Ways to Incorporate Digital Tech into Curriculum

Effective Curriculum

In my opinion, an effective curriculum should be based on a plan for a series of learning experiences tailored to meet the needs of my students. I do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, I feel that curriculum should be flexible and, also, that it should embrace the tools that we have today to help get students more engaged. This can include using the digital environment, as most learners today would classify as digital natives (Smith et al., 2020). At the same time, the curriculum should also be data-driven; that is, it should be based on an understanding of the demographics, backgrounds, and learning styles of the students, and based on that input it should be designed to engage them.

If my aim is to address both the needs and the preferences of the digital generation (i.e., today’s digital natives), my curriculum would incorporate digital tools that the students are already familiar with—and this would include phones, tablets, Internet, social media, and things like this. I would definitely bring in online learning platforms, and focus on interactive multimedia content, plus highlight digital collaboration tools where students can work together online (Vlachopoulos & Makri, 2019). The curriculum would also be used to reinforce digital literacy skills, like critical thinking in a digital context (something everyone could stand to use more of), understanding digital ethics, and being able to use digital tools for research.

When differentiating my curriculum, some questions I should ask myself are: Who are my students? What are their individual learning styles, strengths, and weaknesses? What are their interests? What motivates them? How can I adapt my teaching approach to meet their needs? How can I incorporate digital tools into my approach? How can I assess their learning in a way that is fair? These questions would help me in designing a curriculum that, I think, would be truly responsive to the needs of my students in our digital age.