Embedded Files
Instructional strategies and technology tools can be grouped into six categories according to purpose: collection, presentation, communication, collaboration, organization and interaction (Shand et. al., 2012). The categories are based on the function of the strategy and the affordances the technology tools provide. These categories are not meant to be exclusive or exhaustive, but rather to serve as an organizational scheme for pedagogically sound instructional planning.
During the planning process, pre-service teachers continually reflect on what they want students to do with the information they are learning. They consider the following questions – do I want students to collect additional information or evidence, communicate new ideas about the content with their teacher or peers, present their understanding of the content, collaborate with fellow students on group projects, organize the information into meaningful chunks, or interact with the content in some other way?
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Presentation strategies facilitate the sharing of new information or learned knowledge, and comprise such activities as creating storyboards, political cartoons, digital slideshows and posters, and audio and visual displays.
Communication strategies enable students to reflect on content through written or verbal means, and facilitate the flow of ideas between teacher and students, and text. There is a wide range of communication strategies from structured questions to journals to peer dialogues and beyond.
Text to Self; Text to Text; Text to World
Organization strategies are used to organize new information in meaningful ways, display relationships among ideas, and make connections to prior knowledge. Organization encompasses such strategies as creating flipbooks, foldables, graphic organizers, charts, tables, graphs, mindmaps, guided notes and timelines.
Interaction strategies involve critical-thinking, active engagement with content and application of knowledge.
Collection for Evaluation strategies engage students in searching, gathering, sorting and storing primary and secondary sources for inquiry and analysis. Collection incorporates such instructional activities as webquests, scavenger hunts, archive exploration, interviews and document searches.
Collaboration strategies aid in the collective construction of new knowledge and involves group participation in investigation and presentation of new information.
Presentation tools allow both teacher and student to construct digital posters, slideshows, videos and presentations. Web-based digital tools allow the productions to be housed in the cloud, and enable online editing, collaboration and sharing.
Communication tools allow for the dissemination of information and exchange of ideas through social networks, audience response systems (clickers), surveys, polls and blogs. These tools allow teachers to efficiently assess prior knowledge, check for understanding, and evaluate student critical-thinking and reflection; and allow students to demonstrate their learning and reflect on course content.
Organization tools allow students to create digital organizers to arrange, classify and categorize information. These digital tools allow images, sound and links to be embedded directly into the organizer to enable the student to display a richer and wider range of knowledge and evidence.
Interaction tools allow students to make informed decisions about content, either in a simulation or other critical-thinking activity.
Collection for Evaluation tools allow students to search, collect and store sources for analysis and sharing.
Teaching American History Document Library
Collaboration tools encourage cooperation across time and space, and provide a platform that encourages less vocal students to more readily contribute their ideas and talents to a group project.
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