In this next blog, we take a look at how REL Northwest is partnering with The Rural Alliance and member districts in Washington state to reimagine how evidence-based recommendations on technology-enhanced learning apply in rural contexts.

In 2023, REL Northwest and a cross-REL working group created the Leveraging Technology for Student Success framework (Leveraging Technology framework). The Washington Rural Alliance Partnership builds on the framework to help rural districts decide whether, when, and how technology-enhanced learning can support their students.

The partnership

One of The Rural Alliance's goals is to increase rural students' postsecondary success by offering technology-enhanced learning opportunities. Small schools with fewer students and staff often face barriers to providing advanced coursework such as advanced placement classes or advanced-level math, science, and language courses. As students need these courses to be competitive applicants to postsecondary institutions, online or blended instruction enables students to learn from teachers remotely.

In REL Northwest and The Rural Alliance's first project, REL Northwest delivered a series of trainings to help leaders from Washington rural school districts better understand evidence-based practices to design and implement technology-enhanced learning. To ensure the technology is adopted and used in ways that support learning for all students, REL Northwest shared the resource Reimagining Excellence: A Blueprint for Social and Emotional Well-Being and Academic Excellence in Schools with district partners. REL Northwest had participants reflect on their current programming through each of the blueprint's lenses. Districts then selected lenses they wished to improve through their tech-enhanced learning initiatives.

After the first project, three Washington districts sought additional opportunities to work with REL Northwest and apply what they had learned. Cascade School District Superintendent Tracey Edou shared, "Working with REL Northwest gives a great opportunity to directly engage in research, reflect on how that research aligns with specific work happening in our school districts, and collaborate with other interested school districts in the region."

The challenges

Though the What Works Clearinghouse practice guides and Leveraging Technology framework provide a place to start thinking about selecting, implementing, and evaluating technology-enhanced learning to address these challenges, rural districts are faced with additional implementation challenges, including lack of staff and time, infrastructure challenges such as buildings not designed for the increased use of technology, and limited internet access.

The second project focused on helping districts identify challenges and develop plans for their technology-enhanced learning initiatives. Each district identified a unique challenge that might be addressed with tech-enhanced learning initiatives:

• Cascade School District was experiencing challenges in providing accessible materials and information for its hearing impaired and English learner students. They were particularly interested in exploring how technology can support teachers and the district in serving those students.
• Lind-Ritzville Cooperative Schools wanted to increase active learning with existing technology like Chromebooks and smartboards. This included getting students to build and use critical and creative skills that could lead to improved attendance, especially in high school. 
• Inchelium School District was interested in exploring how technology could help its Native American students connect more closely to their culture and community.

To support the districts in addressing these challenges, REL Northwest provided the districts with the following resources, which relate to each part of the Leveraging Technology framework:

• Equity: The TAXI model provides practical questions districts can ask to evaluate the equitable implications of technology decisions.¹
• Selection: Technology audits are crucial to reflect on existing infrastructure and evaluate what needs to be retired or added. The Learning Accelerator has a useful explainer with links to resources from actual districts who have done audits.
• Infrastructure: As technology use in schools is growing, the need to protect the infrastructure also grows. The K-12 Digital Infrastructure Brief provides key considerations for protection.²
• Implementation: The training needs of teachers, students, parents, and the community also have to be considered. The TPACK model provides considerations for the types of knowledge that people need in order to fully realize the benefits of technology.³

Through this process, district partners made discoveries about how technology was or could be used in their settings. Like other rural districts, Lind-Ritzville purchased several pieces of technology during the height of the pandemic when schools were forced to go remote, but use of those resources post-pandemic has been scattered and limited throughout the district. Cascade developed an online program and a YouTube channel for community outreach. However, Cascade did not have staff equipped with the technical expertise to leverage the YouTube channel.

Rural district leaders are well-versed in the context and daily challenges faced by learners in their district. REL Northwest staff are experienced and steeped in the resources, evidence, and latest ideas pertaining to technology-enhanced learning. Together, REL Northwest and the districts looked at the broad Leveraging Technology framework, taking each recommendation and applying or adapting it to the specific needs of their rural Washington district.

The results

REL Northwest and district partners worked together to develop logic models describing their desired program, plans for implementing the program, and evaluation plans to guide data collection about the implementation and outcomes of the program. In addition, REL Northwest curated resources to support each district.

Through this work, each district uncovered important lessons about tackling technology-enhanced learning in a rural district: 

• Cascade learned the importance of very clearly defining the problem they were trying to solve. Once the accessibility problem was narrowed to district capacity to provide closed captioned videos, it was relatively straight forward to provide resources and instructions for teachers to use the district YouTube site and its built in closed captioning and translation systems.
• Lind-Ritzville identified that it needed to leverage internal capacity to provide training and support for its teachers. The district recognized that teachers in the district were using existing technology in unique and novel ways to support student learning. Capturing and disseminating these practices was the ideal place to start reimagining the use of instructional technology.
• Inchelium learned a different lesson—that technology is not always the solution. Through the work of the partnership, the district realized that although technology could be used as a tool, it was not the solution to reconnecting its students to their culture and community.

As the partnership continues, REL Northwest plans to share the discoveries and ideas with rural educators in Washington and across the nation. As more schools integrate technology-enhanced learning offerings for their students, the need for evidence-backed, high-quality online programs will continue to rise. Through this partnership, REL Northwest hopes to offer ways for rural districts to find and use technology-enhanced learning that responds to the challenges of the rural context.

Additional RESOURCES

REL Northwest has published a series of blogs taking an in-depth look at the recommendations in the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide Using Technology to Support Postsecondary Student Learning:

• Personalizing Technology-Enhanced Learning
• Promoting Self-Regulated Learning Technology
• Technology-Enhanced Learning: Using Communication and Collaboration Tools
• Using Technology for Classroom Feedback

Please subscribe to our newsletter, reach out via email, follow us on X and visit our Website to learn more about REL Northwest.