we do when we try to match the right technological tools with our existing educational goals when it comes to curriculum and instruction? “One of our key responsibilities as a teacher is to plan lessons that are taught with effective methods of teaching using the best resources you have available” (2007, Web-Enhanced Learning Environment Strategies Handbook and Reflection Tool). As responsible educators we are constantly scrutinizing our methods of teaching, available resources, internet access, and learning strategies to come up with the ‘right mix.’

Often used as a staff development presenter in my district, I find reflection tools - such as the ones in WELES – to be very useful in working toward improving student instruction. They provide a baseline of what skills, strategies, and resources are being utilized well so that staff development can better meet the needs of teachers and students. Using strengths to overcome weaknesses is a common strategy for both students and teachers. On the same page, we often desire to inform parents of innovations in instruction so that both communication and cooperation between home and school can enhance the educational environment for families. Public relations and local school district politics (with our recent need to hold referendum votes for tax increases above 3.4%) also demand open and positive communication about new technologies in our schools. The community wants more than just plain lettuce in their salad – just the right mix of colorful vegetables, and of course, the right dressing, make it much more palatable!

From a staff-development point of view, the chances of getting the right mix of technology and content can be greatly improved through the use of “Real Simple Syndication” (RSS). Will Richardson, in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, describes RSS as the “new killer application for educators” that allows one to “subscribe” to specific content that is created on a certain Weblog. By signing up with various aggregators, an individual can create their own collection of current information directly to their online mailbox as it emerges. Setting up an RSS feed reader is as simple as logging onto Bloglines and following the prompts to set up your subscriptions (2006, pp. 75-79). Receiving current information, both fact and opinion, based on topics that are valuable to educators and students, holds tremendous value. Providing the best technological mix for providing enriching and engaging student instruction can become almost as easy as tossing a salad, and it’s healthy for all! Student achievement improves and a community of learners enoys more than just plain lettuce!