As a language arts teacher to technology-savvy students, author Frank Ward is very familiar with the challenges involved in finding technology that truly advances the teaching of reading and writing skills. He suggests avoiding using tools simply because they are flashy or cool, and instead find those that address students’ needs.
How can technology help advance literacy?
In his article, four tools are described that he has found to be most effective. The first two tools assist students in annotating print and visual texts, a skill which Ward considers key to improving literacy. Scrible allows students to digitally annotate electronic texts, while VideoAnt provides a similar tool for the annotation of videos. A key advantage to both of these tools is that students can share their work, thus allowing for collaboration.
The second two tools that Ward discusses can assist teachers in providing feedback and making formative assessments of student work. Through the Kaizena Shortcut, a Google extension, teachers can give students either typed or oral feedback, and they also can insert links to online lessons targeting skills on which students need to work.
EDPuzzle allows teachers to embed comprehension-checking questions in videos used for instruction so that they can immediately assess student engagement and understanding.
For a more in-depth understanding about how technology and literacy go together, see the original article here:
Integrating Technology and Literacy
