Digital Learning

The Ogden School District Digital Learning Specialists are here to help you transform your instructional practices. Technology in education is not a solution on its own. Technology becomes powerful when it is used effectively to teach sound content using well-researched methods. This is when we begin to see gains in student achievement. The Ogden School District Digital Learning Specialists are here to partner with you as you work to effectively integrate technology into your instructional practices.

The Digital Learning Specialists support teachers, principals, and support staff in five major ways:

• Observe: The Digital Learning Specialists can observe technology in your classroom and provide targeted feedback.
• Model: The Digital Learning Specialists can co-teach with you to model best practices for technology integration.
• Train: The Digital Learning Specialists can facilitate hands-on professional development for teachers and leaders in your buildings and PLCs.
• Integrate: The Digital Learning Specialists can promote effective integration of technology and instruction with leadership, in the classroom, and with students.
• Collaborate: The Digital Learning Specialists can provide guidance on technology use for teachers and leaders in the classroom and in PLCs.

Many of the tools we use to assess our students are also EdTech tools. For that reason, the Assessment & Accountability Team and the EdTech Team work very closely together and often overlap in responsibilities. Although there is crossover, in the OSD EdTech team, we try to direct most Assessment questions to our Assessment & Data Specialist, Ian Davey, and most EdTech questions to our K-6 Digital Learning Specialist, LaJean Elder, or our 7-12 Digital Learning Specialist, Du Bui.

EdTech, or Educational Technology, refers to the ways you use technology tools in your instruction and professional practice. EdTech focuses on the ways tools fit together with your content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge to transform your teaching. In the Ogden School District, the EdTech team is composed of our Digital Learning Specialists and Assessment and Data Specialist.

IT, or Information Technology, is about the devices and systems themselves. The IT department ensures that the devices are in their best condition so as to always meet the instructional needs of our students, teachers, and leaders.

In the Ogden School District, the IT department is who you will go to get your tech fixed. The EdTech team is who you will go to learn how to use the tools and collaborate on ways to use the tools to create instructional solutions.

There are several ways you can go about requesting support from the OSD EdTech Team.

Contact us directly. We are committed to helping all educators in the district. For this reason, we encourage teachers to reach out to us directly. It is important to note that if you do reach out directly, we may find it appropriate to make your Instructional Coach and/or your Administrator aware so that together we can support you to the best of our abilities.

Work with your Instructional Coach (IC). Your IC is keenly aware of what is happening in your school. If you'd like them to reach out to us and set something up on your behalf, that is completely fine. Chances are, you're not the only one who may need that support. Working through your IC will allow them to bring others in who may also be interested. We work closely with ICs and are happy to accommodate your needs through them.

Work with your Administrator. Like your IC, your Administrator has the big picture in mind. This means they are aware of your school goals and where the staff is at overall in terms of what kind of professional development is needed. Again, like your IC, when working with your Administrator, it allows them to make the professional development opportunity available to others as well.