6 Simple Ways to Integrate Technology into Any Unit Study

You don’t have to teach technology to use technology in your teaching!  Teachers can integrate technology into any unit of study.

You don’t have to teach technology to use technology in your teaching!  Teachers can integrate technology into any unit of study.  

Some examples to try include: 

Using Apps

  • They say “There’s an app for that.” because there probably is.  Classroom and learning needs are no exception.  Khan Academy has educational videos on a variety of subjects, Duolingo will help your kids learn a new language, Tynker teaches students how to code, Google Arts & Culture lets you explore and interact with art and architecture around the world, Quizlet helps students study for tests, Starfall will help you primary kiddos learn to read.  

Playing Online Games

  • Playing educational games is an extremely effective way to reinforce learning in an engaging way.  Even if you’re not quite ready to build them into your lesson plans, early finishers can be assigned a game on the topic you are studying as a meaningful reward while you help the stragglers complete their work.  Open up Google and type in “[subject] game for [grade level]“ to find something aligned to your unit. 

Videoconferencing With an Expert

  • Videoconferencing is a great way to shake up your classroom routine and add some enrichment to your subject.  They’re a lot cheaper than a field trip, and you can pull a conference off without that pre-field trip day nightmare about losing a student.  You can use a website like Nepris or the Digital Human Library to get in touch with an expert.  Or if you already have a subject matter expert in your contacts, you can just use any video conferencing platform you like from Skype to Zoom or Google Meet.

Blogging About It as a Class

  • Classroom blogs are a great and versatile way to get your kids creating content. You can have students post their writing (stories, paragraphs, poetry, etc.), pictures of class projects, or even audio projects (read aloud practice, speech class ventures, etc.).  As a bonus, they are also a great way to showcase student work to parents and keep them in the loop.  Many blogging platforms are designed to be very easy to use, like Blogger and Live JournalEdublogs was even made just for classroom and school library blogs. 

Doing a Class Podcast Discussing the Topic

  • You can post your podcast on your class website (or blog).  Although you can try using the built-in microphone on a computer, an external microphone usually works a bit better.  If you use Macintosh, you can just use the included GarageBand software for recording and postproduction.  If you use Windows, you might use the free software Audacity.  You can also do podcasts as weekly classroom news broadcasts, to document a field trip, share book reviews or review curricular content.

Using or Creating Videos, Graphics, Digital Presentations, etc.

  • Animoto and other tools help create educational videos.  Websites like Canva and Thinglink help you or your students create gorgeous graphics.  Digital presentations are easy to create with platforms like Google Slides or Prezi.  There are also several creative platforms out there for contributing to online communities that create storybooks and illustrations, such as My Storybook and Storyboard That.  

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You don’t have to teach technology to use technology in your teaching!  Teachers can integrate technology into any unit of study.

 

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