Thoughtfully Choosing Classroom Technologies

 In the first half of Understanding and Creating Digital Texts by Richard Beach, et al, the authors cover planning writing-based activities that meet course objectives, helping students access the information they need through refined search methods, and how to organize and curate their information, networking and online discussions. It is a lot of information, but more than that, it is a lot of links to follow. The text has many links listed where readers can go online to access more information, tutorials on using a certain technology, or curated tools for use in the classroom. Some of the links no longer work, and some of the technologies discussed are no longer operational. This was actually a great example of how quickly the tools and information online change, and how difficult it can be to remain current in print! I came to several important realizations in my reading, which I will outline here.

1. I am easily overwhelmed by the sheer volume of resources available. There are just so many applications that could be used in the classroom. I realized quickly that in order to use tech effectively in my courses, I need to be very clear on the objectives and goals of my course and what portions of those goals I was going to utilize technology to streamline or enhance. Start with the teaching, not with the technology. This helped me look for tools instead of "cools." 
2. Just because you can use a technology in the course doesn't mean you should. What good is a tool that seems neat, but doesn't really promote much learning? Word clouds come to mind. Word cloud generators are fun, but I struggle to see their deeper meaning. What am I asking students to learn from a word cloud, other than how to teach the tech to weed out certain words, find certain words, and make a cool graphic? I am not suggesting that word clouds can't serve a pedagogical purpose, I am merely admitting that I don't currently have one for this tool, and several other cool tools that I encountered. For me, meaning comes before method.
3. I didn't have a big enough appreciation for the curation technologies out there. I can see myself using Pinterest or Google Docs for a lot more curation and collection. I hate it when I find a useful site or tool that I cannot later find (bookmarks--why did I bookmark this thing?). I will utilize these tools much more than I did in the past, and I will certainly lean on them in my teaching. So much of the research and discovery we do in courses is now via the internet, but I am forever converting my "notes" to paper. I am already converting to hyperlinked notes on my Google Drive account, and it is quite useful.
4. I learned a lot about how to search for what I actually want to find. Google is easy--you can type a whole sentence and it will find what you want. A library collection or online journal, however, is not formatted for this, and therefore requires more specific search methods. No more than four words per search, use quotation marks to keep terms specific, and use the tools that allow you to narrow the results. I already feel better prepared to research more effectively. 
5. Online tools for sharing information, ideas, notes and discussions outside class are the way of the future, and the future is now. With the global pandemic, instructors have had to embrace these tools in a new way, I think. I think students will come into higher learning with more familiarity with these tools than ever before, and that is a great thing. I think the previous model of education was teacher-focused and highly isolated: the teacher lectures and students take notes and tests and get their grades. Unless there is group work, there isn't a lot of collaboration. But the new methods are student-centered, collaborative and community-based. I love this model. A community of learners who are exploring a subject, sharing notes and ideas, working together on drafts of their papers--I think this is a great shift toward inclusive and supportive education. 
6. Asynchronous and synchronous discussions have very different goals and results. I have personally never had a synchronous class discussion online. My courses all use the asynchronous model, which works well for me as a non-traditional student. But, I do find that the discussions generally aren't conversational. They center around meeting the requirements that the instructor says (word counts, citations, required number of replies) and showing the instructor what students know. Asynchronous discussions often have the feel that each student is talking to the instructor while the others "watch." This is not a bad thing, if the goal is no conversation among the students. But if the goal is conversation and a free flow of ideas between them, then synchronous may be a better method. Know your goals, even with online discussions, before you choose a tech. 
7. Honestly, what can Google tools not do? There are tons of useful technologies out there, and some of them are more interesting than Google tools, but wow--Google has a lot of useful things. I had not explored many of the tools, except Blogger (of course), Drive, and Docs. But I looked into some of the others, and they are useful! With a Google account, students and instructors can do so much collaborative work without even downloading any other tech. That doesn't mean I would only use Google tools, but I didn't realize how much functionality there is in the tools I already had access to through my Google account. 

Though the reading was, at times, overwhelming (so many links!), I found it really useful to be confronted with that feeling and have to work through it. The overwhelming amount of information and resources available is not going to change. There will always be more tools than time or purpose. So, I had to work through what should guide my choice of tools. I had to start thinking about what kinds of technology feel authentic for me as an instructor, and what tools fit with my goals in teaching. Having "search criteria" for my tools includes having clear goals and objectives first.