Evaluating Digital Instructional Materials for K-12 Online and Blended Learning

Abstract

With the large increase in online instruction, including remote instruction with online materials during the COVID-19 pandemic, there also was an increase in the use of instructional materials that were made to be displayed online or were digitized for online use. However, teachers have not had access to guidance about how to select and evaluate online instructional materials for classroom use. The lack of guidance has the potential to harm historically excluded populations of students and could frustrate teachers as they learn to teach with digital materials. The purpose of this paper is to share the 4A Framework for evaluating online instructional materials. The framework is organized around the premise that quality online instructional materials are accessible, promote active engagement, advocate for inclusion, and are accountable for their relationships to standards and data privacy. Each feature is discussed and examples of teacher work in applying the framework are shared.

EFL teachers’ reasons for selecting instructional materials during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In that study, however, the word "accessible" seems to be the only word (to mean "easy to access") which is relevant to the current findings. According to Rice and Ortiz (2021), accessibility, as one of the components of choosing the learning materials, is associated with the possibility for learners/users to open, see, and communicate with the instructional materials. Thus, "accessible" in that regard, does not reflect whether the materials are easy to use, easy to understand, and easy to develop.…”

“…His study showed that utilizing the Einstructional material in pdf formats helps teachers in implementing the online teaching and learning mode. Further, Rice and Ortiz (2021) developed a guidance for teachers in selecting and evaluating the online learning materials called the 4A Framework. They included four elements in their framework: accessibility, active engagement, advocacy for inclusion, and accountability.…”

Discharge of pedagogic duties: a bootstrapped structural equation modelling of teachers’ use of research materials in school libraries

“…This result is not surprising because previous research has documented that using instructional material makes lessons practical (Abdulrahaman et al, 2020;Barnes et al, 2018). Since some instructional materials are interactive (Mamolo, 2019;Rice & Ortiz, 2021), students are more likely to display a high sense of focus, thereby promoting CM through students' attentiveness. In terms of CF, the result of this study demonstrated that teachers can engage learners more in classroom discussion, attend to their questions and offer practice-based guidance.…”

Content, tools, and surrogates: assessing K-12 teachers’ criteria for interactively searching for digital video

“…Teachers experience challenges when trying to find digital video to use for instruction citing lack of time, lack of content knowledge and frustration with searching as barriers (boclips, 2019; Ekstrand et al , 2020; Fyfield et al , 2020; Rice and Ortiz, 2021). Recently, it was found that:…”

“…However, searching and finding the right video(s) can pose a significant challenge for any user. A video search becomes increasingly difficult when large video collections, limited search features and specific and/or applied tasks of users become part of the situation (boclips, 2019; Ekstrand et al , 2020; Fyfield et al , 2020; Rice and Ortiz, 2021).…”