There are 3 essential goals for this course:

1. Gain a basic understanding of how technology can be integrated into teaching and learning (e.g., factual knowledge, methods, principles, generalizations, theories)
2. Develop specific technology skills, competencies, and points of view needed by professionals in the field of education.
3. ​Learn how to find, evaluate, and use technology resources to explore a topic and objective in depth. In other words, can we use technology to more relevantly and meaningfully engage our students in learning? Or, can we use technology to assist teachers in ways that allow them to engage with their students more meaningfully?

You might think this course is only about learning tech tools, but that's only a piece of this course, It's more about designing transformational learning experiences to help our students become...

• empowered learners. (They use technology to set goals, work toward achieving them and demonstrate their learning)
• digital citizens. (They understand the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world.)
• knowledge constructors. (They critically select, evaluate and synthesize digital resources into a collection that reflects their learning and builds their knowledge.)
• innovative designers. (They solve problems by creating new and imaginative solutions using a variety of digital tools.)
• computational thinkers. (They identify authentic problems, work with data and use a step-by-step process to automate solutions.)
• creative communicators.(They communicate effectively and express themselves creatively using different tools, styles, formats, and digital media)
• global collaborators. (They strive to broaden their perspective, understand others and work effectively in teams using digital tools.)​

It's also about integrating technologies and enabling our educators to become...

• empowered educators who are life-long learners, continually improving their practice by learning from and with others.
• educational leaders who work with colleagues to improve teaching and learning.
• model digital citizens.
• learning catalysts who collaborate effectively with colleagues and students.
• designers of relevant, meaningful learning activities and environments.
• facilitators of learning who empower their students to experience learning in transformational ways.
• analysts that use data to inform their instruction and support students.​

And, yes, it's about learning technology skills that will help empower and enable you to achieve those previous goals...

• Work with cloud-based resources such as Google Drive, Docs, Sites, Keep, Forms, and more!
• Create screencasts, where you record what's happening on your device's screen while you narrate, and then save as a video.
• Create multimedia PDF resources to share with educators or students
• Create audio & video podcasts that give students access to 24/7 learning
• Use curation tools to gather and organize your favorite online resources, tools, notes, and documents
• Use learning management systems (LMS) such as Canvas
• Create and publish your own webpages or website, and include interactive elements
• Effectively search for and find online resources and tools
• Use social media and communications tools appropriately

Video: This is how we learn... (1:05)

• Pre-service educators in elementary, secondary, special education, professors of education
• Public, charter, and private school educators
• Home school parents
• School and district administrators - K-16.
• Anyone else interested in integrating technology into innovative teaching and learning.

​NOTE: Nathan Smith, the course author, has made this course an open education resource (OER), and it is freely available to educators, parents, and students under the creative commons international license (see below for details).

Our class is a team of professionals and pre-professionals. Each week we participate in a learning experience that will expose you to ideas, standards, and examples of schools that are working to transform learning and teaching. You'll be introduced to technology resources and tools that assist educators and students in these efforts.

Each week, you'll reflect on what you've learned, and participate in team discussions around these ideas and standards. We'll share ideas and resources with each other. You'll have the opportunity to expand your personal learning network.
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You will learn to use technology resources and tools and integrate them into products and lessons designed around standards and objectives you'll be teaching. You will get to design lessons that will be relevant and meaningful to your own teaching career.

You will

• learn of and apply international standards for integrating technology into education.
• learn about and find tools that will help you achieve those standards in your own specific field of education and learning.
• work as a member of the class team to develop technology-enhanced educational materials that integrate tools you will use to help your students learn the objectives you need to teach.
• share the lessons and educational products you produce with the team, and publicly with educators around the world.
• have continual access to this course - its materials and resources - after you graduate. This site will remain accessible to all educators.
• not only be exposed to technologies you can use in the classroom, but also be shown how many of them are being used successfully in schools.
• be involved in class discussions to share ideas, strategies, tools, and other resources with each other. Our goal is to help each other produce excellent technology-enhanced lessons and educational products we can actually implement and use - and discuss how to take learning deeper and make it more engaging.
• be strongly encouraged to involve yourself in the course and become deeply engaged in thinking about education and learning, and how technologies can enhance the 21st century skills needed in our society today. With the rest of the class, you'll share your own philosophies of learning and teaching.  The goal is to deepen, and broaden, your own personal philosophy of teaching and learning!

Now let's get into the details of the course.  Please continue on to the course syllabus!

Material on this website - other than curated internet videos and resources linked to within - are copyright 2019 by Nathan M. Smith Jr. - Updated September 30, 2019

Technology Integration And Innovation in Education by Nathan Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at mailto:Nathan.Smith@usu.edu.