Metiri’s Range of Use Framework represents a viable solution by providing a vision for high-impact uses of technology in schools and digital equity while simultaneously serving as a guide for designing effective digital learning and a lens through which to evaluate progress.
The Range of Use helps teachers grapple with the question, “Which digital tools, under what circumstances, are apt to extend which aspects of learning for which students?” A digital app in a didactic lesson design is very different from a constructivist lesson. Similarly, the complexity of a lesson as well as the authenticity can completely shift a student’s engagement, interest levels, and depth of learning.
As educators use Metiri’s Range of Use they should consider the following:
The Genres: All students should develop awareness, competency with, and confidence in using digital apps in each genre. This wide range of competencies will ensure students are positioned to use their repertoire of digital tools to solve problems, develop positions on issues, learn digital applications in the workplace, and become competent, informed digital citizens.
The Learning Context: Each of the following elements will dramatically alter the students’ experiences with digital apps in a genre.
Instruction, ranging from didactic teaching to coaching and constructivist learning. The instructional strategies designed into a lesson can dramatically alter the student experience with a digital tool. Experienced teachers are continually sliding across that scale as they adjust their teaching and personalize learning to meet the needs of students. They also are aware of the skill levels of students, scaffolding at initial stages of learning or when necessary, while slowly releasing the scaffolds to enable students more choice, independence, autonomy, and experience with self-directed learning.
Complexity. ranging from basic skills to higher order, critical thinking. The complexity of a lesson often determines the type and combination of digital tools and resources used in a lesson. As teachers embed the use of digital apps into lessons they should optimize the assignments to increase engagement of students by ensuring an alignment between the skill level of the student and the complexity of the assignment. They should also be aware of the cognitive overload that can result from high complexity. For example, while multimodal learning using digital video, animation, and multimedia works well for studying complex ideas, single modalities work better when students are learning basic skills. The reason is that a person’s working memory can only hold 5 to 7 ideas at once. With students studying basic skills, complex digital resources result in cognitive overload.
Authenticity, ranging from conceptual to real-world. Authenticity empowers the learner to apply the concepts and skills learned in the classroom to the real-world. According to experts, true authenticity is achieved when 3 elements of learning are present: disciplined inquiry, including iterative discussions among students, construction of knowledge, and products by students valued by audiences beyond the classroom. Research studies by Newmann found that, when these three elements of authenticity were implemented with fidelity, academic learning increased.
The following is a self-reflection tool with associated suggestions on opportunities to leverage technology in different ways throughout your classes/courses.
Time limit: 0
Quiz Summary
0 of 9 Questions completed
Questions:
Information
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading…
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You must first complete the following:
Results
Quiz complete. Results are being recorded.
Results
Time has elapsed
Categories
Range of Use0%
Finding the sweet spot between instruction, complexity, and authenticity is a continual balance of priority. It looks like you have some opportunities to advance relevancy of learning experiences and individual digital literacy and fluency for your students. Your results indicate that you could use the Range of Use model to think through your instructional practices and your use of educational technologies. You might want to start by looking at the technology genres and identifying a few technologies that you are interested in learning about and integrating into your classes. Think carefully about student learning experiences and how those are tied to the learning goal. Make sure that what you are doing is both relevant and meaningful to their future, and challenge yourself to expand your own digital literacy or empower your students to use tools that you are more unfamiliar with to learn more and see what is possible.
Five big question to consider include:
How are you aligning your learning goals to technology use (i.e., are you thinking about how technologies can empower deeper more authentic learning, or are you considering how more foundational knowledge aligns to technologies that promote recall, shared understanding, etc.)?
What digital literacy and fluency goals do you have for your students (i.e., do you have a good handle on the technology that they should be able to use as they progress through their education into the workforce)?
Are you considering issues related to cognitive load for your students (i.e., are you focusing attention, are you giving them opportunities to apply and analyze during and after mastering understanding)?
Are you thinking about ways you can empower your students to take ownership of their learning, or are you giving them real voice and choice in determining projects and demonstrations of learning?
Are you accessing personal learning networks to continually develop your understanding of and use of technology for all learners (i.e., are you investing some time in learning from others, are you connecting through professional communities for K-12 professionals like those provided by ISTE or preparation programs like those provided by CIDDL?)
Finding the sweet spot between instruction, complexity, and authenticity is a continual balance of priority. It looks like you have some opportunities to advance relevancy of learning experiences and individual digital literacy and fluency for your students. Your results indicate that you could use the Range of Use model to think through your instructional practices and your use of educational technologies. You might want to start by looking at the technology genres and identifying a few technologies that you are interested in learning about and integrating into your classes. Think carefully about student learning experiences and how those are tied to the learning goal. Make sure that what you are doing is both relevant and meaningful to their future, and challenge yourself to expand your own digital literacy or empower your students to use tools that you are more unfamiliar with to learn more and see what is possible.
Five big question to consider include:
How are you aligning your learning goals to technology use (i.e., are you thinking about how technologies can empower deeper more authentic learning, or are you considering how more foundational knowledge aligns to technologies that promote recall, shared understanding, etc.)?
What digital literacy and fluency goals do you have for your students (i.e., do you have a good handle on the technology that they should be able to use as they progress through their education into the workforce)?
