3.1.c: Model Inclusive, Healthy Use

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                                               Students with SEN exercising to an online dance video


This section requires leaders to show how technology can be used in a safe, friendly, useful, and welcoming way to build community, solve problems, and improve health. 

The main idea behind this standard is that leaders should show everyone in the community how to balance technology use with their physical, mental, and social health. In doing so, people will see that technology can be used as a tool for good engagement and problem-solving, thereby making the classroom more, connected, open and caring. 

Students with SEN and infant students at my school, love to engage in these activities and do so regularly throughout the day to give their brains a break and to help them self-regulate. However, it is not common practice to use technology in this way with junior students.  Most teachers opt to use technology to communicate with parents as it is faster, e.g. WhatsApp, however, more must be done to encourage community building and school partnerships through its use. 

Leaders at my institution can initiate these whole school practices by:

 

Showing How to Use Technology in a Healthy, Balanced Way

Leaders should show people how to use technology in a way that is good for their mental and physical health. They can promote mindful screen time and break times to avoid burnout and the disadvantages of prolonged use of technology, by developing mindful screen time policies. They can also  promote healthy lifestyles by using fitness tracking apps or gamified physical activity challenges to ensure students and staff stay active:

 

Creating an Open and Collaborative Community with Technology

 

Leaders should show how technology can bring together different people in the community, allowing them to work together, understand, and care about each other. For example, leaders can create virtual community-building events like virtual town hall meetings or school-wide events with translation tools and invite all students, families, and staff to attend. They can also provide different ways to communicate (emails, social media, mobile messaging apps etc.) 


                                                                                                        Community Building through Zoom


Showing how to Use Technology to Solve Problems in a way that Strengthens the Community

 

Leaders can also show how technology can be used to solve problems in the community by working together. Leaders can use crowd sourcing on collaborative platforms like Padlet or Google Jamboard to gather ideas from students, staff, and parents on how to make the school better and solve problems. They can also create digital peer support networks where staff and students can share wellness resources and tips.

 

                         Problem Solving using Padlet


Promoting Digital Health and Good Behaviour Online


Leaders can show others how to be respectful, responsible, and understanding online by being good digital citizens themselves e.g., by showing professional use of social media and promoting empathy in online conversations through the use of digital etiquette.   

                                                              

Comments

  1. Appleberry24 November 2024 at 17:47

    The video above shows how students can learn while having fun when technology is integrated into a lesson.

    ReplyDelete

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