Framework Focus

The Pottstown School District does not follow or use any type of technology integration framework at this time.  However, I believe that Kolb’s Triple E Framework could be used by our district to guide and support technology integration and use practices by administrators and educators.  

According to Kolb’s site, the Triple E framework is a measurement tool that can be used by educators to measure how much a technology tool that is being used is actually helping a student meet their learning goals.  The framework was developed to help educators evaluate the effectiveness of a technology tool that they are planning to use in a lesson plan.  The framework is based on three components: engagement, enhancement, and extension of learning goals.  This framework was developed to help educators more effectively evaluate the tech tools that they are choosing to use to help their students meet their learning goals and design learning experiences that are engaging and have a positive impact on student achievement (Kolb, 2020).

I believe that the Triple E framework would be a good fit for our district because we currently do not have any type of technology framework that we use to evaluate which tech tools will most effectively help our students meet their learning goals.  This framework is easy to follow and does address the current new practices and initiatives that our curriculum coaches, fellow educators, and administrators are teaching us more about during our professional development meetings.  Over the past few years we have been focusing on student collaboration and using technology tools in the classroom is a great way for students to collaborate on projects.  Using this framework to figure out which tools would be most effective would be beneficial to educators during the planning process, so they are able to differentiate between which tools may work better than others.  This year our new focus is on learning reflection and on students understanding what their learning goals are.  Again, I believe that using Triple E framework while evaluating which tech tools to use in class would be a wonderful way to choose technology that will allow students to reflect on their learning and share about how they are meeting their learning goals.

Kolb is a strong advocate for the inclusion of the ISTE standards in education herself, and it is clear that the Triple E framework can be aligned with these standards.  The ISTE standards are a way to create learning goals for students and provide them with choices on their learning paths.  The ISTE standards also make it possible to ensure that students are being educated in a way that will allow them to thrive in the always-changing digital world.  The Triple E framework is a great tool that educators can use to ensure that they are utilizing the technology in their lessons that will most effectively help students reach their goals derived from the ISTE standards.

Our current evaluation tool in our district is the Danielson Framework.  I do believe that the Triple E framework does align with the Danielson Framework because they both provide measures to ensure that learning/teaching objectives are being met in an effective manner.  If a teacher is evaluating the technology that they are using with their students to actively enhance and engage their experiences to ensure that they are meeting their goals, then they are also effectively planning their lessons and facilitating an active learning environment for their students.

References:

Kolb, L. (2020, December 9). Triple e framework. https://www.tripleeframework.com/about.html