Teachers Learn to Integrate Technology into Classrooms

As a teacher, it can be a challenge to incorporate new technology into your classroom. While you know students should learn about this kind of thing, you’re already too busy with a million other things to learn the tech yourself.

That’s where Model Schools comes in. This service, Co-Ser 546, aims to help teachers effectively integrate technology into classrooms by providing technological devices, along with the support and professional development teachers need to understand how to best use them as teaching tools.

Susanne Ford-Croghan took the helm of the Model Schools Co-Ser in the 2023-24 school year, and she has been excited to see it grow. Between creating a lending library of devices and developing training opportunities, she is helping to make technology easier to integrate into classrooms.

“All of this technology is here. It’s only going to grow. People are already using it across a wide range of industries, and that use will continue to increase as the tech advances,” Ford-Croghan said. “It can be complicated and time consuming to learn and implement. But it can also enhance the classroom, and it can really enhance the experience for students if it’s used in the right way. That’s our whole goal.”

The lending library currently has 11 options for different devices that teachers can use to teach a variety of different skills. Some of the devices work together, and some stand well on their own.

ClassVR are virtual reality goggles that open up a whole world of opportunities for teachers and their classes. They can give students a chance to visit anywhere in the world, use augmented reality to explore 3-D models, or complete interactive tasks in an immersive environment.

Several options, like Dash Robots, Lego Mindstorms and Ozobo Evo, help students understand programming. They can program a device to do a specific action, and see how it reacts and follows the instructions they give it.

Other devices help students learn about circuitry, building and engineering skills, photography and videography, and critical thinking. Some are targeted for a specific age group, like Lego WeDo, which is made specifically for students in kindergarten through grade 2. Others, like the Ozobot, has functionality that increases in sophistication based on the age of children using it. Ozobot programming starts with colored markers for the youngest users, and then grows more complex as older students build on their skills.

This lending library has driven districts to sign on to the service. Word is spreading about these cool, hands-on learning tools, and when one class uses them, others hear about it and want to try it too.

The other arm of the Model Schools service is the training teachers need to effectively implement technology. Ford-Croghan, along with Melissa Dudyak, Danielle Janisewski and Becca Banker, trained teachers to use Canva last year in a two-session workshop that was so popular, she had to schedule a second one. Ford-Croghan and Banker are also doing trainings to make sure teachers know and understand the state’s new Computer Science and Digital Fluency standards.

This fall, Ford-Croghan is planning some training sessions that will focus on artificial intelligence. She expects these to be popular, as there’s a lot of anticipation and curiosity around AI in the classrooms. There’s also concern about students using AI, and Ford-Croghan said that’s why it’s so important for teachers to be helping students understand how to use it correctly.

Another component of the Co-Ser is the Model Schools Liaison meetings. This allows schools participating in the Co-Ser to have a say in what is being offered. This Co-Ser is also possible because of our collaboration with our colleagues at WSWHE BOCES.

Ford-Croghan is looking for ways to build on the service and help it better serve the needs of teachers and IT teams. She plans to experiment with different meeting schedules and setups so she can make sure she’s sharing the information that needs to be shared.

She has ideas about how to grow the lending library in the future, but for now her goal is to make sure the current one is being utilized to its fullest.

Read more from our Annual Report here.