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EVALUATING TECHNOLOGY USE IN THE CLASSROOM (PICRAT)

Learning Outcome

Understand how to use the PIC-RAT matrix to evaluate effective classroom technologies.

Overview

Experience has shown that as teachers begin using technologies in their classrooms, they will typically begin doing so in a manner that is passive, merely replacing a traditional classroom practice. However, many of the most exciting and valuable uses of technology for teaching are creative and transformative in nature, providing new opportunities for enhanced student learning. For this reason, don’t be satisfied by just using technology to replace your lecturing to passive teachers! Consider how you can use technology in more exciting ways to reinvent your teaching!

This lesson presents a simple framework for thinking about various ways that you can use technology in your teaching—the PICRAT framework. We will use this framework through the course as we talk about various technology options for teachers.

What is a PIC-RAT?

PICRAT Transcript

The following material in this section is adapted from K-12 Technology Integration by Dr. Royce Kimmons, a book that is licensed “open access” so we can adapt it and use it here or anywhere (more on open educational resources later!). To read the book, which is a good supplement to everything we talk about in our class, go here. This material gives additional explanation to what you saw in the video.

PIC-RAT is an extension of the RAT framework. RAT is an acronym for replace, amplify, and transform, and the model holds that when technology is used in a teaching setting, technology is either used to replace a traditional approach to teaching (without any discernible difference on student outcomes), to amplify the learning that was occurring, or to transform learning in ways that were not possible without the technology.

PIC-RAT assumes that there are two foundational questions that a teacher must ask about any technology use in their classrooms:

What is the students’ relationship to the technology? (PIC: Passive, Interactive, Creative)
How is the teacher’s use of technology influencing traditional practice? (RAT: Replace, Amplify, Transform)

The illustration below maps these two questions on a two-dimensional grid, and by answering these two questions, teachers can get a sense for where any particular practice falls.

Chart showing the different combinations of technology usage in the classroom

For instance, if a history teacher shifts from writing class notes on a chalkboard to providing these notes in a PowerPoint presentation, this would likely be categorized in the bottom-left (PR) section of the grid, because the teacher is using the technology to merely replace a traditional practice, and the students are passively taking notes on what they see. In contrast, if an English teacher guides students in developing a creative writing blog, which they use to elicit feedback from peers, parents, and the online community on their short stories, this would likely be categorized in the top-right (CT) section, because the teacher is using the technology to transform her practice to do something that would have been impossible without the technology, and the students are using the technology as a tool for creation.