УДК 327.

7:327
DOI
МРНТИ

THE “IDEA” MODEL OF TECHNOLOGY AND CURRICULUM

SYNCHRONIZATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING: THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
Abstract. Technology integration into teaching and learning environment has
long been a controversial issue. A rapid shift of the education system to online mode
after the COVID-19 outbreak has brought this question into an even more intent
consideration. While the necessity of using technology in education is obvious, its
embedment into teaching and learning process does not always seem smooth, due to
several reasons. Among such factors, experts mention poor technological equipment of
teaching organizations, teachers’ fears, and unwillingness to use technology or
‘aggressive’ attempts of institutions administration to force teachers to use technology
in any way, even if they pursue no clear educational purpose. The aim of this article is
to highlight that the use of technology in education can no longer be considered
something extraordinary, but rather it should be taken as an inseparable part of the post-
COVID teaching and learning times. The study uses descriptive method, secondary data
analysis method, method of survey and modeling method. The article also introduces
the IDEA (Instruct, Demonstrate, Experience and Assess) approach to embedding
technology into educational process. This approach seeks to help ESL teachers make
technology a part of their daily lessons, taking into consideration that, not only does
technology entertain learners and demonstrate teachers’ creativity, but it also makes
teaching more effective, which is its main goal. The methodology used for this study is
explanatory approach and secondary data analysis. The ideas presented in the article
can potentially be approbated in practice by scholars, educators, and practitioners in the
sphere of education.
Keywords: technology in education, digital education, educational
transformation, technology and curriculum alignment, ELT, higher education, digital
natives, digital immigrants

Basic Provisions
The present study is a descriptive analysis of the situation with
technology embedment into the English language classes. The study reveals the
current state and beliefs about technology use in educations, as well as its
potential in teaching languages. The article uses explanatory approach and
secondary data analysis, as well as the methods of survey and modeling. Based
on the information collected from various sources, the article identifies the
importance of technology embedment into the ESL classroom, as well as the
necessity of technology and curriculum alignment. To identify the general
attitudes of students towards technology use, the survey has been conducted.
This paper suggests the model of technology integration into the language
teaching process at every step of the lesson, called “The IDEA (Introduce,
Demonstrate, Experience and Assess)” approach. As the basis, the article
considers the lesson plan employed in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of
Other Languages), which comprises the following steps: Warm-up and
Objectives discussion, Instruct and Model, Guided practice, Independent
practice and Assessment. The IDEA approach presented in this article also takes
into consideration such models as the Bloom’s taxonomy. Bloom’s taxonomy is
a hierarchical model that classifies learning skills into different levels of
complexity, starting from basic knowledge at the bottom of the pyramid and
moving to more advanced comprehension on the top. Basically, the IDEA
approach is aimed at highlining the division into HOTs (high order thinking
skills) and LOTs (low order thinking skills), and SAMR (Substitution,
Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition), suggested by the taxonomy. The
present study describes the results of the Likert scale questionnaire, conducted
among the students of the focus group. The focus group participated in the 3-
hour English language lesson that used the IDEA approach. The results of the
study showed that the IDEA approach can be a suitable element, which
connects the language skills formed at different stages of the above-mentioned
models and effective integration of technology into the ESL lesson.

