A pedagogy-first approach can help you offer the right EdTech for your students to maximise impact on educational outcomes, while ensuring that technology does not become ‘a solution in search of a problem’.
By Fiona Tobin, at HFL Education (formerly Herts for Learning).
In 2019, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) published its guidance report entitled ‘Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning’. It concluded that EdTech ‘can become a solution in search of a problem unless it is introduced in response to an identified need’ and that statement is as relevant today as it was five years ago.
With budgets stretched, there’s certainly no place for EdTech which delivers no tangible value. And yet for many leaders the promise of Edtech has yet to be realised in student outcomes.
In the book ‘From EdTech to PedTech: Changing the Way We Think about Digital Technology’, Aubrey-Smith and Twining argue that all teachers should better understand their pedagogical beliefs in order to choose the right Edtech solutions for them.
If you are not sure if your beliefs about learning are more behaviourist, constructivist or socio-culturalist there is a great exercise in chapter 4 of ‘From Edtech to Pedtech’, to help you find out.
So, how are teachers effectively using a pedagogy-informed approach to Edtech in the classrooms we visit? Here’s a few examples from schools we have visited recently:
• Creating a student version of the slide deck rather than just sharing the teacher slides with all the answers.
• Edtech on demand where students choose to view the text on their Chromebook and use dictionary and picture dictionary to understand difficult words.
• An early years practitioner using generative AI to create a social story specifically tailored to a child’s context.
• Teachers using generative AI to add more pictures to their resources to support those with a low reading age to access the lesson content.
Another great example of a pedagogy-first approach was seen at a school in Watford, which is using Edtech as a solution to improve outcomes for its Year 5 students. Here’s their story:
Giving Year 5s the tools to succeed
In the spring term of 2024, leaders at Parkgate Junior School in Watford identified a need to improve outcomes for their Year 5 students, particularly those on the Pupil Premium register.
The school’s leaders were keen to understand how technology could help address this challenge, and so, during the summer term, the school embarked on a pilot programme utilising the Read&Write toolbar from Texthelp.
The toolbar was installed on Chromebooks for children and staff and a class set of headphone/mics was purchased so that pupils could use the dictation and audio features of the Read&Write toolbar in a classroom environment.
The school identified 12 students from the two Year 5 classes, 70% of whom are in receipt of Pupil Premium, to be Digital Leaders. The Digital Leaders were trained to use the Read&Write toolbar by one of our Edtech Advisers, and also received leadership training using possible scenarios they might encounter as Digital Leaders.
The school anticipated that the programme would help improve the reading abilities of students and address particular problems encountered in the classroom – such as word poverty and the requirement for translation – but teachers noticed the biggest difference in students’ writing.
All the children were able to create a longer piece of writing when using the technology and for several children there was a marked improvement in the quality of what they produced using their Chromebooks, compared to the creative writing work written in their books.
The lead teacher for Year 5 reflected that for one student, his work prior to the Digital Leader programme had often not reflected his ability. Yet since taking part in the pilot, the level of this work, including drafting, was much more deeply considered.
He had written more extensively and used more interesting language, and the teacher noted that the pupil was much more engaged in lessons and the quality of his work significantly better. He was also more willing to redraft his work and was more self-reflective.
One student had a lot more ideas, which the Chromebook allowed him to capture and plan in sentences, while another student, who was a slow writer, was now working faster so he was able to keep up with the class.
The lead teacher noted that fear of making a mess and spoiling their book meant that many students worked much more slowly or in some cases did not want to start. But this fear was removed when they were able to use the Chromebooks.
But it wasn’t just writing that was impacted by the pilot scheme – there was significant improvements in the attendance and behaviour of the Digital Leaders. Prior to the pilot, nine children were regularly involved in behaviour incidents, but this dropped to just three in the summer term and attendance improved across the board.
School leaders also felt that the Digital Leader programme had a positive impact on the children’s self-esteem.
What did the pupils think?
Pupils were very proud of the work they had produced on their Chromebooks and were keen to show it off when our advisers visited.
They talked about searching for images and editing to improve their work. The pupils reported that Chromebooks are now used for all subjects,which was not the case before, and found them to be most impactful in literacy and history.
They talked about using Google Docs to organise their work and Canva for presentations. Many pupils said that they had gone home to do more work on projects they had started at school. The school provides Chromebooks for students who do not have access to a device at home.
Children said they felt they could now do much more work on their own, instead of relying on the teachers. Some said that writing in their books was very tiring for their hands, but they were able to write more and for longer with the use of the Chromebooks.
Several said they liked the ‘Check It’ function of the Read&Write toolbar, which allowed them to review and check their work. Several children reported that they liked using the headphones, particularly for the ‘Talk&Type’ (dictation) function.
The Digital Leaders were keen to train Leaders in other year groups or work with other year groups themselves. They also wanted to explore how they could use the Chromebooks in other subjects such as maths. They were interested in doing assemblies and possibly training parents.
The impact of where a problem meets solution
The implementation of the Read&Write toolbar on Chromebooks at Parkgate Junior School has yielded positive outcomes for Year 5 students, particularly in the areas of writing, engagement, and self-esteem.
After such positive results, the school is keen to continue the pilot study, possibly opening it up to other year groups. They will be undertaking further reading assessments to see if progress has been made as a result of the pilot study, and the progress of the Year 5s will be tracked to see the impact it has in preparing them for the SATS in Year 6.
The programme’s success highlights the potential of technology to improve outcomes for students – and sometimes in the most unexpected of ways.
The Read&Write toolbar chosen was seamlessly integrated into different lessons and leveraged in many ways to resolve common problems facing children in – and out – the classroom.
When technology and teachers work effortlessly together, Edtech is no longer a solution in search of a problem, but a pedagogical tool which enhances the impact of the teaching being delivered and elevates the learning experience for young minds.
For more information, visit https://www.hfleducation.org/home
