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What Does Active Digital Learning Look Like?
Active. Intentional. Integrated.
Rethinking Digital Learning
Families and educators care deeply about how much time children spend on screens—and for good reason. Alongside that conversation, we can also explore how devices are being used to support learning, creativity, and connection.
A New Lens: Active vs. Passive Use
This lens provides a new framework for understanding how students interact with digital tools. School-managed devices are more often used for short, purposeful tasks that promote active learning—like recording ideas, creating media, or responding to prompts that spark curiosity and connection. These tasks often invite students to express their thinking in multi-sensory ways, using voice, visuals, movement, and text to share what they know with others.
Passive Use:
A middle school student clicking through content without applying it, watching a video without discussion, or completing embedded check-in questions and with little or no reflection.
(Even in structured environments, families may worry that screen time replaces hands-on learning or teacher interaction.)
Active Use:
A second grader uses the Camera app to take a photo of a classroom plant, then opens Markup to circle the leaves and label parts like “stem” and “roots.” They record a short voice memo explaining how the plant has changed since last week.
(This 3–5 minute activity blends observation, science vocabulary, and reflection—building skills in communication and inquiry.)
What does Active Digital Learning Look Like in the Classroom?
Starting with Foundations: Elementary School
In elementary school, digital learning isn’t about mastering complex tools—it’s about building the habits of exploration, expression, and reflection. These early experiences help students learn to communicate ideas, observe the world around them, and begin thinking critically. Whether they’re recording a voice reflection, labeling a math photo, or animating a story character, students are laying the groundwork for the creative and analytical thinking they’ll use in later grades.
Elementary School: Meaningful Exploration & Creation
Activity Title |
Digital Resource |
Description |
🧸Digital Storytelling |
ChatterPix
(APS Approved) |
Students bring their drawings or classroom objects to life with ChatterPix, recording 30-second narrations that build oral language, narrative skills, and emotional expression—like a stuffed animal describing their day, a talking clock explaining time, or a cloud describing the seasons. |
🔍Digital Scavenger Hunts |
Camera
(iPad-native) |
Students search for content-specific examples of shapes, numbers, vocabulary words, or story connections around the classroom, school, home, or playground. |
🧮Math Manipulatives & Markup |
Camera + Photos + Markup
(iPad-native) |
Students use physical math manipulatives—like base ten blocks or counters—to solve problems. They take a photo of their setup and use Markup to circle quantities, label parts, or explain their thinking. |
From Elementary to Middle School
As students enter middle school, digital learning begins to expand. While iPads remain a core tool, the addition of keyboards supports longer-form writing, research, and organization. Students start using technology not just to explore and express—but to collaborate, manage ideas, and engage in blended learning environments that combine digital and face-to-face experiences. These shifts build readiness for more complex tasks and independent thinking.
Middle School: Collaboration & Critical Thinking
Activity Title |
Digital Resource |
Description |
🧩Digital Escape Rooms |
Nearpod
(APS Approved) |
Students solve curriculum-based puzzles (e.g., ciphered vocab, math riddles) to “escape” a virtual room. |
🧪Interactive Science Simulations |
Gizmos + Voice Memos
(APS Approved, iPad Native) |
Students manipulate variables in virtual labs, hypothesize, test, and reflect—then record reflections using Voice Memos. |
🎭Partner Tableau |
Clips
(APS Approved) |
Students take turns acting out lit scenes, vocabulary, or historical events silently while peers record the performance with Clips—reinforcing content through movement. Partner creates a dynamic short clip recording narration. |
From Middle to High School
Building Complexity and Purpose
In high school, digital learning becomes more open-ended and interdisciplinary. Students begin to move beyond structured tasks, using digital tools to design, analyze, and reflect across subjects. With access to more flexible platforms and creative tools, they take greater ownership of their learning—developing the collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills they’ll need for college, careers, and civic life.
