Digital innovation for schools

A practical guide 

Even though we live in a world where the internet is rich in content on a wide range of topics, the work of researching, analyzing, selecting, creating, reworking, and sharing digital educational materials is demanding and crucial for the success of educational practices that utilize digital tools.

By implementing the right processes and paying attention to some fundamental elements, it is possible to tackle this challenge successfully.

In general, I believe it is important to clarify that there are no universally applicable solutions. The proposed steps, like any educational practice and evaluation of educational pathways, should be considered a draft that needs to be adapted to the specific context. My advice? Modify it, improve it, critique it, and share your experiences with other schools: effective innovation is born only from collaboration and comparison.

To bring innovation into the school context, all stakeholders (families, students, and school staff) must be involved and committed, and the objectives and responsibilities must be clear and transparent.

Below, I suggest some steps to follow to initiate a process of digital innovation:

DEDICATED TEAM

Identify a group of people who can lead the process and hold its members accountable for the objectives. The group should include representatives from each subject area and the digital facilitator. The objectives of this group might include:

ASSESSMENT

Before creating a plan, it is important to conduct an assessment of the starting point. Aspects to consider include:

DEFINE OBJECTIVES AND PLAN

First, the group should consider the ideal final outcome to be achieved over a medium-term period (e.g., 3 years). Based on this outcome, we suggest creating a series of steps with bimonthly or quarterly milestones to achieve the final result. Each goal should be ambitious but achievable and easily measurable/verifiable.

ASSIGN RESPONSIBILITIES

For each activity, responsible individuals must be identified: depending on the activity, this may involve individuals or groups, but it is helpful to always identify a single person to take charge of coordinating the activity, checking deadlines, and identifying any potential issues.

INVOLVE FAMILIES AND STUDENTS

Using digital content and innovative new pedagogical approaches means creating a collaborative pathway between all involved stakeholders. It will be important to involve families and students in the innovation project, keep them updated on progress, and periodically gather their suggestions and feedback on the selected content used in the activities that involve them.

MONITOR AND ADAPT THE PLAN

No plan, no matter how well designed, will perfectly reflect reality. Therefore, it is useful for the dedicated group to periodically spend time (every 2 months, for example) evaluating the plan itself to make any necessary adjustments based on real progress. These changes should be shared and communicated transparently to all involved stakeholders.

ACTIVITIES OF THE DEDICATED TEAM

Once the project is underway, the group will organize its activities, keeping in mind some key principles.

Accessibility and Equity

The content and tools used for accessing it must respect the principles of accessibility and equity from various perspectives.

Special Needs and Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

It is important to ensure that all involved individuals can fully benefit from what is provided and achieve their learning objectives. For content, it is advisable to check that it is designed and presented according to the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Skills

Based on the assessments carried out, actions should be taken to ensure that all involved (students, teachers, and families) possess the necessary skills to effectively use the provided content.

Devices

The content should be accessible from different types of devices to ensure that everyone can access it without limitations related to the device they own.
Internet Connectivity: If the content requires a connection to be accessed, it is important to ensure that connectivity is adequate in all contexts (e.g., avoiding assigning tasks and additional work at home to students who do not have access to fast internet at home).

Inclusive Language and Bias-Free Content

It is critical to monitor for gender, cultural, or any other type of bias, based on the context.

Security and Sharing

Content should be shared among all teaching staff and easily accessible through an effective storage and retrieval system, and should be evaluated and modified over time. To this end, internal systems can be designed or existing market platforms can be used. Some of these platforms also offer their own or third-party content. Whatever setup is chosen, it is important to choose an IT architecture or platform that:

Ensures cybersecurity standards to protect content and users

Ensures standards for data and privacy protection for all involved users.
Content Appropriateness Online, we have access to a wealth of content that can be used in the classroom or for classwork. However, not all of it is appropriate, even if it is high quality. Content is appropriate if it is designed for digital use and to be used in an educational context with a specific target audience in terms of school grade. Assessing the appropriateness of content is a fundamental principle for the success of a teaching program integrated with digital tools. Note that content may be appropriate for guided classroom use by the teacher and not for individual use, or vice versa. It is, therefore, useful to pay attention to this aspect as well.

Trust and Quality

It is important to choose sources and publishers you trust and establish open and collaborative contact. The beauty of digital is that content can easily be improved, expanded, and optimized. It is helpful to define the parameters and qualities sought in the content or sources used, establish guidelines and a list of recommended sources, and share them among teachers. The guidelines and sources can be constantly updated to account for actual effectiveness and any changes.

Balance and Effectiveness

Not everything needs to be digital, nor does everything need to be analog. The selected content is just part of the curriculum, and it is used where its format is effective or, ideally, more effective than other learning forms.

Multimedia

Digital educational materials can come in different forms: images, graphics, or photographs; audio and video clips; simulations and animations; and lessons. Each medium or mix of media has advantages and disadvantages, and it is important to choose the best application based on the context and content.

Sociality and Interaction

Ensure that materials and their use promote interaction and collaboration between students, between students and teachers, and among teachers.

Teachers Training and Peer Learning

It will be important to organize specific training sessions on researching, selecting, reusing, creating, and sharing digital educational content and to foster an environment of exchange and collaborative learning among teachers to spread the necessary skills. Training on the content and its use should be as integrated as possible with reflection on the different pedagogical approaches that can be adopted and the validity of the content in relation to them.

User Generated Content (UGC)

In cases where conditions are created for the production of content by teachers and its sharing with colleagues, it may be useful to incentivize this through mechanisms for recognizing the best content created.

Measure, Evaluate, and Improve Content Periodically

Digital content must be constantly evaluated and updated based on the context and the results achieved through its use.

It will be important to establish specific periodic moments to carry out this activity with the help of all the teaching staff, taking into account students' feedback as well as shared and easily recognizable and measurable quality evaluation parameters over time. This goal can be achieved by organizing periodic evaluation questionnaires closely linked to the individual content used. The dedicated group should then set specific checkpoints 2–3 times a year or at the most suitable frequency for the context to continuously improve the available content.