EDUC 8Y28 Teaching & Learning with Technology

Activity Types: The Key to Seamless Technology Integration (What is this?)

For our purposes, we will define an activity type (or activity structure) as the framework of an activity—just the skeleton of the activity or the set of actions that a student completes in order to learn. Judi Harris, author of Virtual Architecture and pioneer in identifying and describing activity types that incorporate the Internet, describes activity types (or structures) as “ mental design tools that help us think concretely about students’ learning processes.” (see her web site for more information from her book, Virtual Architecture).

Developing a repertoire of activity types allows the teacher to infuse technology seamlessly into various lesson designs. The following is a collection of activity types that incorporate technology that can be adapted for computers in the classroom.

For Internet Resources, the web site sponsored by the Texas TIPD Corp has links to activity types researched in depth by Dr. Harris. For more indepth resources, please check out the links beneath Learning Activity Types.

Cells are highlighted to reflect the tool that is students and/or teachers most commonly use to create/participate in the activity.

Click here to view
Reading, Writing, and Digital Storytelling Activity Types
in a new window.

Click here to view
Data Collection & Analysis, Problem Solving, and Assessment Activity Types
in a new window.

Click here for a selected list of GREAT Social Studies, Science,
Language Arts, and Mathematics
online resources to open in a new window!

Reading, Writing, and Digital Storytelling Activity Types

Data Collection & Analysis, Problem Solving, and
Assessment Activity Types

Just a Select List of GREAT
Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, and
Mathematics Online Resources

Begin with this site of different collections relevant to Canadian sources:
Canada's Learning Centre at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/education/008-2011-e.html