The Common Core standards don’t just suggest novel technology use as a way to “engage students,” but rather requires learners to make complex decisions about how, when, and why to use technology–something educators must do as well.
Technology and the Common Core State Standards are a natural fit: after all, the standards are peppered with references to technology, digital tools, and multimedia.
When it comes to technology, the wording of the standards is purposefully broad so that the documents won't become dated as specific tools are replaced by newer technologies.
We first need to determine what we're teaching and how we're teaching it and then consider how technology can help us get there.
One helpful tool for choosing technologies is Pitler, Hubbell, and Kuhn's (2012) Matrix of Strategies and Technologies. The matrix helps teachers first identify the instructional strategy that they intend to use (Dean, Hubbell, Pitler, & Stone, 2012) and then narrow down the myriad of choices to one of the nine types of technology: