Digital Instructional Strategies and Their Role in Classroom Learning

Research that examines technology use in the context of daily classroom practices is needed to support the effective digital conversion of classrooms. In this study, 65 seventh- through 10th-grade Mathematics and English Language Arts teachers from six districts across six states logged information about digital strategies they incorporated into their lessons to teach specific academic content standards. We describe six major digital instructional strategies and 16 related instructional tactics that teachers used over the course of a year, and analyze how these strategies relate to opportunity to learn. We found teachers tended to use technology for a variety of strategies with varying degrees of frequency. Technology use was usually viewed as central or essential to instruction. Relationships between technology use and opportunity to learn differed between specific strategies and by subject. A discussion of the study limitations and future research needs is provided. (Keywords: digital instructional strategy, digital instructional tactic, opportunity to learn)