Behavior Profile: Educators Integrate Digital Tools FINAL VALIDATED
Educators purposefully plan and routinely use digital technologies across the curriculum providing learners with frequent and consistent opportunities to develop digital skills, gain agility and increase confidence to be empowered users of technology.
Educators regularly integrate digital tools into their practice, actively engaging students in daily technology use that supports learning of both academic content and digital skills.

Behavior Analysis

Strategy

BEHAVIOR AND STEPS

What steps are needed to practice this behavior?

Educators regularly integrate digital tools into their practice, actively engaging students in daily technology use that supports learning of both academic content and digital skills.

  1. Educators design or curate and adapt structured, evidence-based activities, particularly Edtech Routines
  2. Educators use structured, evidence-based activities or Edtech Routines
  3. Educators regularly reflect on their technology integration practices, assess the effectiveness of their instructional strategies and activities, and incorporate regular use of edtech routines based on their findings.

FACTORS

What factors may prevent or support practice of this behavior?
Structural
Accessibility: Teachers being asked to take up IT/instructional tech roles as extra task (without additional time or compensation)
Accessibility: Dedicated staff for technology integration (e.g., digital coordinator, etc.)
Accessibility: Lack of physical access to technology (teachers or learners)
Accessibility: Insufficient funds or time to investigate and purchase tech tools
Accessibility: Lack of incentive to use (More work, part-time, equal pay)
Accessibility: Lack of state/local standards for digital literacy (What are we teaching? What skills are important?)
Service Experience: Students’ behaviors and prior experiences
Internal
Attitudes and Beliefs: Belief that using technology, and digital literacy more broadly, takes up too much class time.
Self-Efficacy: Lack of staff confidence using technology, fear of failure
Knowledge: Lack of staff training using technology (knowledge)
Knowledge: Lack of awareness of types of technology (this may include teachers and learners)
Skills: Lack of training on how to incorporate tech tools into instruction

SUPPORTING ACTORS AND ACTIONS

Who must support the practice of this behavior, and what actions must they take?
Institutional
Policymakers:
Administrators:
World Ed Program Staff:
Donors:
Community
Teachers:
Peer Instructors:
Household
Family Members:

POSSIBLE PROGRAM STRATEGIES

What strategies will best focus our efforts based on this analysis?

Strategy requires Communication Support

Enabling Environment
Financing: Area for additional investment (Technology procurement – outside of WE scope) While programs received USD $43,000 via the City of Boston, evaluators could not confirm if the funds were used for equipment or learner/teacher devices. There is no other direct funding a program can access to support this need. To respond to this gap, many programs in Boston are partnering with Tech Goes Home–a program that provides digital skills training, and a device for participants to take home after they complete the training. Not all learners participate in this program, so as far as this evaluation team is aware, access to technology continues to be a need.
Financing: OWD offered unrestricted grants for programs to purchase or invest in any previously identified (during Phase I) tech needs.
Financing: New areas for exploration and investment; investments supported by this initiative were reported by respondents as “critical” to their programming.
Policies and Governance: State government could explore the feasibility and usefulness of developing a digital literacy framework and priority skills for promotion building off the DigLit experience.
Advocacy: Plan and facilitate a final meeting with programs to share their work and best practices.
Advocacy: World Education will actively seek opportunities to highlight program accomplishments, including adding routines to the Edtech Integration Strategy Toolkit, if applicable, or presenting their work on the Edtech Integration Strategy Toolkit.
Systems, Products and Services
Quality Improvement: World education will offer coaching from February to September, giving programs ample opportunities to learn, develop, use and adapt routines.
Quality Improvement: World Education will offer an additional coaching session at the beginning of fall to see how the implementation of the Edtech Strategy Toolkits is going and help programs troubleshoot any challenges observed up to that point.
Quality Improvement: Offer personalized and cohort-based coaching to participating Boston programs to facilitate intentional tech integration into their curriculum as defined in this project*
Demand and Use
Collective Engagement: Badge Program
Collective Engagement: New area for exploration and investment; Not addressed by current WE programming.
Skills Building: Offer webinars to ensure programs are aware and knowledgeable about the State approved digital literacy frameworks and available resources for tech integration planning.
Skills Building: With support from the coach, each program will develop tech integration routines based on program needs and resources and create an Edtech Integration Library.