10 Making Adjustments
It’s basically a guarantee that your first time using a new educational technology tool will not go perfectly; all of this preparation is intended to reduce problems that may arise, not avoid them entirely. Not only is that not possible, but it would likely be a missed opportunity to discover better approaches and previously unknown affordances. One of the reasons we recommend simply playing with the tool before settling into the work of incorporating it into a course (see “Being Assigned Technology”) is because of the many happy accidents that can result.
During the process of using the tool, you and your students will almost certainly have stumbled upon improvements to your initial usage. Be prepared to leverage the unexpected discoveries that you and your students make throughout the term and adjust your use of the tool accordingly. While you do not want to make constant changes to assignments or stray too far beyond what students are already doing — something that would increase the stress and cognitive load — it is worthwhile to make minor changes to how you are using the tool in the latter half of the term based on the lessons you learned in your earliest application.