Many schools/learning environments tend to focus on traditional tools to the exclusion of contemporary ones. Without being prompted to consider contemporary tools, educators and instructional designers often depend on the tools they’ve grown accustomed to. It is imperative to update tools to align with current contexts and innovations.

For example, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become a necessary consideration when designing learning experiences around composition. Relying upon traditional tools has several liabilities: 1) it does not prepare learners for their future; 2) it limits the range of content and teaching methods that can be implemented; 3) it restricts learners’ ability to express knowledge about content; and, most importantly, 4) it restricts the kinds of learners who can be successful.

Current media tools provide a more flexible, creative, and accessible toolkit with which learners can more successfully take part in their learning and articulate what they know. Unless a goal is focused on learning to use a specific tool (e.g., learning to draw with a compass, learning a specific programming software), learning environments should embed a range of options for construction, composition, and creativity. In an environment where there is access to a variety of tools, learners can explore and learn to use tools that are an optimal match between their preferences and the goals of the task.

• Use spell checkers, grammar checkers, word-prediction software.
• Use speech-to-text software (voice recognition), human dictation, recording.
• Use calculators, graphing calculators, geometric sketch pads, or pre-formatted graph paper.
• Use sentence starters or sentence strips.
• Use story webs, outlining tools, or concept mapping tools.
• Use Computer-Aided-Design (CAD), music notation (writing) software, or mathematical notation software.
• Use virtual or concrete mathematics manipulatives (e.g., base-10 blocks, algebra blocks).
• Use web applications (e.g., collaborative applications, animation, presentation).