Leading Digital Learning Series: Embedding Digital Learning in Post Primary Schools
In this video from our Leading Digital Learning series, post primary teachers and Technology in Education team members discuss the effective embedding of digital technologies in their schools and describe the different approaches they take. Niall Larkin, Senior Leader for Digital Technologies, identifies key points about schools who are in a good place with the use of digital technologies. They have all started with a clear and shared vision among all staff members. This vision should identify where the school currently stands and where they want to go, with everyone involved in determining what the purpose of digital technologies is and how they will be used. Creating a clear and realistic digital learning plan with short, specific targets and actions helps everyone understand their responsibilities and how they contribute to achieving the goals. Niall says, schools can also ‘box clever’ by using their digital learning plan to complement their school self-evaluation plan. This focuses everyone’s efforts on a common direction.
Lorraine McCool, Dominican College, and Paul Byrne, St Patrick’s Classical School, discuss how technology is embedded into the day-to-day workflow of their schools.
Communication tool
Lorraine discusses how technology is used by admin staff, teachers, students and parents to communicate. Parents are communicated with through a school app. It also supports collaboration with teachers as all planning is on a shared drive.
Supporting teaching and learning
Lorraine lists the different tools they use for content creation, assessment and revision. These include Book Creator, Screencastify, Canva, Quizzes, Forms and Kahoot. Their learning platform is used to support students’ curricular course work, for example, CBA and Leaving Cert projects. Students research online and use Google Slides or design a poster in Canva to demonstrate their learning. They also write drafts using docs, submit it on Google Classroom and receive timely formative feedback so they can move their learning forward.
Differentiation
Both Paul and Lorraine identify digital technologies in their school as being used to support differentiation. Paul talks about how they use their learning platform to upload different types of resources for students based on their needs. Lorraine says the use of Chromebooks with inbuilt assistive technology has helped to support their students with needs. She talks about specific training their teachers did on creating quizzes with Google Forms. Questions students answer at the start will lead them on different paths through the quiz. Some may need to consolidate their learning while others need to be further challenged with extension questions.
Support for schools
Niall outlines the various supports available to schools:
- School support from Oide. A Professional Learning Leader can visit your school and offer bespoke support.
- A wide range of supports are available on the Oide Technology in Education website. There are opportunities to develop yourself professionally through online courses, good practice videos and tutorial videos. There are also links to Scoilnet and the DL planning site.
- Webwise offer a wide range of supports for anything to do with internet safety and digital citizenship.
- Schools should consider getting in contact with their neighbouring schools because they can experience similar problems. They can support each other and develop communities of practice.
- Local education centres offer a range of supports. They offer webinars, face to face courses or can point you in the right direction if there is an area you’d like to explore.
This interview is from our Leading Digital Learning course.
Visit our Digital Learning Hub for information and resources on planning and embedding digital learning.
