Utilizing Technology for Facilitating Lesson Development and Delivery
In today's digital age, technology plays a pivotal role in supporting lesson creation and instruction for educators. By leveraging various AI-powered platforms and digital tools, educators can streamline planning, enhance student engagement, and adapt teaching to meet individual needs.
One such resource is Creative Commons, which can be a helpful starting point for lesson planning. To make content presentation more engaging, consider incorporating a variety of images, videos, and text. Tools like Google Slides and Canva offer easy-to-use, multimedia slide options with free options available.
Technology is employed by educators for more than just presentation. It's used for efficiency, calendar management, storing lessons, textbooks, and student information. Learning instruction platforms such as Nearpod and Seesaw can be utilised to present content in an interactive manner.
Automated and AI-assisted lesson planning is a key advantage of modern edtech. AI tools generate draft lesson plans aligned with curriculum standards, which teachers can customise to their classroom needs. SchoolAI, for instance, combines lesson drafting, interactive checks, resource discovery, and organisation in one platform.
Interactive, student-centered lessons are another benefit of technology. Platforms like Curipod offer quick creation of lessons with polls, word clouds, and open-ended questions to stimulate engagement and classroom discussion.
Technology also aids in differentiation and accessibility. Tools like Diffit provide differentiated reading materials tailored to various grade levels and reading abilities, promoting inclusive teaching. Quizizz AI supports fast, themed quiz creation and includes accommodation profiles for equitable assessment access.
Curriculum-specific AI lesson design is another advantage. Kuraplan offers AI-generated lesson plans, unit plans, worksheets, and visuals aligned with specific national curricula, such as the New Zealand Curriculum.
Multimedia and visual content creation are also essential aspects of technology in education. Tools such as Canva for Education allow teachers to create professional-looking presentations, infographics, and posters using AI-driven design suggestions.
Integrated organisational tools, like Notion AI, combine lesson planning, curriculum organisation, and content generation in one workspace, supporting teacher productivity and coherence across instructional planning.
Real-time assessment and feedback are also crucial features of many edtech platforms. Some platforms include quick formative assessments that provide immediate insights into student understanding, enabling timely instructional adjustments.
When incorporating technology into lesson planning, it's essential to blend AI-driven efficiency with pedagogical oversight, ensuring lesson objectives, activities, and assessments stay aligned and responsive to learners' needs.
Content curation options for lessons include Wakelet and Padlet. Choosing the right edtech for advancing learning outcomes can be challenging due to the abundance of options. Powtoon and Animaker offer free options for creating animated videos, while Google Drive is a popular platform for housing learning materials.
The Open Educational Resources Commons offers free and open resources across all subjects and discipline areas. Elearning storyboard templates may be useful in lesson planning, and storyboarding can be a helpful instructional design tool in planning lessons, particularly when including technology.
Animation can be an exciting option to present concepts and content, especially new content that may be difficult to understand. However, it's important to use open educational resources (OER) appropriately, providing attribution to the author to avoid copyright issues.
Dr. Ruben Puentedura's SAMR model emphasises purposeful use of technology in teaching and learning. Technology is ubiquitous in modern society, and its intentional use is important to ensure that it functions towards instructional goals and learning outcomes.
- Educators can use Creative Commons for a starting point in lesson planning, enriching content with various images, videos, and text for more engaging presentations.
- Tools like Nearpod and Seesaw can be utilized to present content in an interactive manner, enhancing student engagement and adaptability.
- AI tools, such as SchoolAI, generate draft lesson plans, which teachers can customize according to their classroom needs, combining lesson drafting, interactive checks, resource discovery, and organization in one platform.
- Interactive, student-centered lessons can stimulate engagement and classroom discussion, as demonstrated by platforms like Curipod with features like polls, word clouds, and open-ended questions.
- For inclusive teaching, tools like Diffit offer differentiated reading materials for varying grade levels and reading abilities, while Quizizz AI ensures equitable assessment access with accommodation profiles.
