Technology Integration in the Post-Pandemic Secondary Classroom

Digital Learning

This section of the literature review focuses on the history of digital learning and the types of digital tools available to the 21^st-century classroom as well as the impact of educational technology on lesson design and student learning. The growth of digital learning means that schools have a variety of options available to integrate educational technology into the classroom. One of the primary functions of digital learning provides students with differentiated and student-directed learning. The use of technology allows students to have more autonomy over selecting and demonstrating learning with digital resources (Rashidov, 2020). Digital learning allows students to select levels of reading, which math problems to solve, and more creativity in the process of learning. Technology opens the door for student-driven classrooms by allowing them to engage with the curriculum and make meaning of their learning (Darling-Hammond et al., 2014). The research suggests that students at the secondary level must assume more responsibility for their learning and teachers must situate learning in a digital framework but do not address issues of access, planning, or evaluating the success of such proposals.

Research in higher education indicates that as learning moves further into the digital realm at the post-secondary level, secondary campuses ought to introduce a blended learning format to prepare students for college and career readiness (Barack, 2016). The study indicates that digital learning has not shaken the school system at the secondary level the way it has higher education, which means that secondary schools have yet to fully embrace the power of digital learning. The researchers suggest that secondary educators look for ways to incorporate blended learning their classrooms but does not provide an efficient process for teachers to follow. Teachers need time and planning to increase their comfort with digital learning, which research indicates is an important factor in the successful integration of educational technology.

A researcher in Australia conducted a study on blended learning versus face-to-face instruction over one school year. The study suggests that students respond positively to a digital learning format in classrooms with positive teacher attitudes toward technology and negatively to the same learning format in classrooms with negative teacher attitudes (Smith, 2014). The study supports the previous supposition that teacher stance on digital learning plays an important part in the success of the program. The reliance on educational technology means that professional development must focus on changing the mindset of teachers on teaching and learning in a digital environment by providing them a framework to design and assess learning experiences in a way that does not overwhelm the teacher. This concept will be explored further in this chapter as part of a larger discussion on professional development and educational technology.