Questions to Ask

It's hard to know how many educators ask themselves key learning questions when it comes time to using technology in the classroom. For that matter, it's hard to know how often important questions are explicitly asked before educators do anything in the classroom. But, I've been doing some thinking about questions that should probably be asked on a continuous basis during the teaching and learning process. The short list that I've developed includes:

1. What should students learn from doing this?

2. Are there any more effective strategies that I can help students learn this than by doing what I already have in mind?

3. How will I know that students have learned this?

You are probably thinking: these questions are not brilliant. In fact, every first year teacher education student who learns how to write lesson plans knows that these are the questions to ask. But perhaps that is exactly the point: there are a couple of key questions that educators should ask themselves about everything that they do with students.

No new technology should diminish the power of these questions. Without asking these questions and seriously thinking about the answers to these questions, learning will be disadvantaged.

I've asked a few questions - can you think of any additional questions that educators should ask when developing their teaching/learning plans?