Planning a Technology Enhanced Project.

The most powerful use of technology occurs when teachers use technology as a way to enhance the learning process in their classrooms. However the most useful implementation of technology brings about a major change in the way instruction is delivered. Student achievement occures when we as teachers expect students to be responsible for learning.

As educators we know that you never really understand a subject until you teach it. Using integrated technology we can make this process happen in new and better ways. Students are expected to master their assigned portion of the material and present the infromation to the rest of the class. Technology allows students to research, organize, create, edit and enhance their projects in ways that we have only wished for in the past. Our challenge is the planning and management of the process. Presented here is a management approach that, if followed, will give you good results. Allow enough time for your students to develop their projects.

Management Tools

1. Rubric
2. Milestone Sheet (Task List)
3. Vocabulary List

Students will be working together in teams and they need to know when to make a progress check with you, the teacher.

Elements to be developed in advance of introducing the project to the class:

1. Plan complete units of information
2. Examine the material you would normally cover during the time allotted for the project
3. Determine the Standards that you wish to address
4. Determine the size of student teams (3 or 4 students per computer works well)
5. Divide the class into teams.
6. Divide the unit into topics that cover the unit. (There should be one or two more topics than teams)
7. Choose what type of product you want your students to create (newspaper, movie, interactive multimedia...)
8. Prepare a sample project so your students can see what you expect from them at the completion of each milestone (Keep todayÕs project to show as your sample)
9. Prepare the vocabulary list
10. Prepare a Rubric for the project. (This is your primary evaluation tool)

Remember it takes time for your students to understand their project.

You are now ready to present the project to the class.

Audrey Criss or Warren Dale