Introduction
The era of digital education has put forward the question of technology
use in classrooms. Despite being widely discussed by the global society, this
issue remains one of the controversial topics for all the participants of
educational process – educational administrators, learners, and teachers.
Although, the hardship all these three categories may face with can vary, what
seems obvious is that a lot depends on teachers and the way they apply
technology during their lessons.
There have been a few theories developed to facilitate the use of
technology by educators. The experts raise such important questions, as the
problem of alighting technology and teaching curriculum, the fears teachers
experience when using technology or the general level of digitalization of a
certain institution or society. As an example, Dr. Harry Saint Cyr in his article
speaks about four main strategies of successful integration of technology into
the teaching curriculum. In his opinion, the understanding of technology
purpose by educational administration, IT department and teachers may often
differ, which leads to the gap between the functions of technology and the
teaching curriculum objectives [1].
The present article operates the ideas presented by the Bloom’s taxonomy
of educational objectives [2]. This theoretical-based study also looks at such
theories as SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition)
and TPACK – (Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) in
connection with ESL teaching, as well as seeks to develop a new approach to
technology use, based on daily ESL lesson plans, suggested by TESOL course
for teachers [3].
 Methods and Materials
The present article is a descriptive study which uses the method of
description, explanatory approach, and the standardized questionnaire to collect
quantitative data. The problem of technology use in classroom is not new to the
sphere of education. Many experts and scholars have analyzed the issue and
suggested the ways of increasing the level of digitalization of educational
institutions. No doubts, the implementation of any new method often requires a
thorough analysis of the existing state of the problem. According to Ashilova,
there have been a number of surveys on digitalization implementation
conducted among various countries all over the world. The results showed that
while recognizing the necessity of new technological era in education, the world
community mostly agree on the fact that technology is not integrated into
education at its full capacity. Moreover, technology is rather used for
convenience nowadays, but not for a more effective teaching. At the same time,
the authors say that the level of digital literacy in Kazakhstan is at least 77%.
They also speak about the renovation of educational system through integration
of new digital programs which focus on the development of creative thinking
and analysis of learners starting from school [4]. However, this is quite
controversial, since there are other findings which state that many teachers in
Kazakhstan are rather technologically illiterate, because they are either unable
or unwilling to use technology in the classrooms [5].
While the general level of digitalization of education might be low, we
now witness how easily most students and school learners operate technology in
their daily life. Here we can speak about “digital natives”. According to Dr.
Shane Dixon, those learners who can intuitively use various devices can be
considered “digital natives” [3]. In fact, this is a universal phenomenon which
can be seen ubiquitously – children, who can barely speak or walk, are perfect
at playing online-games or browsing the internet. The growing number of
“digital natives” suggests that the approach to technology use in classroom
should be modified accordingly. A number of scholars speak about the
phenomenon of “Generation Z”. This generation is characterized as “the first
global generation ever, which is smarter, quicker, and more tolerant of diversity
than their predecessors”, and, therefore, requires an application and
implementation of completely different forms of work, types of assessment in
the lesson [5].
While there is a tendency in growing number of digital natives, we cannot
deny the fact of “digital immigrants”, existing among learners. This category of
students is comparatively less fluent in technology and often require a more
intense attention from the teacher during the technology-enriched lesson [5]. Dr.
Shane Dixon in his course “Teach English Now! Technology Enriched
Teaching”, also speaks about digital natives and non-natives. He suggests that
those learners who struggle to use technology (digital non-natives) may even
have a fear, called “technophobia”. Alongside with it, Dixon identifies two
subcategories of students, who belong to digital natives. The first type are
students who are typically overwhelmed with the device itself, its functions and
design, rather than they are interested in the task assigned. These students
always like checking and testing devices but distract from the concrete teaching
and learning purpose. The second category implies students with techno-
fluency, who tend to have total immersion into the device. They are impatient to
begin to use the technology, so that they often misunderstand the task and use
the device for their own purposes, deviating from the lesson objectives [3].
In this way, we can conclude that both digital natives and digital non-
natives may require equal attention, as well as clear guidelines from teachers,
when using technology in class.
Nowadays, there is a bunch of theories built around integrating
technology into teaching. Among them are TPACK (Technological,
Pedagogical and Content knowledge), SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation,
Modification and Redefinition, PICRAT (Passive, Interactive
Creative=Replaces, Amplifies, Transforms), TIM (Technology Integration
