When I was an Instructional Technology Coach, I saw a lot of wonderful things teachers were doing with technology. I also saw a lot of mistakes.

I was the very first Instructional Technology Coach of my district, so teachers weren’t used to having someone coming into their schools advocating for (or “pushing”) technology. Many were not shy about their hesitation and frustrations with using technology. I found that often, their complaints were based on things that could be resolved with their approach (management) and the design of their assignments. 

Here are 3 mistakes I often saw teachers making when assigning digital assignments.  No judgment, here. These mistakes were sometimes made by really good teachers. 

Mistake #1: Using technology simply to replace a paper assignment

Using technology can be a great way to extend learning. However, I have noticed that sometimes teachers have used technology to simply replace a paper assignment. There is nothing wrong with this in an overall sense - especially in the world of distance learning. However, I would like you to think about how we can extend past that in certain assignments. Not every digital assignment needs to be a big, huge ordeal. Conversely, not every digital assignment needs to be a substitute of a paper assignment. 

If you haven’t heard of the SAMR model (and you’re interested in instructional technology), you should definitely research it! Explaining that is for another day, but I want to touch on the basic premise of the SAMR model. SAMR is substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition of assignments. It represents how technology impacts an assignment. The SAMR model is NOT a ladder, and our goal is not to always be in the ‘redefinition’ phase. It simply allows us to define how we’re using technology in an assignment. Using technology to substitute paper is perfectly acceptable in some situations. Let’s just make sure we don’t stop there! 

I encourage you to try to include some digital assignments that might fit in the augmentation, modification, or even the redefinition phase of SAMR. 

Here are some examples. 

1. Use the comment or suggesting features in Docs to guide students in their work

2. Students can create a presentation with videos embedded

3. Students can create charts in Sheets to visualize and organize data 

4. You can create your lesson plans in Docs with hyperlinks to all of your resources

5. Create an interactive word bank in a digital assignment (words in the word bank are hyperlinked to images that help students)

6. Allow students to choose to write, record audio, or record video to express their responses 

See, it doesn’t have to be super complicated to be out of “substitution”. We just want to make sure that we can take advantage of technology when it’s appropriate. 

Mistake #2: Leaving the research and the design open-ended

This mistake can lead to a few problems. First, leaving the research or the design open-ended can lead to students taking much longer to complete the assignment than you planned. It can also lead to students giving work that isn’t what you wanted. They might turn in work that’s lacking content or with irrelevant content. 

Leaving the research open-ended

You have to be really careful with leaving the research open-ended, especially in social studies. Your students may stumble across content that is inappropriate despite your school’s filters. Plus, you might find students turning in work that is not aligned with their assignments. 

Here are some strategies that you can use to avoid making this mistake. I recommend using all 3 strategies during a research-based digital assignment. 

1. Do your own Google searches for every single thing you’re asking students to research. Make sure that what’s coming up on images is something you’re ok with them seeing. If you’re teaching Georgia middle school social studies, you may have to choose wisely here. Many standards involve conflict and violence. 

2. Curate resources for students to gather their information. This may take some time upfront, but it may be necessary for some of those more conflict-related topics. You can use Google extensions like OneTab or Toby Mini to gather links (students do not need the extensions, just you). I like giving students choice, so I would provide multiple links for them to choose to get their information - if possible. 

3. Last but not least, create a template for their research assignment. This can be as fancy or as simple as you want it to be. I recommend this to be a scaffolded process. Provide students with a lot of guidance in their template in the beginning. Hopefully, by the end of the year, you can give a simple template with little guidance. 

Here is an example of a template.

Leaving the design open-ended

This hang-up with leaving the design open-ended is two-fold. One: timing. Two: Content. 

In my experience, my 7th graders would spend the entire class period choosing their backgrounds, fonts, and font colors if I let them. We’d be on Day 2, and they literally had zero content. 

I also noticed that students sometimes have trouble deciding what to put on a slide and how to organize the information. Which pieces of information should go on slide 1, and what should go on slide 2, and so on. 

Here are my 2 tips to avoid making this mistake. 

1. Set a timer for all “decorating”. Give your students a visual timer (you can just type in ‘timer’ in Google) for them to decide their backgrounds and fonts. I used to give 10-15 minutes. 

2. Use a template. This is the same tip as before. The template will help students organize the information and keep the content relevant. They’ll know what goes where. 

**Bonus Tip: Help students who are spending too long deciding on the “perfect” image for their presentation by inserting 2 or 3 onto their presentation for them to choose from. Avoid approaching this as a ‘punishment’. You’re being helpful, not annoyed. ;) They can come back to it later if they have time, but for now, they at least have something that won’t impact their grade. 

Mistake #3: Expecting Students to Self-Pace Appropriately

It’s no secret that students complete tasks at different paces. Teachers help students self-pace during paper or non-digital assignments often. However, I’ve noticed that sometimes teachers have different expectations of students with digital assignments. They expect students to finish around the same time and often get frustrated when it’s Day 3 and the student is still on Day 1’s assignment. This is when I hear, “I hate assigning digital activities because it takes them forever!”

From my experience, this same student would likely have made the same progress with a paper assignment if it was presented the same way as the digital assignment was: here’s your list of things to do by the end of the week. 

Here are a few strategies you can use to avoid making this mistake.

1. Create deadlines, make them visible, and give verbal reminders. 

“By 10:30, you should have x, y, and z finished”. Then at 10:30, “if you’re not finished with x, y, and z, you need to move faster or let me help you.” 

2. Take note of each student’s progress at the end of each class period. 

You have options here. I used a variety of methods that depended on my mood. You can create a checklist on a roster of all your ‘deadlines’ and write the date each student completes it. You can just walk around the room and quickly check as they’re working. 

You can also go into Google Classroom and check the progress of each student. This is time-consuming, especially if you’re in middle school and have close to 100 students. I did this at certain points of the project, not every day. Other times, I would check in a rotation of my classes: Tuesday, I check Period 1; Wednesday, I check Period 2; etc. 

3. Be present. 

Walk around the classroom and monitor. Avoid sitting at your desk as much as possible! Students working on a digital assignment should not equal an extra “planning” period. 

If you’re interacting with students digitally with their work, you’ll obviously need to be on your computer. Take breaks every couple of minutes to walk around the classroom. 

Why? Other than obvious classroom management reasons, being present will allow you to monitor students’ progress. You’ll be able to notice that Johnny is still on the same slide he was on the last time you made your rounds. Is he confused? Is he spaced out? Is he stuck trying to choose the perfect image? Check and see. From my experience, middle schoolers are more likely to ask you a question as you’re passing by than they are to raise their hand in a quiet classroom and ask aloud. Being present provides them that opportunity.