The Digital Learning Corner

Have you met someone who did not have the sufficient ability yet assumed they could accomplish a task simply because they possessed the right tool?  Sollie, T. (2017) At one point in my life, I worked in the wedding video industry. Some people would reject the need for a videographer by saying, "My brother has a nice video camera. I will have him make my wedding video." Such myopia can occur when educators assume they can create effective learning experiences for students simply because they have access to technology. Podcasts and vodcasts are media-rich recordings and are being used increasingly for education (Jalali & Bialy, 2019). Without a clear understanding of how to design pedagogically sound instruction using podcasts, teachers risk creating learning experiences for students that are less effective. If you are interested in using podcasts in your teaching, you can learn some basics to help you make the experience beneficial for your students. For instance, people ...

  Hello fellow educators! It’s time for another post about digital resources for teaching and learning.  What can we do, as teachers, to help our students prepare to enter a workforce that relies heavily on digital resources to accomplish the work? The context of the modern work environment requires the use of many older and new digital tools for communication and organization. The demand on employees to master and integrate such tools can make many employees feel overwhelmed and anxious (Korzaan & Lawrence, 2016). Mobile devices and desktop and laptop computers are ubiquitous and grant constant access to professionals for collecting information, remember important events, and organizing and communicating with teammates. Teachers can assist students in learning to use digital productivity tools before they arrive in the workplace. Learning how to operate with and within digital productivity tools can prepare students for workplace expectations like cooperating, collaborati...

Principles of Visual Design Hello Friends! Welcome back to the Digital Learning Corner! According to Theodorou et al. (2022), visual impairment is the third most frequent disability. What can teachers do to help make it easier for students with mild visual impairment to engage with learning content? We can design our content in ways that follow a few basic principles of effective visual design. Some of these principles include contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity (Whybrow, 2015). These principles can help content producers design headings and lists, select font types, and integrate colors to facilitate an experience for students with special needs that is more accessible and can help students achieve desired learning outcomes.   While applying these principles to our learning materials will not reduce a student's visual impairment, it can help them better navigate and understand what they are learning. I developed a short instructional video to help explain and model...

The moment we have awaited is finally here! Faculty, parents, and students are excited about the arrival of our new mobile computer labs. Why do we have computer labs? Integrating computer technology in the classroom provides a structured environment for students to learn through technology and learn  how to use technology (Davis, 2019). Computer labs are an economical alternative to providing each student with a computer (Hertz, 2013).  What is included in our mobile computer labs? We have 14 mobile computer labs. This means each grade at our school has access to two labs! Classes should have several sessions with computers each week. Each mobile lab comes with 32 Acer Chromebook Spin 311 Convertible laptops allowing every student in the class to engage with a device. The laptops are stored and charged on a steel cart with wheels for easy transport between classes. A Hewlett Packard printer completes the setup and enables easy wireless printing of documents and images.  ...