There's a formula teachers can use while developing unit plans that embed technology. There are four standard components:
1. Investigate
2. Process Information
3. Create
4. Share
Investigation:
The teacher helps to provide the central idea based on the unit of study. Students can also develop the "essential question." Students then research the question, a process in itself will raise more questions and will tend to refocus the "essential question."
Process Information:
With the teacher's guidance, students collect and review information from various sources, both print and digital media. During processing, the students may be adjusting their essential questions which can be viewed as "moving targets" throughout the learning experience. Data is organized in the best way that makes sense for the student.
Create:
Once the research has been completed, the student then has to decide which media is most suitable to share what has been learned. This sharing may consist of an original short movie, a slide presentation with embedded or live voice over, a poster, an infographic, a collage, a web page, or any number of things. Here it's not about "you must have five slides and at least three transitions," but more about what media works best for the topic, the student's technical skills, the resources available, and the audience.
Share:
The sharing piece can be formal or informal. This can happen in front of the rest of the class or on line where the ideas are viewed asynchronously. Sharing strategies can consist of uploading to a local or cloud file storage area where classmates access, creating and distributing a Web page (with or without a comments feature for classmates to add their thoughts, printing out and handing out a brochure, and a number of other choices.
Individual learning at the learner's own pace has always been the best method of teaching; technology makes that valuable process much richer.