Technology is an invaluable resource that is being used more and more; it is important as a Further Education supply teacher to explore what is available that you could utilise to teach your specialism to enhance student experience and learning.
- Check with colleagues in your department what they use specifically in your subject.
- Ask the wider teaching community; are there generalised digital learning platforms that are helpful?
- Keep your eyes open when reading or attending journals/ conferences/training as they can often reference new technological information/new digital platforms.
- If you decide to use new technology, always give it a trial run as though you are a student to help avoid any pitfalls and to understand the student experience of using it.
- If you plan to use technology as part of lesson make sure you have a backup if it goes wrong, even if you’ve done a trial, it could still go wrong during the lesson!
- Do not assume everyone will have the same skill set when introducing it, especially if you teach a mixed age group.
- Do you need to do a teaching session first? Explain how you see it being used, how it compliments face to face teaching and may be even the drawbacks if there are any.
- Outline the parameters when they should use it and when they should not.
- Also check everyone is able to use it and how they are finding it – do this on a regular basis.
It’s becoming common for a Further Education supply teacher join an online forum to keep up to date with general teaching trends and digital trends, so it may be worth doing some research to find a suitable forum.
Here’s a useful link to the Government further education overview