AIM Model: Overview

This AIM (Analysis, Intention, Measure) model is a thinking tool to help teachers reflect on how they currently use digital technologies to support their practice.

Finding and Evaluating Information
To what extent can you find reliable and trustworthy information online, and organise what you find using curation and knowledge management tools?
Digital technologies can help facilitate finding and evaluating information, for example by connecting us to multiple sources through powerful search engines such as Google and Bing, enabling triangulation and hence data verification. Being able to both locate and evaluate information online is a key skill, and one that it is important to be able to model for students.

Investigating

Assessing Learning

To what extent can you use digital technologies to capture student understanding and provide written and oral feedback?
Digital technologies can provide a quick and powerful way of gathering both formative and summative assessment information from your pupils. Dedicated apps such as Socrative can provide you with individual assessments of learning in the classroom, while free survey tools such as Google Forms can provide both synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for assessment and feedback.

Differentiating Instruction

Digital technologies are well known for their protean nature, i.e. they are often not fixed entities but are changeable according to need. This changeability can support differentiation in the classroom.

Collaborating

Engaging Learners

To what extent can you use online collaboration and communication tools to engage learners in dialogue and discussion?
Digital technologies can provide a strong framework to support collaboration, and can even offer opportunities for working with others that would otherwise be impossible, such as exploring previously unavailable perspectives through apps like YouTube.

Motivating Students

Gamification of Learning

Digital technologies can provide opportunities for gamification, turning a learning exercise into a fun challenge and an opportunity to compete with peers. Apps such as Kahoot can transform an end-of-unit test into something more akin to an in-class gameshow, stimulating and engaging students alike.

Planning Instructional Strategies

Organizing Learning Activities

To what extent can you use digital technologies to plan and structure learning, both in the classroom and for homework?
Digital technologies can support planning by providing an always-at-hand note-taking and reminder service. Using online services to store your planning, such as Trello or OneNote, enhances your memory and helps you stay on top of a busy teaching schedule.