Supporting Technology Integration for School Leaders

Reviewed by Mary Churchill, Professor of Teacher Education, University of Wisconsin - Superior on 1/17/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The field of technology integration could never be covered in one book, but the author is able to successfully provide readers with a review of where we have been in education to where we are now as well as offer suggestions and resources to ensure educators utilize technology to enhance instruction, student engagement, and differentiated instruction.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content is up-to-date, and the technology integration models selected are pertinent to education at both the PK-12 and Higher Ed levels. The text itself is easy to read and interesting with occasional pictures and graphics to supplement; additional links to pertinent resources are plentiful and helpful. Because the document is available (at the time of this review) in PDF only, the reader does not have access to the videos/audios that are referenced throughout. If noted within the references, however, these could easily be embedded into Canvas (or another learning management system) as appropriate/needed/desired.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

As with any resource dealing with technology integration and/or use, current information can be quickly outdated. The author, however, provided current and relevant content referencing COVID, social media, digital citizenship, and meaningful teacher blogs. Having published in January, 2023, the information could be easily updated as time progresses.

Clarity rating: 5

The use of headings, graphics, and conversational language make the book easy to read and digest. Supplemental information and activities could be included by an instructor to expand on each chapter without having to alter what is already present.

Consistency rating: 5

Each chapter includes a title, learning objectives, content, and application activities. Links to additional resources are provided and graphics help to further clarify concepts such as models and taxonomies.

Modularity rating: 5

The textbook is divided into seven chapters. Each chapter could serve as a modular focus for an accelerated course or as the basis for a two-week span for a traditional semester-length course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book was organized in a manner that made the text easy to navigate and digest. The applications build in complexity from beginning of the text to the end allowing to students to build upon their own understanding to a newer understanding through creation of product.

Interface rating: 4

While there are some missing videos/audios, that may be due to the PDF format and could easily be rectified via Canvas or other learning management system. At the time of this review, PDF is the only version available.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not see any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not note any cultural bias in the book. I appreciated that this text could be available to students in higher education resulting in reducing textbook costs as well as providing them with updated information that would not be available in most textbooks.

Comments

The author had my attention from the start by comparing technology to a tool. This aligned perfectly with my own philosophy of technology integration that the right tool is needed for the job and that while using a tool just to use one is not effective, using the right tool in the appropriate manner can be empowering for students and teachers. I could definitely see myself using the majority of this book in a teacher education course that focused on or included technology integration.