Technology Integration and Digital Literacy
Technology Integration and Digital Literacy (GTET 2) tests purposeful technology use: aligning tools to learning goals, protecting student data, and preparing students for digital citizenship.
Core rules
- TPACK: technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge must intersect; the tool serves the learning goal.
- SAMR: substitution, augmentation, modification, redefinition. Higher is not automatically better; fit the objective.
- Digital citizenship includes etiquette, rights, safety, privacy, and literacy.
- COPPA restricts collecting personal data from children under 13; FERPA governs education records.
- Accessibility: captions, alt text, screen-reader compatibility, and keyboard navigation.
Worked example
A teacher replaces a paper vocabulary quiz with an online quiz. This is substitution: same task, new medium. To reach modification, students could build a shared semantic map and comment on peers' word choices in a document. Reasoning: the tool changes the task and enables collaboration and feedback rather than merely delivering the same quiz electronically.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming more technology means better learning.
- Confusing SAMR with TPACK; one is a task ladder, the other a knowledge framework.
- Posting student work publicly without consent.
- Using tools that collect personal data without checking policy.
- Ignoring accessibility features that some students require.