What does it mean to "Enhance, Engage, Extend?"
The theory behind "Enhance, Engage, Extend," or the 3 E's is to further student progress and improve the ways that they learn by integrating technology into the classroom. However, according Liz Keren-Kolb's article, while "using technology in and of itself is almost always a bit more motivating or engaging, it does not necessarily mean that students will engage more in their understanding of the learning goals." The use of technology, for example, in a high school world history classroom, can be extremely helpful in order to add more excitement into the class, as it will aid in gaining student interest in the course.
How Can I Integrate Technology into my Classroom?
As a secondary history education teacher, you may be wondering how to integrate technology and history together. However, the great thing about technology is how many doors it opens thanks to the internet! Before the age of computers, one was limited to whatever local archives and encyclopedia's existed in the area in order to conduct research. The internet is the best tool we have for our students, because that old newspaper article about the gold rush in an archive in California, or that photo in an archive in Australia has been been digitized and made available for the entire internet to see! Technology does wonders to enhance and extend the learning of your students in a classroom! It also is a fantastic tool to engage those students that may not be so interested in the subject or class you're teaching. There are tons of great apps, such as Socrative that can be used to engage your students through the use of smartphones and tablets. Let's face it, your students are using their phones in class. We might as well make use of this and engage our students by getting them physically involved in their learning at the tough of their fingertips.The Three E's
Engagement
Let's say for example, you have a student that couldn't care less about World War II, but is super interested in math. You could show him some sites such as this one that help explain trajectory and the calculations necessary to accurately drop a bomb from a plane or shoot one from the ground. Then you could have him work on a report on how much training was need to become a bomber for the U.S. Military. This could even be done on a SmartBoard in front of the whole class and the students could be allowed to take turns adjusting where the target was and the correct calculations to hit the target. This not only gets your students involved in their learning, but it makes history fun by teaching the kids about what life was like during the war.
Enhancement
Learning Enhancement through the use of technology is where things get really really cool! There are endless tools one can use to enhance the learning of their students by using technology. For example, like stated in this article, students in a classroom at Vanderbilt University had the pleasure of listening to a guest lecturer in class. However, the guest lecturer was speaking in a video conference call across the world in Estonia! While this is a university class, imagine how cool it would be to have an expert on a certain field speaking with your students from somewhere else in the world! Sticking with the World War II theme, imagine the level of understanding your 11th grade US History class would gain by speaking with a German veteran of the war to give them a different perspective on the war. Technology is such a powerful tool that has enabled amazing opportunities such as this to become realities!Extension
Extension of learning is extremely important in student learning because you want the students to be able to have access to more information about a topic if they want it. One simple way to do this, as stated in my last blog post, Twitter is the perfect tool for extending learning to outside of the classroom. By creating a Twitter account and posting relevant information to your lessons, homework assignments, etc., students can log on any time and learn more about a lesson, ask you a question, or check what the due date is for an assignment. It's a social network that most students are already using, so you're not adding extra work for them, just catering your delivery system to what works easiest for them. You can also use Twitter to post links to videos such as the one below!
By engaging, enhancing, and extending student learning through the use of technology, teachers are also strengthening the impact of each lesson with their students. At the most basic level, a lecture, students may retain one or two points for a few days or weeks until the test comes, and then they will forget about it. With each step up in an attempt to engage, enhance, and extend your student's learning, you are not only teaching them, but also making sure that they understand and remember each lesson and surpass the learning goals. It doesn't take much either! Incorporating the Three E's into your classroom can be as simple as having your students do research on their phones or tablets on a topic related to your lesson, or getting them to give you feedback using a formative assessment app! However, if you get your students to interview a German war veteran in a video conference call, just know that they will never forget that lesson.
Conclusion
By engaging, enhancing, and extending student learning through the use of technology, teachers are also strengthening the impact of each lesson with their students. At the most basic level, a lecture, students may retain one or two points for a few days or weeks until the test comes, and then they will forget about it. With each step up in an attempt to engage, enhance, and extend your student's learning, you are not only teaching them, but also making sure that they understand and remember each lesson and surpass the learning goals. It doesn't take much either! Incorporating the Three E's into your classroom can be as simple as having your students do research on their phones or tablets on a topic related to your lesson, or getting them to give you feedback using a formative assessment app! However, if you get your students to interview a German war veteran in a video conference call, just know that they will never forget that lesson.
References
Educating, C. (2011, October 11). Microsoft Vision of the Classroom of the Future. Retrieved September 9, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJu6GvA7jN8
[Engage, enhance, extend images]. Retrieved September 9, 2015 from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1015177.pdf
Keren-Kolb, L. (2014, May). Enhance, Engage, Extend. International Society for Technology in Education Journal (Web). Retrieved August 27, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1015177.pdf
M. Granberg, E. (2000). How Technology Enhances Teaching and Learning. Retrieved September 11, 2015. Retrieved from http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/library/articles-and-essays/the-teaching-forum/how-technology-enhances-teaching-and-learning/
Miller, S. (2005, October 10). 50 Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom. Retrieved April 29, 2015, from http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom
Projectile Motion 2.03. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2015, from https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/projectile-motion/projectile-motion_en.html
[Technology integrated classroom image]. Retrieved September 10, 2015 from http://jamalyusuf.com/tag/social-networks/
[Wireless technology in the classroom image]. Retrieved September 8, 2015 from http://vingapp.com/speaking-of-ipads-student-engagement-with-technology/
