Technology Assessment: Practices for Integration and Literacy
Instruction, Integration and Assessment
of
Current K-12 / College-Prep Technology Literacy Standards
Because we live in an ever-changing technological and
global society, technology plays an important role in
education, and the choice for schools is not whether
they should use digital technology but how they will
use it.
Too often attempts to integrate educational technologies
by technology directors have been limited to wiring
and connecting classrooms to the Internet, or simply
providing children with access to computers for word
processing and presentations. Instead, true integration
is achieved by properly training teachers to apply integrated
technology and adopt current technology standards as
part of their curriculum, effectively becoming facilitators
for students to be better equipped to thrive in the
today's technologically-driven world.
The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS)
and the International Computer Driving License (ICDL),
are research-based technology integration standards
and proficiency assessment guides that incorporate international,
national, state and local curriculum models of current
technology literacy in our global community.
The National Educational
Technology Standards (NETS):
Digital Learning Assessment and Instructional Design
The National
Educational Technology Standards (NETS) are a set
of standards published by the International Society
for Technology in Education (ISTE). They are designed
to leverage the use of technology in K-12 education,
and to enable students to learn effectively and live
productively in an increasingly digital society.
NETS for Students (k-12)
Within NETS
for Students there are six Performance Indicators.
Each Performance Indicator indicates and outlines what
the student should be able to achieve within technological
literacy by the completion of a school year. The Performance
Indicators are guidelines where the students are aware
of the programs goals and what they are attempting to
achieve to meet NETS standards. The Performance Indicators
are as follows:
Creativity and Innovation
Communication and Collaboration
Research and Information Fluency
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision
Making
Digital Citizenship
Technology Operations and Concepts
Profiles of Technology Literate Students
(k-12)
A major component of the NETS Project is the development
of a general set of profiles
describing technology (ICT) literate students at
key developmental points in their pre-college education.
These profiles are based on ISTE’s core belief
that all students must have regular opportunities to
use technology to develop skills that encourage personal
productivity, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration
in the classroom and in daily life.
Coupled with the standards, the profiles provide an
invaluable set of examples for preparing students to
be lifelong learners and contributing members of a global
society. Here are excerpts of the literate student profile
contents:
Grades PK-2 (Ages 4-8)
Engage in learning activities with learners
from multiple cultures through e-mail and other
electronic means.
In a collaborative work group, use a variety
of technologies to produce a digital presentation
or product in a curriculum area.
Communicate about technology using developmentally
appropriate and accurate terminology.
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-11)
Use digital-imaging technology to modify or
create works of art for use in a digital presentation.
Debate the effect of existing and emerging
technologies on individuals, society, and the
global community.
Apply previous knowledge of digital technology
operations to analyze and solve current hardware
and software problems.
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-14)
Participate in a cooperative learning project
in an online learning community.
Use collaborative electronic authoring tools
to explore common curriculum content from multicultural
perspectives with other learners.
Independently develop and apply strategies
for identifying and solving routine hardware
and software problems.
Grades 9-12 (Ages 14-18)
Design, develop, and test a digital learning
game to demonstrate knowledge and skills related
to curriculum content.
Create and publish an online art gallery with
examples and commentary that demonstrate an
understanding of different historical periods,
cultures, and countries.
Configure and troubleshoot hardware, software,
and network systems to optimize their use for
learning and productivity.
2007
ISTE NETS Implementation (k-12)
As part of the NETS movement toward integrating
digital learning games into the k-12 core curricula,
in November 2010 ISTE published a guide to help
instructors satisfy this literacy standard.
Playing Games in School focuses this on
four topics: why games should be a part of education,
the availability of games in four core subjects
and physical education, selecting and integrating
games in school, and alternate perspectives on
game-based learning. Each chapter takes an in-depth
look at research or case studies on topics including
how today's students differ from previous generations,
integrating games into the classroom with instructional
strategies, incorporating gamebased learning without
computers, commercial off-the-shelf games, virtual
environments, and more. The additional resources
throughout the book, such as lists of guidelines
and a technology consent form template, assist
educators as they integrate this compelling form
of instruction into their classrooms.
As
a suppliment to ISTE's array of published instructional
guides to standards,
profiles and rubrics for the 2007 NETS, an
open forum and online database was created for
instructors to share their ideas and lesson plans,
below are links to the various grade levels and
subjects:
ISTE
/ AMC / CSTA Core Curriculum Implementation (2010-2011)
This is an interactive map showing to what extent
each state has adopted ACM
and CSTA's nationally recognized computer science
education standards into state standards,
in conjunction with the
ISTE NETS, and whether computer science counts
as a core mathematics or science graduation credit.
The International Computer Driving License
(ICDL):
Proficiency Standards for High School, Pre-College and
First-Year College Students
Inconjunction with the ISTE NETS, the ECDL
Foudation has produced what is considered a new global
standard for IT literacy assessment, named the International
Computer Driving License (ICDL). As of May 2010, the ICDL
has been implemented as a required proficiency exam of
high school and first-year college students in 164
countries worldwide, and over 30 colleges and universities
in the US. It is modified every year as technology continues
to evolve.
Divided into seven parts or modules, the topics outlined
below represent the ICDL minimum baseline set of knowledge
that students should possess to ensure Technology Proficiency
in the 2010-2011 school year.
Basic Computer Concepts: Parts of a computer, computer
terms, computer use in everyday life.
Information and Communication: Using the Internet,
Web browsing, E-mail, managing messages. (Internet
Explorer)
Applied Technology and Personal Finance
Another area of applied technology that is gaining in
interest, especially for first-year college students,
is personal finance management. According to a recent
study, one of the top concerns of parents of pre-college
and first-year college students is their childern's knowledge
of personal finance. In fact, the Merrill Lynch Affluent
Insights Quarterly, which surveyed 1,000 Americans in
June 2010, found that 51 percent cited "financial
know-how" as the most important life lesson schools
could share with their children before they begin college.
Technology IntegrationWebinars Archive
The following are archived recordings and event materials
from Webinars that I attended as part of the Moving Forward
With Technology Series offered jointly by CITEd
and Don
Johnston, Inc., and endorse by the ISTE
NETS program. These webinars are timely, and address
a number of the top challenges to Technology Integration,
including:
Time
Equipment
Professional Development
Technical Support
Administrative Support
(To view the folling recordings,
you must first download and install the WRF
Player.)
Technology Implementation: Getting to Where You
Want to Be, January 6, 2009
(Slides
/ Recording)
Authors: David Rose, Mary Thorngren, Jenna Wasson
This session features an overview of Universal
Design for Learning and interactive website tools
hosted by the Center for Implementing Technology in
Education (CITEd) that offer guidance to educators
on the stages of effective technology implementation.
Learn about just-in-time resources and tools to support
instruction for diverse learners and an online course
for teachers on “differentiating
instruction through technology.
Evaluating Your Technology Implementation Program,
May 2, 2008 & May 12, 2008
(Slides
/ Recording)
Authors: David Rose, Grace Meo
Documenting the effectiveness of your technology
implementation initiative is critical to improving
and growing the initiative. Data is also critical
to gaining support in the community. Learn to use
the resources in the EdTech Locator, an online toolkit
from CITEd to help you assess your efforts and plan
for improvement and growth.
Meeting the diverse needs of students is a challenge
- technology can make it work for you. This webinar
will share a successful model for implementing differentiated
instruction with technology and provide a toolkit
of resources, strategies, and practice guides that
address your needs to differentiate planning, instruction,
management, and student assessment.
