Build Your Own Toolkit With CrowdED Learning Week Five, Topic Two: Integration and Sharing

Welcome to the final week! I feel like this whole thing flew by. Thanks to all for your sharing up to this point, and I’m hopeful people will continue to share ideas this week and beyond—that’s the beauty of having an online community of practice :)

For those of you who are interested in exploring and perhaps even selecting a new technology to use with learners to leverage the various resources we’ve explored over the past 10 weeks, I encourage you to check out this week’s handout. Given this topic is so central to CrowdED Learning’s current work, I compiled some great thinking offered by various organizations and initiatives aimed at increasing integration of technology and development of digital skills with adult learners. Normally I’d post most of that content here; however, it’s really designed for a deeper dive into thinking through the various steps and considerations one should make in choosing technologies to use with their learners.  (That said, topics include understanding human-centered design, using criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of tools, thinking about what level of transformation you hope to achieve through the use of technology, and frameworks to consider what true “tech” integration looks like.)

How will you use these resources with your learners?

For this last discussion, however, I want to focus on how you envision using the various tools and resources we’ve discussed over the past 10 weeks to expand opportunities for your learners to develop their reading skills. We’ve explored a range of resources—some require teachers to assign content; some support personalized, self-directed skill development; and some are designed to provide open access to leveled reading. 

All of these great resources require some level of teacher involvement—whether it be simply giving students access to a particular site (ReadTheory), to assigning students specific lessons, activities, or readings (Quill, ReadWorks, CommonLit), to directing students to a particular set of readings for them to freely explore (Reading Skills for Today’s Adults). So, this week’s questions are related to strategies for integrating these types of resources into your practice, focused on how you intend to share, assign, or provide access to your learners. (Or, in some cases, how you currently are doing so.)

Discussion Questions

• Sharing + Assigning Content | What tools do you currently use or are you interested in using to share and assign content to learners? (i.e., Padlet, Google Sites, Wakelet, Remind, Google Classroom, Canvas, etc.)
• Integration Strategies | What strategies do you find effective for using tools such as these to provide learners with access to additional learning content? (In particular, how do you use these tools to extend options for learning outside of class?)
• Expanding Learning Opportunities | Considering the variety of free reading resources we have explored over the course of this event, what are some ideas you have for using a particular resource(s) or tool(s) to expand learner opportunities for reading skill development?

Note: Later this week, I will be posting a full compilation of all the worksheets, discussion links, and video links that have been used as part of this event. This will be available as an open professional development resource that you can use as is or modify to suit your personal or organization's needs.