Are you considering issues related to cognitive load for your students (i.e., are you focusing attention, are you giving them opportunities to apply and analyze during and after mastering understanding)?
Are you thinking about ways you can empower your students to take ownership of their learning, or are you giving them real voice and choice in determining projects and demonstrations of learning?
Are you accessing personal learning networks to continually develop your understanding of and use of technology for all learners (i.e., are you investing some time in learning from others, are you connecting through professional communities for K-12 professionals like those provided by ISTE or preparation programs like those provided by CIDDL?)
Finding the sweet spot between instruction, complexity, and authenticity is a continual balance of priority. It looks like you are doing some work with your students to advance relevancy of learning experiences and their individual digital literacy and fluency. Your results indicate that you have some room for expanding your instructional practices and use of educational technologies, making sure that student learning experiences are tied to the learning goal and are both relevant and meaningful to their future. Your use of technology can continually expand to use tools that develop additional capacity for digital literacy with your students.
Five big question to consider include:
How are you aligning your learning goals to technology use (i.e., are you thinking about how technologies can empower deeper more authentic learning, or are you considering how more foundational knowledge aligns to technologies that promote recall, shared understanding, etc.)?
What digital literacy and fluency goals do you have for your students (i.e., do you have a good handle on the technology that they should be able to use as they progress through their education into the workforce)?
Are you considering issues related to cognitive load for your students (i.e., are you focusing attention, are you giving them opportunities to apply and analyze during and after mastering understanding)?
Are you thinking about ways you can empower your students to take ownership of their learning, or are you giving them real voice and choice in determining projects and demonstrations of learning?
Are you accessing personal learning networks to continually develop your understanding of and use of technology for all learners (i.e., are you investing some time in learning from others, are you connecting through professional communities for K-12 professionals like those provided by ISTE or preparation programs like those provided by CIDDL?)
Finding the sweet spot between instruction, complexity, and authenticity is a continual balance of priority. It looks like you are doing some incredible work with your students. Your results indicate that you are focused on making the learning experience for your students relevant and meaningful to their future and the current world around them. Your use of technology is diverse and you are using tools that are developing some capacity for digital literacy with your students.
Five big question to consider include:
How are you aligning your learning goals to technology use (i.e., are you thinking about how technologies can empower deeper more authentic learning, or are you considering how more foundational knowledge aligns to technologies that promote recall, shared understanding, etc.)?
What digital literacy and fluency goals do you have for your students (i.e., do you have a good handle on the technology that they should be able to use as they progress through their education into the workforce)?
Are you considering issues related to cognitive load for your students (i.e., are you focusing attention, are you giving them opportunities to apply and analyze during and after mastering understanding)?
Are you thinking about ways you can empower your students to take ownership of their learning, or are you giving them real voice and choice in determining projects and demonstrations of learning?
Are you accessing personal learning networks to continually develop your understanding of and use of technology for all learners (i.e., are you investing some time in learning from others, are you connecting through professional communities for K-12 professionals like those provided by ISTE or preparation programs like those provided by CIDDL?)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Current
Review
Answered
Correct
Incorrect
Question 1 of 9
1. Question
Which of the following do you most identify with, given the level of complexity you most focus on with your students?
Question 2 of 9
2. Question
Which of the following do you most identify with, given the level of authenticity or relevance are you most focused on?
Question 3 of 9
3. Question
Which of the following do you most identify with, given your general approach to instruction?
Question 4 of 9
4. Question
For each of the following, rate the level frequency of your instructional use of digital tools that would fall into the Consume/Use genre (examples might include Digital content, Online research, Digital assessments, Digital textual media, Browse and search, and Location/GPS apps)
less frequently more frequently
Question 5 of 9
5. Question
For each of the following, rate the level frequency of your instructional use of digital tools that would fall into the Experience/Interact genre (Adaptive assessment, Adaptive learning, Digital advisors, Learning/content management systems, Serious games, Virtual courses/ learning, Virtual worlds, Augmented Reality)
less frequently more frequently
Question 6 of 9
6. Question
For each of the following, rate the level frequency of your instructional use of digital tools that would fall into the Create and Produce genre (Coding, Construction tools, Digital content creation, Digital Portfolio, Ebook production, Game creation, Makerspaces, Mapping, Media capture/production, Modeling Music and video tools, QR coding, Slide presentations, Visualization, Word processors )
less frequently more frequently
Question 7 of 9
7. Question
For each of the following, rate the level frequency of your instructional use of digital tools that would fall into the Collect or analyze genre (Data export/import, Databases, Spreadsheets, Surveys/Polls Visualization)
less frequently more frequently
Question 8 of 9
8. Question
For each of the following, rate the level frequency of your instructional use of digital tools that would fall into the Communicate genre (Blogging Email, Online collaborative workspaces, Online communities, Online meeting spaces, Social media, Texting, Video conferencing, Webinar, Website)
less frequently more frequently
Question 9 of 9
9. Question
For each of the following, rate the level frequency of your instructional use of digital tools that would fall into the Organize and Manage genre (Digital calendars, Digital clocks and timers, Digital curation, Digital notebook, Digital reminders, Biometrics/Wearable tech, File system, Learning or content management systems, Manage devices, Organizer Apps, Playlists Social bookmarking)
