Page 130 - Resources and Support for the Online Educator

for new teachers or educators who don’t regularly integrate technology.
Educators don’t want to miss out on anything that could be beneficial to
their students, but they might have a hard time knowing which tools are
valuable.

Here’s my advice: organize your search, find trustworthy colleagues who
regularly share valuable tools, and work with your professional learning
network. You’re not searching alone; many other teachers are sorting
through the same technology you are, so working together is beneficial. It
may not always be clear whether a tool is beneficial if you don’t know how to
apply it, so it’s valuable to hear how colleagues are using the tool. I find the
majority of my new technology tools through conferences, maker events,
and social media, but I come across so much technology that I might not
recall it later, and I’ve learned to keep notes with pictures. These notes are
essential for me because they allow me to revisit the tools when I have more
time to learn about them, or when I’m searching for a tool to use in a lesson.

The benefit of conferences and events is that you can often have a hands-on
experience with the technology. That gives you greater insight into how it
works and might function in your teaching. The strength of social media
posts from other educators is that they may have used it in the classroom,
and they may include lesson or project ideas. Be aware that some educators
posting edtech are not sharing for the sake of sharing; some are paid by
companies to be influencers or are supported in other ways that are not
immediately clear. This is not to say you shouldn’t be open to what they’re
sharing, but it’s something to consider in your decision making. This is
one of the reasons I suggest having multiple sources for your edtech tool
contacts on social media; collecting more perspectives tends to offer more
solid leads.
Tools that are right for one educator, however, may not serve the needs of
another. Experiment to see which tools are right for you. I avoid certain
technology tools because of privacy issues; others may be too costly or diffi-
cult to integrate into the computers and lab I have. Decide what works for
you. I think of educational technology the way I think of music: just because
something is at the top of the chart doesn’t mean I’m going to like it, and
conversely, I may love something that’s not charting at all. You never know.

100 Part III: Next Level STEAM Learning

STEAM Power: Infusing Art Into Your STEM Curriculum 130