The Technology Integration Matrix
The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) provides a framework for describing and targeting the use of technology to enhance learning. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, collaborative, constructive, authentic, and goal-directed. These characteristics are associated with five levels of technology integration: entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation. Together, the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments and five levels of technology integration create a matrix of 25 cells, as illustrated below. All TIM descriptors apply equally well to online and face-to-face instruction, Developed by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT) in 2005, the TIM is now in its third edition (2019).
ENTRY
Information passively received
ADOPTION
Conventional, procedural use of technology tools
ADAPTATION
Conventional independent use of tools; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Choice of tools and regular, self-directed use
TRANSFORMATION
Extensive and unconventional use of tools
ENTRY
Individual student use of technology tools
ADOPTION
Collaborative use of tools in conventional ways
ADAPTATION
Collaborative use of tools; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Choice of tools and regular use for collaboration
TRANSFORMATION
Collaboration with peers, outside experts, and others in ways that may not be possible without technology
ENTRY
Information delivered to students
ADOPTION
Guided, conventional use for building knowledge
ADAPTATION
Independent use for building knowledge; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Choice and regular use for building knowledge
TRANSFORMATION
Extensive and unconventional use of technology tools to build knowledge
ENTRY
Technology use unrelated to the world outside of the instructional setting
ADOPTION
Guided use in activities with some meaningful context
ADAPTATION
Independent use in activities connected to students' lives; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Choice of tools and regular use in meaningful activities
TRANSFORMATION
Innovative use for higher-order learning activities connected to the world beyond the instructional setting
ENTRY
Directions given; step-by-step task monitoring
ADOPTION
Conventional and procedural use of tools to plan or monitor
ADAPTATION
Purposeful use of tools to plan and monitor; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Flexible and seamless use of technology tools to plan and monitor
TRANSFORMATION
Extensive and higher-order use of tools to plan and monitor
ENTRY
Individual student use of technology tools
ADOPTION
Collaborative use of tools in conventional ways
ADAPTATION
Collaborative use of tools; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Choice of tools and regular use for collaboration
TRANSFORMATION
Collaboration with peers, outside experts, and others in ways that may not be possible without technology
ENTRY
Information delivered to students
ADOPTION
Guided, conventional use for building knowledge
ADAPTATION
Independent use for building knowledge; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Choice and regular use for building knowledge
TRANSFORMATION
Extensive and unconventional use of technology tools to build knowledge
ENTRY
Technology use unrelated to the world outside of the instructional setting
ADOPTION
Guided use in activities with some meaningful context
ADAPTATION
Independent use in activities connected to students' lives; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Choice of tools and regular use in meaningful activities
TRANSFORMATION
Innovative use for higher-order learning activities connected to the world beyond the instructional setting
ENTRY
Directions given; step-by-step task monitoring
ADOPTION
Conventional and procedural use of tools to plan or monitor
ADAPTATION
Purposeful use of tools to plan and monitor; some student choice and exploration
INFUSION
Flexible and seamless use of technology tools to plan and monitor
TRANSFORMATION
Extensive and higher-order use of tools to plan and monitor
The Technology Integration Matrix
The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) provides a framework for describing and targeting the use of technology to enhance learning. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, collaborative, constructive, authentic, and goal-directed. These characteristics are associated with five levels of technology integration: entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation. Together, the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments and five levels of technology integration create a matrix of 25 cells, as illustrated below. Developed by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT) in 2005, the TIM is now in its third edition (2019).
Each month FCIT publishes a newsletter with short articles on teaching and learning with technology, using digital content in the classroom, and professional development for technology integration. Subscribe today for topics like The TIM and Assistive Technology or Active Learning: Engaging Students’ Minds.
You can also submit stories about how the TIM has been used in your classroom, school, or district.
For More Information....
Review these recent TIM posts from our Teaching and Learning with Technology blog.
Video: Introduction to the Technology Integration Matrix
Dr. James Welsh gives a short history of the development of the TIM and then explains how the Matrix is constructed using the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments and the five levels of technology integration. He also discusses some of the underlying dimensions of the TIM.
Active Learning: Engaging Students’ Minds
The Technology Integration Matrix was not designed simply to promote the use of technology, but rather to encourage the use of whatever technology is available to promote effective, researched-based pedagogy. When constructing the TIM, we examined how technology could...
Collaborative Learning: Building Knowledge in Community
This is the second in a series on the characteristics of a meaningful learning environment. The first was Active Learning: Engaging Students’ Minds. The Collaborative characteristic describes the degree to which technology is used to facilitate, enable, or...
Constructive Learning: Making Connections
The Constructive characteristic of the Technology Integration Matrix describes instruction in which students to use technology tools to connect new information to their existing knowledge.
Authentic Learning: Mirroring the Real World
With the growth of mass schooling following the industrial revolution, many connections between education and the real world were lost to students now sitting in a classroom with thirty matching desks and thirty matching textbooks. Fortunately, digital technology has given us the ability to reconnect learning to the real world.
Goal-Directed Learning: Escape from the “Schoolwork Box”
The Goal-Directed characteristic of the TIM is all about freeing students from the confines of the traditional schoolwork box. It’s a chance for them to enter the mystical realm outside the box that was previously reserved for teachers. From this new perspective, students have a grasp of the overall goal of an activity right from the start.
Eight Great Habits for Learning with Technology
As I write this, we are currently in the midst of The Great, Worldwide Experiment in Online Education of 2020. Never before has there been so obviously a need for students to be able to use their technology in ways that follow sound pedagogical principles.
The Invisible Technology Integration Matrix
On the surface, the TIM looks pretty simple. There are five characteristics of effective learning environments: Active, Collaborative, Constructive, Authentic, and Goal-Directed. And there are five levels of technology integration ranging from the Entry to the...
Choosing Models and Modeling Choices
The Second Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education is out this year and it includes an article by Scott McLeod entitled, “Technology Integration, Leadership, and Organizational Support Frameworks for Instructional Improvement with...
ISTE Standards and the Technology Integration Matrix
We spend a great deal of time of each week speaking with school and district leaders who are considering adopting the Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) and TIM Evaluation Tools. Invariably, the conversation comes around to questions about how the TIM relates to....
Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy and the TIM
Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy is familiar to nearly every educator. The illustration at left shows the six categories of Anderson and Krathwohl’s 2001 revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and...
TPACK and the TIM
TPACK is one of the best known frameworks for technology integration. It has its roots in work done in the 1980s by Lee Schulman who noted that is was not sufficient for teachers to know pedagogy and the content of their teaching area as two separate fields. To be...
What do we mean by “independent access”?
I was recently talking with a friend at a school district about their upcoming round of TIM observations and we went down an interesting path talking about independence as it is discussed in the Technology Integration Matrix. A lot turns on independence. At the first...
Tech Exploration in the Classroom
Throughout the Technology Integration Matrix there is a consistent reference to student exploration of technology tools beginning at the Adaptation level. The emphasis on not only allowing, but also encouraging, exploration is no accident. In our busy schedules we...
Ownership of Learning with Technology
One of the most important concepts behind the TIM is the ownership of learning. At lower levels of technology integration, the teacher is the one directing how students are to use technology in class. Sometimes it’s even that the teacher is the ONLY one...