Few would disagree that integrating technology in the classroom is not an important aspect of education today. There are organizations specifically devoted to ensuring this integration occurs and provide guidelines detailing how to integrate technology effectively. One such organization is the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Although this organization is self-described as international, its existence is not common knowledge in Alberta, Canada. Nor are the organization’s NETS (National Educational Technology Standards) common within the Alberta educational system. This is an unfortunate truth as the NETS are viable goals all teachers should strive to incorporate in their classroom. This paper discusses some of those outcomes and a personal plan to for professional growth in two NETS outcomes.
As mentioned above, Alberta teachers are not generally aware of the ISTE or its NETS outcomes, but it is not because we do not care about delivering a quality, technology-driven education. The issue reaches much deeper than that. Canada does not have a federal department of education. Each of our thirteen jurisdictions (ten provinces and three territories) has their own ministries of education. In some cases, vast differences exist in curriculum and assessments across the country, so there is no such thing as national education in Canada. Although there may be some provinces buying into the ISTE in Canada, Alberta Education is not. Alberta teachers truly do strive to incorporate technology in the classroom and I thought it might be likely that Alberta Education would perhaps at least mention this organization on its Web site.
After perusing their Web site at length, I found no mention of the ISTE at all. Granted, participation in ISTE seems to be strictly voluntary so this was not entirely surprising. We have a plethora of student standards, but I have never found standards to which teachers would be held accountable. Upon further investigation, I found what seems to be Alberta Education’s attempt at creating teacher standards. I felt compelled to share a small piece of this document with you, as it is testament to the pace of educational change. The “Teaching Quality Standard Applicable to the Provision of Basic Education in Alberta” document was last updated May 14, 1997 and one clause in particular states “…teachers apply a variety of technologies to meet students’ learning needs. Teachers use teaching/learning resources such as the chalkboard, texts, computers and other auditory, print and visual media, and maintain an awareness of emerging technological resources “(Alberta Education, 1997). You can see more of Alberta Education’s document here.
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How do you plug it in?
Photo Credit: Deanna Deveau, 2011 |
The fact that most of today’s students have never seen a chalkboard in their classrooms indicates Alberta Education needs to consider an update to their teaching standards. These standards to appear to fall short in comparison to, for example, the International Society for Technology in Education. The
ISTE NETS for teachers include standards and performance indicators including
“Model Digital-Age Work and Learning:
- Demonstrate fluency in technology systems…transfer current knowledge to new technologies and situations model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning
- Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments”
- Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity
- Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching…” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
There is no ambiguity in the ISTE standards as I found to be the case in the Alberta Education document I noted earlier. The clarity of the NETS makes it easy to identify areas (or standards) in which I am skilled and those which require more focus in my practice. In fact, the ones listed above happen to be areas in which I feel quite confident. I have a strong technology background and envisioning how to use various applications seems to come easy for me. That is not to say I do not have work to do in this area, but I am confident I meet these standards.
On the other hand, one of the standards in which I plan to foster growth requires that I “…develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools…” (ISTE, 2008 4d). Although I am a confident teacher and self-proclaimed expert computer user, I recognize that I need to concentrate my professional development in the area of collaborating with others outside of my immediate circle of colleagues. Living in rural, central Alberta dramatically limits the degree of cultural diversity that I am exposed to geographically. I am not opposed to engaging in collaborative work, it is just not something that has been in my first line-up of professional tools. Clearly, this is counter intuitive to growing as a professional because collaborating with colleagues and peers ultimately serves to support my efforts. This is especially true when taking risks and trying different methods (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).
Another standard I want to address in my continued professional growth is to “…participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning…” (ISTE, 2008 5(a)). This standard is closely aligned with the one noted above, as they both require that I initiate communications and develop relationships with others outside of my school and district.
Identifying areas in need of improvement is one thing, but setting out to improve one’s practice is quite another. This change requires planning. Setting goals, determining a course of action, monitoring the process and evaluating the success of the endeavour is all part of Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer’s GAME Plan (2009). My GAME plan follows.
Goals: Locate and join an Alberta based association whose mandate is to advance technology in Alberta education. It is important to join an Alberta association as their mandates and work most closely reflects Alberta Education’s student objectives. Joining is not enough, however. I will need to become active in these organizations to ensure I grow as a professional and implement my growth in my practice. Throughout this process, I will build a network of educators and other professionals with a common interest in promoting technological growth in education.
Action: Initially I will build contact list of Alberta schools’ technology leaders, search the Internet, and capitalize on existing Twitter presence to locate educational technology associations in Alberta. The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) may also have leads in this regard so it makes sense to contact them as well. Once I have established a presence, I will become an active participant, and contribute to pools of knowledge and discussions.
Monitoring: Initially, maintaining a database of contacts will be a clear indicator as to whether I am establishing a network of like-minded professionals. Meaningful reflection on the quality of these contacts and participation in associations is necessary to ensure I am using my time wisely and expanding my own knowledge and participation I collaborative projects. If I am not implementing what I learn from these partnerships, or if I am not meeting my initial goals, it may be time to either cycle back to the action stage of my plan, or to set new goals.
Evaluating: Have I learned what I set out to learn? Have I met my goals? This is very similar to the monitoring phase of my GAME plan in that I may end up returning to my action phase to pick up where I may have strayed, or to establish new goals.
I have always considered education to be a slow moving machine. It takes ministerial changes for policies to be rewritten, new administrators to change school mandates and so on. All of these changes take time…a lot of time. But, having said this, I must add that education is also a profession of renewal and change and newness. Every group of students brings opportunity for new learning experiences for both students and teachers. Incorporating technology into those experiences increases opportunities for newness and different learning experiences exponentially. Alberta teachers are striving to incorporate technology into their classrooms, but they have relatively little guidance in this regard. Accessing a document such as the ISTE’s NETS for teachers will empower Alberta teachers to achieve all their technology goals.
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.