Matrix) and others.
TPACK basically suggests the integration of teaching strategy, teaching
content and teaching technology. According to Shane, if we look deeper,
however, it is more than just the overlap of three types of knowledge. In order
to fully understand TPACK, we need to look at each type of knowledge
separately and consider how they all interact with each other in preparing and
teaching effective lessons [3].
SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition) is
another useful way of technology application in classroom. It suggests that there
can be four different levels of technology use, depending on the purpose of the
activity and the level of its complexity.
Despite constant progress in technology development and the uprise of
new methods of its implementation in teaching, the level of digitalization is still
rather low. According to Anderson, teachers’ views about the benefits and
challenges of using technology sometimes varied by confidence, experience, or
beliefs regarding the role of technology in the classroom [6].
At the same time, during the post-pandemic period the situation with
education digitalization has become better, along with online learning.
According to Akizhanova, nowadays, the most popular educational platforms
are Google Classroom, YouTube, Padlet, Mentimeter, Edpuzzle, Calameo,
Quizlet and others [5]. Many teachers, however, like using technologies in the
lessons, which basically corresponds to the lower levels of SAMR model
(Substitution and Augmentation).
Living in a techno-era, we have made devices of different types and kinds
an integral part of our daily life. The sphere of educations is not an exception.
Slowly but surely, effective teaching and learning processes become more and
more associated with technology use. However, one of the obstacles,
educational institutions face with here, is inability to get the maximum from
technology use to improve academic results. This may happen for a number of
reasons, but one of the biggest milestones is that technology and curriculum are
often not synced.
According to Dr. Harry Saint Cyr, regardless of the learning framework,
the common goal is always to equip global citizens with transferable skills and
knowledge to tackle global issues. Whatever people may think of educational
technology, research shows that technology-enriched learning is an essential
part of helping learners develop the 21st century skills necessary to solve real-
world problems [1]. The biggest challenge, however, is that educators continue
to struggle aligning technology with their teaching programs. In his article,
Saint Cyr introduces for strategies for more effective technology and curriculum
aligning [1]. Dr. Shane Dixon speaks of the necessity to choose technology
based on the lesson objectives, rather than to select technology and adapt the
whole class to it [3]. In this way only, technology will not just entertain but
serve its educational purpose. Thinking back of the SAMR model, many experts
believe it can successfully be interpreted through the prism of the Bloom’s
taxonomy [7]. While the lower levels of the taxonomy suggest tasks oriented to
memorization and understanding of information, which do not commonly
suggest students’ cognitive processes, its higher levels often imply such tasks as
analyzing, evaluating, and creating which are normally called the higher order
thinking skills, or HOTs. These tasks, as a rule, require the involvement of
students’ cognitive skills. In discussing the SAMR model, many experts connect
substitution and augmentation to the lower order thinking skills of remembering
(memorization) and understanding. And modification, and re-definition to the
higher order thinking skills of analyzing, evaluating, and creating. No doubts,
this interpretation is logical and meaningful when thinking about technology use
in classrooms.
The present study falls into three phases. At the first stage, the survey
among the university students of the 1-3 years of study has been conducted. The
purpose of the survey was to discover students’ general understanding of
technology and whether technology is used in their lessons. The second step
was to orgazine a focus group among the respondents who participated in the
survey and conduct a 3-hour English lesson, using the IDEA approach. Overall,
eight students of different age participated in this lesson. The eight students
were randomly selected among the 11 respondents of the survey. The lesson
involved the use of Padlet, as one of the most popular technologies in teaching
[5]. The second stage aimed to measure the effectiveness of the suggested IDEA
approach in teaching English. This was followed by the third stage, when the
students were asked to participate in a questionnaire. With the help of 5-point
Likert scale questionnaire, it was possible to analyze the students’ feedback and
measure the general effectiveness of the IDEA approach to teaching English.
 Results
The first stage of the study was to measure students’ general attitudes
towards technology use in the classroom. The students were asked to complete
the survey, which consisted of 10 multiple-choice questions. The survey was
conducted online via Google forms. The survey and the responses are available
at the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1CGkmUYQt2UVe9M4WCJCtvypSSXHbgXi
Y0-sH_3Ih33M/edit#responses
Generally, the survey results showed students’ interest in technology as
an effective tool of increasing motivation to learning. At the same time, many
respondents highlight the necessity of clear teachers’ instructions and guidelines
when using technologies for the first time.
The next stage was to hold an English language lesson with the eight
participants. The lesson procedures were categorized as follows:
Table 1. Stages of the lesson
Lesson stage
Warm-up and Objectives discussion
Instruct and Model
Guided practice
Independent practice
Assessment

