Technology Educational Standards

The International Society for Technology in Education has come up with a set of of National Educational Technology Standards for both students and teachers.  The technology standards for students (NETS•S) evaluate what students need to know to live and in a world that is becoming increasingly more global and digital.  These standards stress the importance of students communicating and collaborating by using technology.  The standards also mention that now more than ever students need to be able to think critically, research, analyze, and synthesize information, and use creativity to continue to get ahead in society.  

The National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS•T) ask teachers to be among other leaders of the digital age to help students accomplish the aforementioned student standards. While many of our students may be more comfortable than us at experimenting with technology, as teachers, we are the ones who need to model how to effectively use technology in a global society.  To do this, we must utilize tools like blogs, classroom webpages, and other resources to engage students and facilitate collaboration not only between peers but also between our students and others  in the virtual world.  We should be using digital resources to not only inspire student learning but also to develop new learning experiences and assessments.  Based on what I now know about blogging, a classroom blog could accomplish many of our NETS goals.  A classroom blog could easily be used as a portal to communication with others outside of the classroom.  It could also be used as an assessment tool for reading, writing, or any other curriculum based topic.  I could also easily transform my classroom's current classroom newspaper into a digital newspaper using a blog.  The newspaper topics would require students to complete research, analyze, and synthesize information regarding current events outside of the classroom.  The newspaper would also require collaboration between peers as students planned which articles they would write.  Once the newspaper was written and published, students could invite other classrooms to view and comment on the paper to facilitate communication between those in the virtual world.  

There are many different ways that we as teachers can help our students become better digital learners.  We need to embrace technology and become digital learners ourselves to help inspire our students to do the same.