I am taking a MOOC (again) about technology integration (2015). These are my notes.

Strategic Technology Integration

STEP 1: EVALUATE AND ASSESS

• Find Inspiration and Evidence of Tool Effectiveness
• Use your intuition. Ask yourself: "Does this tool allow me to do something in my teaching practice that I can't do without it?"
• Poll your personal learning network
• Attend a professional conference like ISTE or TCEA.
• Ask a colleague to sit in on a lesson
• Search the web for research-based evidence
• Take a free online graduate course at Tarleton State ;-)
• Assess Your Own Understanding, Skill, and Confidence Level with the Tool
• Do you truly understand the functional purpose(s) of the tool and its general capabilities?
• Assess Your Students' Understanding, Skill, and Confidence Level with the Tool
• Do your students truly understand the functional purpose(s) of the tool and its general capabilities?
• Assess Your Resources and Time Needs
• Do you and your students have access to the hardware, software, bandwidth, and technical support that is required?
• Try to forecast the amount of time it will take you to learn to use the tool from both the teacher and the student perspective.
• Try to forecast the amount of time it will take you to test run and troubleshoot problems with the tool.
• Try to forecast the amount of time it will take you to scaffold your students' use of the tool.

STEP 2: LEARN AND PLAN

• Invest dedicated time and energy into learning the tool (ideally from the student perspective first!).
• Seek out training (professional development, online, from a colleague, or even from your own students).
• Seek out opportunities to talk about and show others what you're learning.
• What does success look like in your mind's eye?
• Try to imagine how your class looks (organized chaos?), sounds (quiet, focused chatter?), and feels (energy in the air?) when learning is occurring using a technology tool. Try to work backwards from that point to determine how you reach that state of success.
• What learning objectives can you accomplish with the aid of the tool?
• What pedagogical strategies will you call upon?
• What learning strategies will you call upon?
• How will you scaffold your students' use of the tool?
• Try to view things through the lens of the students. How will you provide them with instructions?
• What might be hard for them to conceptualize or manage?
• Where might students get off track?
• How much 'experimenting' will you allow students to have with a tool?
• What is your timeline for implementation?
• This timeline should include the remaining steps 3-6.
• Always overestimate the amount of time you think tasks will take by 1-2 hours. ;-)
• What is your backup plan?
• As you probably already know, technology misbehaves. Work with your support network to brainstorm workarounds for when the technology doesn't act the way you want it to.

STEP 3: COORDINATE

• Schedule dedicated time with support staff, colleagues, and even your own students to accomplish the goals you set in Step 2.
• Test-run your use of the tool alone first, and try to forecast areas where things could go wrong. Develop a scaffolding strategy based on this.
• Schedule time for support staff to assist you with a test run and for the "prime time" roll-out.

STEP 4: TEST

• Test run the use of the tool in the exact environment that you will have in "prime time"
• Test run your scaffolding on a test audience (your colleagues, your friends, your family - anyone who will agree to it!)

STEP 5: IMPLEMENT

• Use the tool for the first time!
• Be okay when (not if) the technology misbehaves! Just keep your cool and move to plan B.

STEP 6: RE-EVALUATE and RE-ASSESS

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the tool in your context.
• Did it facilitate learning?
• Did it streamline a task?
• Did it engage learners?
• Did it engage you?
• Assess your own attitudes, understanding, confidence, and skill level.
• Was it worth the time and energy you spent?
• Will it get easier the more you use it?