Reggio-inspired teaching and learning is deeply rooted in environmental and hands-on learning, so what happens when a pandemic hits and all education has to shift online?
My research question comes out of this environment and the struggles to implement Reggio practice through technological means. I am exploring if technology education can be implemented in a Reggio-inspired intermediate elementary learning environment without corrupting the philosophy of Reggio Emilia education.
My project is designed to support the transition of Reggio-inspired practices into the digital world.
Cheryl Noon
Hi Cheryl. What a great topic! While I was watching your overview, I was thinking about educational technologies that I have used that may be useful for Grade 3/4 students to use in a Reggio environment. Here are a few ideas that I thought of that you may have already included in your study, but if not they might be useful to try:
FRESHGRADE – this is a great online portfolio program that allows teachers, students, parents, and classmates to collaborate on artifacts that students have created or videos of student activities or work. I think it would fit well with the Reggio curriculum because students can use it themselves to showcase their learning and activities that they are doing both at home and in the classroom. It is also wonderful for assessment because it is authentic and can give real-time feedback. You can also review their progress as they move through the year.
BOOK CREATOR or STORYBIRD – these are two wonderful apps that allow students to create their own books and collaborate with other students on what they have done. They both allow students to be creative in their writing process and they can be personalized with audio, video, photos, artwork, etc.
NEARPOD – this is a great paid resource to use as a learning and assessment tool in both an online and in person classroom environments because you can create interactive lessons with the help of templates that are provided and see real time collaboration between students when teaching the lessons.
PADLET – this tool is wonderful for student collaboration or group work. Students can post their ideas, videos, photos, etc. on a board and comment on each other’s posts. You can make 3 Padlets for free then it is a paid subscription.
Anyway, best wishes with your project. It sounds like it will be a great contribution to the educational system.
Thanks Melissa! I’m finding I’m using and learning about different resources all the time! I’ve been using Freshgrade for a while now and I love that it can involve students, parents, and teacher voices in learning. It supports documentation as well as reflection and involving stakeholders both from home and school; such a great tool! I’ve tried a few different story creator websites, but I haven’t tried Storybird yet. I like the sound of the collaboration you’ve mentioned. Padlet is great! I’m trying to convince my school to invest in it, but hard to do when I’m the only one wanting it, haha.
Thank you so much for your engagement with my topic and your suggestions! It is nice to see the resources and tools that others know of as sometimes the internet just has too many tools to be able to find all the handy ones or ones that would work for my grade and educational needs. Thank you!
Hi Cheryl, thanks for sharing your novel and creative thinking and research with the goal of connecting technology and Reggio practice. I am curious about what product you will create for your thesis to share your learning?
Thanks Rachel! I am currently designing a presentation – powerpoint style – to hopefully be able to reach other educators and offer some ways forward. Due to the online nature of everything this year, it felt like the easiest way to share knowledge and make it accessible for others. I also decided to do it this way as it can become a growing resource or tool that can be used in professional development capacities and will not necessarily depend upon me to present!
Cheryl I love seeing this connection between tech and experiential learning. This has given me some food for thought in regard to the way I use technology in the classroom. The connection theme you highlight makes me think of the SAMR model and how that connects to intention for using tech in the classroom.
Looking forward to seeing the product of all of this learning!
Thanks Kelsey! Great connection – I hadn’t thought of applying the SAMR model, but I guess that is what is going on in technology implementation. It’s amazing how much of technology depends on the competence of the teacher/instructor!
Hi Cheryl,
Thank you for your commitment and great work. With Reggio inspired learning is a great idea but seems like it would be very complicated and time consuming to implement in our schools with such high diversity of cultures ! I am curious about the “learning environment” aspect… is there an opportunity to expand the learning environment outside the classroom to an outdoor setting or possibly a settling that includes a community mentor/workplace such as a place of work or a maker space, expanding the classroom walls and incorporating the community at large into the educational experience of the learner?
Thanks Chris! It can be quite complicated. I believe my school has been working towards Reggio practice for about 8 years now and there is still so much to learn and do! Yes, a large part of Reggio is the learning community and true Reggio schools have an atelier, which is another space for students to explore learning and ideas. Usually, Reggio classes are very nature-inspired and have a lot of neutral tones and natural resources. Outside is considered part of the learning environment and is both brought inside and students often take their learning outside (especially this year!).
Interesting topic Cheryl! I for one am not great about bringing technology into the classroom to work with kids. Couple of reasons I find they spend enough time “playing” on technology and I want them to discover the world around them. The other is I never feel I have time to research technology to use. I’m looking forward to what you discover!
Thanks Kerry! Yeah, I find the same thing. I bring it in, but feel like we have to do games & learning and I can’t always justify the gameplay… This year in particular I have (somewhat ironically) pulled back from doing technology because I figure they need the socialization and outdoor time more because they get so much technology at home. I’m hoping to start using it again soon and productively, but this year has been such a mess, haha!
This is such a great topic, and agreed that there is a large gap in the literature here. I was waiting to see some COVID inspired teaching and learning questions and this fits right in. I’m wondering if you are doing a thesis or an applied project with this topic, as creating a resource for teachers on how to use technology that support the Reggio practice would be very valuable.
Thank you.
Thanks Bre, yeah last year really turned into a scramble with Covid throwing a wrench in all our regular practices. I’m really hoping that this can become something positive for us going forward and that we can all get some good learning and new tools. I’m creating a project and doing a thesis. I’m hoping the project can share my learning and help others find ways to use both Reggio-inspired practices and technology in classes 🙂
Hi Cheryl, it seems you have identified a very important gap to focus your MEd work on! It is clear you have spent a lot of time in the literature and are using it to structure your response to this gap with your design project.
Thanks Wendy, yeah my literature major background really kicked in for this one, haha. It’s been really interesting looking at what is available and what isn’t. I’ve quite enjoyed the process!
Hi Cheryl,
Thanks for your video! I find this very interesting in merging these two worlds. It is very interesting to see how your work was guided by our challenges with Covid. Great job!