High School: Creation, Analysis, & Real-World Connection
Activity Title |
Digital Resource |
Description |
🗺️Interactive Mapping |
Maps (iPad Native) | Students explore locations tied to literature, history, or personal narratives by searching in Apple Maps. They take screenshots, annotate them in Markup, and insert them into Pages or Keynote with reflections or voice recordings. |
🎨Canva for Visual Essays |
Canva (APS Approved) | Students design infographics, posters, slide decks, or flyers to present research or reflections—blending design and academic rigor. |
🎧Soundscapes, Mood, & Multi-sensory Thinking |
GarageBand (iPad Native) | Students use soundscapes and music to explore emotional regulation and identity, composing mood-based playlists or audio narratives that deepen self-awareness and empathy. |
From Purpose to Practice: Intentional Integration for Deeper Learning
Digital learning in APS classrooms is not a separate initiative—it’s part of how students think, create, and connect across subjects. Whether composing music to express emotion, annotating math strategies, coding robotics to share learning, or designing visual essays to present research, technology supports deeper learning and student agency.
APS’s approach is grounded in trusted frameworks from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and ISTE, which outline the roles and competencies students develop as responsible digital learners.
Student Roles in Action
Digital Citizen
Students learn about online safety, ethical behavior, and responsible use of technology.
Classroom Connection: During daily SEL check-ins, students create digital journals using images, voice recordings, selfies, and text. Before sharing with their teacher, they learn to reflect on what’s appropriate to include, respect others’ privacy, and understand how their digital choices impact themselves and their community—practicing responsible and ethical behavior online.
Knowledge Constructor
Students use technology to gather information, conduct research, and construct knowledge responsibly. This includes learning to evaluate sources, cite appropriately, and respect intellectual property.
Classroom Connection: Students use Freeform to organize research from mixed media sources for a writing prompt, adding sticky notes and links to credible sources—while practicing how to attribute ideas and build original work from what they learn.
Innovative Designer
Students use digital tools to design and create innovative solutions to problems.
Classroom Connection: Elementary students use GarageBand to compose soundtracks that express emotion from historical fiction stories or events.
Computational Thinker
Students develop and apply strategies to understand and solve problems using technology-assisted methods like data analysis, modeling, or algorithmic thinking.
Classroom Connection: In a 5th-grade science class, students place celery stalks in colored water, make predictions, collect and analyze data, and use digital tools like ExploreLearning Gizmos to model water movement—applying algorithmic thinking to describe and refine the process.
Creative Communicator
Students use technology to communicate ideas and collaborate effectively.
Classroom Connection: Using Clips, students act out vocabulary, historical figures, or science concepts and narrate their understanding of their learning in short videos.
Global Collaborator
Students work with peers locally and globally to broaden perspectives.
Classroom Connection: In a civics unit on voter awareness, students use Canva to collaborate with neighboring districts to design and share surveys. With teacher support, they analyze the results and then create public-facing flyers that promote youth civic engagement in their communities.
Ethical Agent
Students recognize the impact of technology on themselves and others and practice responsible use.
Classroom Connection: Using SchoolAI, secondary students collaborate with teachers in monitored GenAI “Spaces” to explore writing prompts and organize ideas. As they engage with AI-generated suggestions, students learn to evaluate responses for bias and misinformation, cite AI contributions appropriately, and avoid presenting generated content as their own—developing integrity, honesty, and responsible digital habits.
ISTE Competencies Embedded in APS Classrooms
APS also integrates the five ISTE digital citizenship competencies into everyday instruction:
- Inclusive: Students explore diverse perspectives through collaborative tools and respectful dialogue.
- Informed: Students evaluate sources and media for credibility using research platforms and teacher-curated databases.
- Engaged: Students use technology to solve real-world problems and participate in civic discussions.
- Balanced: Students reflect on their tech use through SEL check-ins and classroom routines that promote healthy habits.
- Alert: Students learn to protect their privacy and create safe spaces for others online.
These roles and competencies aren’t taught in isolation—they’re embedded in how students use technology to think, create, and connect. APS’s digital learning approach helps students grow into thoughtful learners, creative problem-solvers, and responsible digital citizens.