Webinar Recap: Guiding Teachers to Integrate Tech Meaningfully in the Pandemic
On July 24th, 2021, ClassIn collaborated with empowerED Advocacy Platform to bring together educators for a discussion on “How to Guide Teachers to Integrate Tech Meaningfully in the Pandemic”.
Hosted by Joey Neil Canaya of Parsons Corporation, the webinar featured lead presenter Mr. Francis Jim Tuscano, the GS EdTech Coordinator of Xavier School San Juan. Other distinguished participants were Dr. Anthony Tamayo, President of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (COCOPEA) and Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), Mr. Jose Allan Arellano, Executive Director of Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), Mr. Joyce Samaniego, Executive Director of PACU, and Yuekun Li, ClassIn Country Manager for the Philippines and Thailand.
The webinar highlighted how the presence of an EdTech coaching culture can help guide teachers to gain confidence, hone their skills, and reflect on their classroom experiences to be effective teachers in a virtual environment. Specifically, Mr. Francis Jim Tuscano elaborated on the concept of EdTech coaching and its importance at a school’s technology program. In response to the questions raised by the participants, he gave advice and sample plans to guide teachers in adopting technology in their classes.
EdTech Coaches Are Needed Now More than Ever
With the rapid transition to online learning, teachers face increasing responsibilities while treading in uncharted waters. To better support educators, schools need to provide further guidance on how to teach and learn with technology.
“In a sport, we always believe that ‘you are never done’ and that ‘everybody needs a coach’. That when you become a part of a team, you have to improve because you work with others. And I got inspiration from coaching!” Tuscano explained.
Instructional technology coaching can help teachers integrate technological tools and strategies in meaningful ways that improve teachers’ instructional practices and advance students’ engagement and learning. In the long term, the goal is to promote the efficacy of teachers and construct an open environment for the discussions of interests and difficulties.
“What we need to point out is that EdTech coaches are needed more than ever. You need to sustain the practice and integrate technology through having EdTech coaches who will guide teachers, who will help them, observe them go into their virtual classes and able to point out where to improve on,” he added.
How to Become a Good EdTech Coach
It is undeniable that EdTech coaches play an essential role in times of uncertainty, but it is a new concept for most institutions and educators. To guide attendees on the meaningful use of technology-assisted teaching, Tuscano first introduced the Ted Lasso Way for EdTech Coaching.
Ted Lasso is a TV series, where an American football coach heads to the U.K. to manage a British football team. “When I watched the episodes, I thought of something. If you are a teacher, and you want to coach someone, if you are prepared to be an EdTech coach, or if you are a school leader, and you want to set up EdTech coaching in your school, these are the things that we can learn from Ted Lasso that will be very inspiring for our teachers to do.”
Based on the TV series, Tuscano laid out nine guidelines that are instrumental for the development of EdTech coaching. For instance, empowerment builds confidence, which gives the teacher the autonomy or agency to make decisions and be ready with the consequences. He then went on to offer some pro tips for EdTech coaching in terms of coaching models, the relationship between pedagogy and technology, etc.
One of the most frequently asked questions by the participants was “How can we convince teachers to use the technology?” Tuscano suggested turning the conversation to what is fair to the students and work with teachers who want to work with you first. In the meantime, bear in mind that do not look at the age, look at how open they are.
Core Apps for EdTech Coaches
“In the end, the most important thing for an EdTech coach is to have your toolkit which includes your core apps. What are apps? These are apps that have been tried and tested, they make the workflow of learning efficient,” Tuscano emphasized. A core app for the purposeful use of tech in class should drive and help students think, promote collaboration, and also be age-appropriate.
Toward the end of the webinar, Yuekun Li, ClassIn Country Manager for the Philippines and Thailand, introduced the advantages of ClassIn virtual teaching platform in comparison to that of other live streaming platforms, from aspects of Internet connection, interaction and engagement. He also demonstrated the powerful features of ClassIn to the participants.
ClassIn will continue to improve the platform features by taking into account users’ comments and suggestions. To provide a fully functional online classroom platform for the educators and a core app for all EdTech coaches. We hope to better guide teachers to utilize the power of technology in the pandemic to improve the quality of distance teaching and learning.
Related Resources
Webinar Recording: Guiding Teachers to Integrate Tech Meaningfully in the Pandemic
About ClassIn: https://www.classin.com/en/
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ClassIn software enables interactive classrooms, in-school social app, lesson scheduling, homework management, and school management dashboard, which start free and scale up to meet our customers' needs at any stage of teaching. Today, thousands of schools and institutions around the world benefit from ClassIn's powerful and easy-to-use tools to teach online and offline.