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ZDM

, Volume 49, Issue 5, pp 675–686 | Cite as

Leveraging digital tools to build educative curricula for teachers: two promising approaches

  • Meg S. Bates
Original Article
First Online:

Abstract

Well-designed curriculum materials include educative components that help teachers effectively plan, implement, and adapt activities for diverse learners. Digital materials offer several affordances over print materials in the format, fit, and flexibility of the educative information provided to teachers, as well as the ability of the materials to track and follow-up on teacher behaviors. Drawing on current research and development projects, this paper describes two promising approaches that take advantage of these digital affordances to enhance the educative experience for teachers. The first approach, called the expansion approach, allows nearly limitless expansion of the amount, type, and nature of educative resources offered to teachers as they use a curriculum. The second approach, called the feedback approach, provides customized educative feedback based on teacher needs and behaviors while using a curriculum. These approaches have implications for future curriculum design and research.

Keywords

Instructional materials Teacher professional learning Digital curriculum Curriculum implementation Educative curriculum materials Mathematics 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This article reports on the author’s experiences with projects funded by the National Science Foundation (Awards #1020083 and #1621253), the University of Chicago Innovation Fund, McGraw-Hill Education, and UChicago STEM Education. I would like to thank Katie Rich, Debbie Leslie, and Andy Isaacs for their comments on a draft of this manuscript. I would also like to thank the many colleagues at University of Chicago whose work on these projects and others has inspired and influenced my thoughts.

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© FIZ Karlsruhe 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.UChicago STEM EducationUniversity of ChicagoChicagoUSA

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