Padlet was selected as a technology to use in the classroom.

After the lesson, the students took a questionnaire to provide their
feedback. The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions and measured two
variables: students’ general satisfaction with the lesson and students’
satisfaction with technology and teaching objectives alignment.
Table 2. Likert scale questionnaire
Variables Items Agreement Scale

SD D N A SA

General Were the topic and objectives of the lesson clear to you? 6 2
satisfaction
with the lesson Was the presentation stage logical and understandable? 1 7

Did you have enough time to practice new knowledge? 1 2 5

Was the time allocated for each lesson section clearly 8

indicated?

Was the overall pace of the lesson comfortable for you to 2 1 5

follow?

Satisfaction Was the technology used throughout the whole lesson? 8

with
technology and Did the teacher provide additional instructions before 8
 teaching using the technology?
objectives
alignment Did the technology help you acquire the information 4 2 2
easier?

Did the technology have connection with the lesson 1 7

objectives?

Did you effectively use technology at the production 1 7

stage?

Likert Scale:
1 = Strongly Disagree (SD)
2 = Disagree (D)
3 = Neutral (N)
4 = Agree (A)
5 = Strongly Agree (SA)

number of respondents: 8

The Likert scale questionnaire results demonstrated students’ high

involvement in the lesson and overall effectiveness of technology use to achieve
the lesson objectives. However, several respondents still indicated limited time
for practice and production, while some stayed neutral when speaking about
logic, classroom atmosphere and overall language acquisition.
Based on the data collection and analysis presented, this article seeks to
offer the reconstructed model (approach) of technology use in the ESL
classroom – “The IDEA (Introduce, Demonstrate, Experience and Assess)”
approach. Now, as we speak about the new generation, the time has come to
change the attitude towards technology. Taking into consideration that many
institutions have switched a great part of their disciplines to an online regime,
the problem of technology use appears even more inevitable. Regardless of
whether the class is conducted online or offline, teachers can try applying
technology throughout their whole lesson, instead of using it on a certain stage
only.
The IDEA (Introduce, Demonstrate, Experience and Assess) approach
suggests that technology, which matches with the lesson objectives, can be
introduced at the first step of the class, and be continuously used till the final
(assessment) stage. The IDEA approach can be illustrated through the lesson
plan format by TESOL, where there are basically five stages of the lesson [3]:
 Warm-up and Objectives discussion
 Instruct and Model
 Guided practice
 Independent practice
  Assessment
The following table visualizes how IDEA approach can potentially fit in
the lesson plan stages:
Table3. Correlation of IDEA steps and the stages of a typical lesson

Lesson stage Technology use stage (based Examples of tasks Students’ skills Connection
on IDEA approach) activated to SAMR
Warm-up and Instruction on Technology Watching introductory videos, LOTS Substitution
Objectives use and identification of the doing online-quizzes and tests
discussion purpose of using it
Instruct and Demonstration of Teacher demonstrates a product Augmentatio
Model Technology use by a teacher (an essay or a video) that the n
students need to make with the
help of Technology by the end of
the lesson. Teacher explains the
steps of working with Technology.
Guided practice Students experience Creating mindmaps, HOTS Modification
Technology under the questionnaires, interview each
teacher’s supervision other in groups or pairs
Independent Students experience Creating a video, posture or story
practice Technology more (depending on the lesson
independently objectives) individually or in
groups, based on the ideas from
the previous stage.
Assessment Students together with the Cross-checking, peer-reviewing Redefinition
teacher use Technology to with feedback and analyzing each-
assess results other’s mistakes

Discussion
According to Singh, the most substantial task for educational society in
terms of digitalization is to make use of digital technology in the classroom in
the most productive ways. The author says that the main aim of integrating
technology in the classroom is to maximize the quality of education, but not
make it more complex. According to Singh, technology is not used to replace
teachers, but rather to support them. On the other hand, technology must rather
widen students’ learning activities and increase their interest towards learning,
than to repulse their will to acquire something new [8].
Based on the foregone research on digital education, the problem that
remains unsolved can be identified as follows: despite the wide usage of
technology in teaching, it is still rather “a need” than the way of making
teaching more effective. Most teachers do not use technology during their
lessons for the purpose of learning alleviation and productivity, but rather they
use it for their convenience or because they were simply told to do it.
Technology in educations has long been seen as something new and
unexplored. Teachers try to use some elements of technology at some stage of
their lesson; however, the problem is that often technology choice does not
correspond to the lesson objectives.
In the context of contemporary education, when a great part of disciplines
has switched to the online format, the IDEA approach can have a strong
potential in making technology an integral part of an ESL lesson. Moreover, it
can help language instructors and learners get the maximum of technology use
in both entertainment and educational purposes.

