Digital Classroom Project

There are many considerations that go into designing a digital classroom. By digital classroom, I am meaning preparing my physical classroom for digital learners. I will always love the powerful interactions that come with face-to-face teaching and learning, exactly why I am going into this profession. Feel free to check out my in-depth analysis of designing a digital classroom here!

To me, the most important question to consider when implementing technology: Is the implementation of this technology going to enhance my students' learning? From there, I consider my pedagogical beliefs, the design of my classroom, and the hardware students will use. 

My pedagogical beliefs include my teaching philosophy. Every decision I make is putting my students first. Take a look at my considerations I make when determining technology's place in my classroom: 

That being said, I firmly believe that technology deserves a permanent place within my classroom. Effective technology integration has the ability to reach the students “traditional” education often misses, adapting to these diverse learning styles. Technology can advance student-learning to that next level, empowering students to be lifelong learners by sparking their interests. Technology use also boosts student motivation by enhancing the material being taught. These are all priceless and crucial components to my reasoning behind integrating technology into my classroom. 

From there, I considered the tools that will help meet my pedagogical beliefs. I don't want to say that I considered the bare minimum, but I am also realistic about budgets schools have and know excess technology is not necessary. I decided anything outside of the bare minimum wasn't necessary and was sure not to duplicate on purposes of technology. That helped me narrow down which technology tools were most important. I also considered the many classrooms I have been in and by combining my favorite components, I decided the most necessary tools! As a future early childhood education teacher, I designed my classroom to be developmentally appropriate for preschool through 3rd grade students. 

My Top Technology Tools:

• Projector mounted to the ceiling, out of the way but easy to use
• Allows the entire class to have a visual at once, key to this age group’s development
• Mounted to the ceiling prevents the need of a cart, allowing for seamless functionality

• Document Camera
• Another option for the whole class to be able to see a visual
• Allows for hands-on learning to showcase work (i.e. having a student demonstrate how they solved a math problem using manipulatives for the whole class to see) 

• 1:1 tablets for each student that stay at school 
• Appropriate for students’ small hands and limited typing skills as well as easier for this age group to manipulate this size of device 
• 1:1 allows for seamless integration and differentiating instruction for all children at once
• Tablets stay at school as they are not necessary for growth at home and are not developmentally appropriate to give this age group this kind of responsibility 

• Mobile lab of laptops for each grade level
• Allows more access to computers than a single computer lab shared by the whole school
• Shared with grade will be plenty of access due to 1:1 tablet integration 

I hope all of these tools are available in my future classroom. To have my technology tools and pedagogical beliefs aline most effectively, it would be useful to have a classroom that physically allows for this to happen. Effective technology implementation, to me, looks like:

• Tables instead of desks to encourage collaboration
• Ample electrical outlets
• A reliable high-speed Internet connection
• Easy-to-control lighting
• Access to a digital classroom to access online resources (blog, website, Symbaloo, etc.) 

Feel free to check out my digital classroom project for a more in-depth analysis of my choices!