In my last post, I wrote about the International Society for Technology Education's standards for student learning. These standards were centered on the central fact that in the 21st century, a new set of learning tools is available to students. These digital tools, be they hardware or software, need to be part of student learning because they have quickly become critical components of economic and social life for so many people.
When learning standards are accepted, it is teachers who are tasked with implementation. But with the new ISTE learning standards, a dilemma presents itself. What if the teachers are not adequately conversant and comfortable with the student learning standards? In other words, with these ISTE student standards, what if teachers don't reasonably understand the digital world they are now guiding students through? Given the rapid ascent of digital tools coupled with a teaching workforce that largely came of age before the onset of the 21st century, this gap between student learning standards and teacher digital knowledge is not theoretical. It can be very real.
To that end, the ISTE has also crafted a set of teacher learning standards for the digital age. These five standards say to teachers, "If you are to be an effective teacher in an era of digital tools, you need to be familiar with the tools and be willing to incorporate them appropriately into classroom instruction." There is an understanding that these digital tools are rapidly evolving, so an important facet of the ISTE learning standards for teachers hinges on professional development. Teachers must be explicit, conscious learners as part of their job.
There are five major categories of teacher performance in the ISTE standards:
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
The first category asks teachers to inspire students to learn. This, of course, is what teachers have tried to do since the ancient Greeks began to give shape to formal learning institutions. In fact, in reading through the subtext of this major category, "technological" words like virtual or digital barely appear. What is emphasized, however, is the teacher should model learning. In other words, if teachers are to help students towards optimal learning and creativity, teachers need to be creative learners themselves.
The second category encourages teachers to incorporate technology into classroom learning. Implicit in this category is a re-definition of classroom to include virtual components. For instance, at GSB, each teacher has a class site in KnightSite. The ISTE would see the class site as part of classroom learning. The classroom is no longer defined and confined by the four walls of the room. Now, it moves across space and time by utilizing digital tools. Aside from KnightSite, I see technology as part of classroom learning environments daily. An example from today: I was talking with Brett Mershon about her use of a Google Form to help students assess their understanding of figures of speech. When I asked why she was using a Google Form for a task that could have been accomplished in other ways, she said that students get a little more interested when the instructional tools are varied. I have no doubt she's correct.
The third teacher standard is the most problematic for a number of teachers. It asks teachers to model appropriate uses of digital tools. The explanatory language of #3 above says that "Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society." There's an assumption here that teachers will be better able to effectively use digital tools in the classroom if they embrace digital tools in their lives. This standard suggest teachers can be most effective if they do such things as blog, work with digital audio and visual files, and utilize the internet as their go-to resource for information. I regularly encounter teachers who would challenge this assumption. I even wrote about such teachers in an article that appeared in T.H.E. Journal called "The Digital Resistors" because I think helping these teachers feel more comfortable with technology is important. In my experience, it is true that teachers who avoid digital tools in their personal lives often feel overwhelmed with the technology changes they see in school.
The fourth standard, by contrast, seems like a comfortable fit for virtually all teachers. Here, teachers are urged to keep digital citizenship front and center as new technologies are blended into learning environments. In a way, not much changes here from teacher modeling that dates back many generations. Teachers generally are seen as key adults to help our children learn how to become responsible citizens. Lying, cheating, harassing and bullying have always been anathema to teachers who seek to help young people mature. Yes, the tools to misbehave have changed, but the core issues are essentially the same.
The final standard would also be at home in a listing of teacher standards from a generation past. Teachers must also be learners, and they must develop their professional skills in an ongoing fashion through their careers. But two things do change in the digital age. Because the tools, both hardware and software, evolve rapidly, more frequent professional development is necessary. An older model of a workshop or two a year simply won't be enough. The good news is that the ways in which professional development can occur have expanded as well. Online webinars and MOOCs, for instance, offer free, convenient professional development tools to any teacher. Online information is not only usually very cost effective; it is also not limited by geography. For instance, this spring, I'm taking a course from the University of Texas on how social media is being used by various professions. It's a MOOC. So I'm learning more about an area that will develop my professional knowledge from a professor in Austin, but the whole process will be free and relatively painless.
Want to see the ISTE standards for teachers? Just click on ISTE Standards.
No comments:
Post a Comment