Conclusion
Technology and teaching have now become the two fundamental pillars
which aim to make the quality of education progress faster. Technology can no
longer be isolated from education neither can it be considered as something
“latest and greatest”. In fact, technology is everywhere, and we must admit it
and get the best out of its use.
Nowadays, education system and teachers’ understanding of digital
education clearly need transformation. One step towards such a shift from
traditional to technology-enriched teaching could be making technology a part
of each stage of the lesson, rather than using it just for practicing or warm-up
step, as an example. According to the study results, most students willingly
embrace technologies in learning and believe that they increase their motivation
to learning. However, the problem is whether technologies are used to meet
studying requirement and if students have clear understating of their use. The
IDEA approach shows how technology use could be synced with the stages of a
lesson plan and how it can be associated with the SAMR model. This approach
can potentially be used for further research ideas to gain more practical results.
Limitations: the study was limited to the number of participants (11) and
covered the students of only one university of Kazakhstan (Almaty
Management University).

REFERENCES
[1] Saint Cyr H. Four Strategies for Aligning the Curriculum with Technology. –
URL: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/four-strategies-aligning-curriculum-technology-dr-
harry-saint-cyr/?trk=articles_directory [Date of access: 15.02.2023]

[2] Armstrong P. Bloom’s Taxonomy //Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. –

URL: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/ [Date of access:
15.02.2023]

[3] Dixon Sh., Cinco J. The TESOL Course “Teach English Now! Technology
Enriched Teaching”, https://www.coursera.org/learn/tesol-technology/lecture/trWBK/video-
2-digital-natives-and-non-natives [Date of access: 9.05.2022]

[4] Ashilova M., Begalinov A., Begalinova K. (2019). About the impact of
digitalization of society on education in Kazakhstan //Science for Education Today. – 2019.
VL. 9. – P. 40-51. 10.15293/2658-6762.1906.03.

[5] Akizhanova D, Tussupbekova M, Meirambekova L. (2023). Kazakhstan’s

Practices of Using Digital Tools in Teaching English Online //L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian
National University. – 2023. – P. 61-66
 [6] Anderson S. E., Putman R. S. (2020). Special Education Teachers’ Experience,
Confidence, Beliefs, and Knowledge About Integrating Technology //Journal of Special
Education Technology. – 2020. – VL. 35. №. 1. – P. 37–50.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0162643419836409

[7] Kurt S. Bloom’s Taxonomy. Teaching & Learning, - URL:

https://educationaltechnology.net/blooms-taxonomy/ [Date of access: 21.02.2023]

[8] Singh M. N. (2021). Inroad of Digital Technology in Education: Age of Digital

Classroom //Higher Education for the Future. – 2021. VL. 8. №. 1. – P. 20–30.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2347631120980272

ТЕХНОЛОГИЯЛАР МЕН ШЕТ ТІЛІН ОҚУ БАҒДАРЛАМАЛАРЫН

СИНХРОНДАУ «IDEA» МОДЕЛІ: ТЕОРИЯЛЫҚ НЕГІЗДЕРІ
e-mail: m.begunova@almau.edu.kz

Аңдатпа. Оқыту мен оқу ортасына технологияны енгізу көптен бері даулы
мәселе болып келеді. COVID-19 індетінен кейін білім беру жүйесінің онлайн режиміне
жылдам ауысуы бұл сұрақты одан да тереңірек қарастыруға әкелді. Білім беруде
технологияны қолдану қажеттілігі айқын болғанымен, оның оқыту мен оқу үдерісіне
енуі бірнеше себептерге байланысты әрдайым бірқалыпты бола бермейді. Мұндай
факторлардың ішінде сарапшылар педагогикалық ұйымдардың нашар технологиялық
жабдықталуын, мұғалімдердің қорқынышын және технологияны пайдаланғысы
келмеуін немесе мекеме әкімшілігінің мұғалімдерді қандай да бір әдіспен
технологияны, тіпті олар нақты білім беру мақсатын көздемесе де қолдануға
мәжбүрлеуге бағытталған «агрессивті» әрекеттерін атап өтеді. Бұл мақаланың мақсаты
білім беруде технологияны қолдануды бұдан былай ерекше нәрсе деп санауға
болмайтынын, керісінше оны COVID-тен кейінгі оқыту мен оқу уақытының ажырамас
бөлігі ретінде қабылдау керектігін көрсету. Бұл мақалада зерттеу сипаттамалық әдісін,
талдау әдісі және сауалнама әдісін қолданады. Мақалада білім беру үдерісіне
технологияны енгізуге арналған IDEA (нұсқау, көрсету, тәжірибе және бағалау) әдісі
де ұсынылған. Бұл әдіс технология оқушылардың көңілін көтеріп, мұғалімдердің
шығармашылығын көрсетіп ғана қоймай, сонымен қатар оқытуды тиімдірек ететінін
ескере отырып, ағылшын тілі мұғалімдеріне технологияны күнделікті сабақтарының
бір бөлігіне айналдыруға көмектесуге тырысады. Бұл зерттеуде қолданылған әдістеме
– түсіндірмелі тәсіл және қосымша деректерді талдау болып табылады. Мақалада
ұсынылған идеяларды білім беру саласындағы ғалымдар, педагогтар және практиктер
іс жүзінде мақұлдауы мүмкін.
Тірек сөздер: білім беру технологиясы, цифрлық білім беру, білім беру
трансформациясы, технология және оқу жоспарын үйлестіру, ағылшын тілін үйрету,
жоғары білім, сандық аборигендер, сандық иммигранттар

МОДЕЛЬ СИНХРОНИЗАЦИИ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ И ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНЫХ

ПРОГРАМ В ЯЗЫКОВОМ ОБУЧЕНИИ «IDEA»: ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИЕ
ОСНОВЫ
 Аннотация. Проблема интеграции технологий в сферу преподавания и обучения всегда
являлась актуальной и значимой. Резкий переход системы образования в онлайн-режим после
вспышки пандемии COVID-19 поставил этот вопрос перед еще более пристальным вниманием.
В современном мире необходимость использования технологий в образовании очевидна,
однако их внедрение в процесс преподавания и обучения не всегда кажется гладким по
всевозможным причинам. Среди таких факторов специалисты называют слабое
технологическое оснащение педагогических организаций, опасения и нежелание учителей
использовать технику или «агрессивные» попытки администрации вуза каким-либо образом
принуждать учителей к использованию технологий, даже если они не преследуют четкой
образовательной цели. Цель этой статьи — подчеркнуть, что использование технологий в
образовании больше не должно считаться чем-то экстраординарным, а скорее является
неотъемлемой частью образовательных процессов в «постковидном» обществе. В данном
исследовании используются описательный метод, метод анализа и метод опроса. В статье
также представлен подход IDEA (Instruct, Demonstrate, Experience and Assess) к внедрению
технологий в образовательный процесс. Этот подход направлен на то, чтобы помочь
преподавателям иностранных языков, в частности английского, сделать технологии частью
своих ежедневных уроков, принимая во внимание, что технологии не только делают занятие
разнообразным и демонстрируют творческий потенциал преподавателя, но и обеспечивают
более эффективное обучение, что является их прямой и основной целью. Методы,
используемые в данном исследовании, представляют собой метод сравнения, описания и
анализ вторичных данных. Представленные в статье идеи могут быть апробированы на
практике учеными, педагогами и практиками в сфере образования.
Ключевые слова: технологии в образовании, цифровое образование, трансформация в
образовании, синхронизация технологий и учебных программ, преподавание английского
языка, высшее образование, цифровые аборигены, цифровые иммигранты