Using EdTech Tools for Efficient Teaching

Think about your own classroom (or future classroom). What is the main benefit of using technology to organize, analyze and simplify? To support your position, list some examples of activities, tasks, or projects that are a part of your regular workload that could be done more efficiently using one of the technology tools discussed this week? How can educators begin to practically implement the use of technology in this area?

I’ve been organizing my art lessons by printing all handouts/visuals etc. and placing them in a large portfolio with the finished art example. Now I do love physical copies, and it’s so nice to be able to handoff a portfolio to a substitute, but after going through and seeing what G Suite has to offer, I have to say I might change things up. I can see how I can organize my lessons by either HyperDocs or Slides to simplify things. If I use HyperDocs, I can have everything including links to extra resources in one place. Using Slides is another good option because I already use PowerPoint for many of my lessons anyways. If I use Slides for each lesson, then I can include more images and visuals for my art lessons. Either way, both HyperDocs and Slides are great ways to organize and simplify lessons. During this distance learning time these are also great ways to share lessons with students and their families. Sharing one attachment or even posting it on the Classroom site are much easier than trying to send individual attachments of documents and videos for one lesson. HyperDocs and Slides are simple and easy to navigate.

 

Once I organize my lessons into HyperDocs and/or Slides, I will store them in Google Drive. The benefits of Drive are that there’s limitless storage and it’s on the Cloud which means I can access the content from any device. I can organize my lessons and units into folders and can share any content with other teachers if needed. This saves space on my computer, it’s a great backup because I know nothing will happen to the Cloud, and there’s no need to print anything.

 

Another way I would like to use Drive is for students to create folder to store their artwork digitally. It would take some training for students and parents, but having a digital portfolio is a great way to store artwork (because, let’s be honest, not all parents save every single artwork their child creates to put on the fridge). Having a digital portfolio can also be a great way to see how a student has progressed in art class throughout the year. I’ve been wanting to get my student artwork into competitions. Usually for a competition a student would need to submit their artwork digitally first, so teaching students how to use Drive to store their work is great practice. Because Drive can be accessed from any device, students can take a photo using their phone and upload it right then and there.

 

After students create a great artwork it’s time to grade. I currently teach around 300 students on my own with no aid. These means a lot of grading, which I’m embarrassed to say doesn’t always happen. After learning more about Google Sheets, I can see how easy it is to keep track of grades and to be able to use that data to analyze student learning. Using Sheets can help me stay consistent and organized and see where I can improve my teaching based on student assessments.

 

Overall, Google Suite is a powerful tool for teachers and students. It helps teachers stay organized by simplifying their lessons, and it helps students because everything works together and can be accessed very easily. My biggest takeaways are to use HyperDocs, Slides, Drive, and Sheets to stay organized and to create more powerful and engaging lessons.