The integration of technology throughout the curriculum is important to meet the needs of all learners of the 21st century. Technology can assist teachers with the delivery of lessons and assessing students. It can also provide students with numerous ways to demonstrate their learning, increase engagement in the learning process, and help to meet the many learning needs of students within a classroom. Because technology changes so quickly, it is difficult to identify expectations of specific sites, hardware, or software that should be included in the written, taught, and tested curriculum, but I will provide examples of technology as it exists today.
Written: In my previous experience with curriculum writing, technology has been saved for the end of the writing cycle — if there is time. Technology should not only be considered, integrated, and included into the curriculum throughout the process; technology should also be used in the creation of the curriculum itself. Textbooks with CDs or online components are not enough! Some districts utilize curriculum mapping software, such as Rubicon Atlas, but even putting the curriculum into a course management software like Moodle can provide access to all and reinforce the idea that the curriculum is a living document with tweaks, additions, and refinements encouraged. The utilization of this kind of electronic form for a curriculum also allows for the inclusion of multimedia such as videos or suggested sites for use in the classroom and videos showing how to implement a strategy or to highlight best practice. Examples of multimedia or electronic projects can also be included.
Taught: Technology should also be present in the teaching of the curriculum. The written curriculum should encourage teachers to be co-learners or guides rather than the sole dispenser of knowledge with the students as the vessels to be filled. Even more traditional lessons can be enhanced with technology. The curriculum can indicate that the teacher use a document camera to project an article, book, or picture and offer suggestions on how to use the included software to take a photo or write on the image as the students discuss. This style of lesson presentation can reach different learning styles and add interactivity. Interactive whiteboards can improve student engagement and motivate students. They also allow students to engage with content in ways not always possible. The inclusion of a simulation where students can drag the continents into place like puzzle pieces to demonstrate the theory of Pangea. The use of multimedia in lessons provides an engaging, multisensory way for students to learn about a topic or demonstrate their learning. Videos can be teacher/student created using applications like iMovie or the website Animoto, or they can be professionally created like those found on Discovery Ed Streaming or BrainPOP. The activities for students should include opportunities for students to collaborate using tools like wikis, Google Apps for Education, or Etherpad. It should also allow students to interact with the ideas of others, either across the globe or within the same classroom. Blogs, VoiceThreads, chatrooms for backchanneling, and Skype can facilitate these connections. Technology can provide students with experiences they couldn’t otherwise have: Skyping with an expert on a topic and watching a live uStream of a talk/presentation are two examples.
Tested: The use of technology as an assessment tool is efficient for teachers and can be motivating for students; therefore it is an important component of curriculum. There are many handheld voting systems available from those that simply have multiple-choice input capability to those that can text numbers, words, and full sentences. Even cell phones can be used for voting devices. These voters and online “testing sites”, like Quia, can streamline assessment processes for teachers so they can quickly access data and use it to inform their instruction and meet the diverse needs of their students. Using technology like Google Forms to pretest students can provide teachers with data for grouping students for the coming unit. Providing students with different ways to demonstrate their learning through the use of project menus and tiered projects that include technology choices helps meet the multiple intelligences students possess. Finally, asking students to reflect on their learning in the form of blogs, online forums, or digital portfolios can provide a timeline of growth and feedback from teachers, parents, and peers.
Differentiation: Technology can be used to promote differentiation for all learners, yet one must be careful not to confuse computer applications of leveled skills practice with true differentiation. Here are some examples of how technology can facilitate differentiation with regard to content, process, and product.
Content
• The internet can provide teachers with numerous resources at different reading levels
• Students can interact with course materials in different ways not possible with print media alone. (i.e. hear a book read aloud, see a visual over and over, manipulate objects to see their reaction)
Process
• Teacher created content or online content can provide the opportunity for students to review of material as often as desired (i.e. podcasts, Quia, recorded lessons from an interactive whiteboard)
• Assistive technology may allow students access to or the ability to participate in activities not possible without the technology (i.e. text to speech, dictation software, Kurzweil software)
• Web 2.0 tools provide ways for students to collaborate and interact with classmates and people around the world. (i.e. blogs, wikis, VoiceThread, Google Docs, Etherpad, Skype)
Product
• Project menus or tiered projects that include technology allow students of the 21st century to demonstrate their understanding in a mode that may be most comfortable for them (i.e. blogs, multimedia – iMovie, Animoto, VoiceThread, Comic Life, animation)
• Technology projects can allow students to develop and demonstrate their creativity and innovation skills (i.e. Scratch, animation)
Judith Epcke ~ My JHU/ISTE A & S Experience 
Judi, GREAT job! I loved reading about your technology ideas. I really liked how you said, “technology should also be used in the creation of the curriculum itself.” My county is moving toward that, but it is agonizing to get EVERYONE to that stage where they contribute collaboratively in that format!
Thanks for sharing!