ISTE Standards

Reading the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers, it reminds me a lot of the Essential Conditions piece that I just wrote about. However, these standards seem a lot easier to follow and seem a little more realistic to touch on each standard than that of the Essential Conditions. In comparison, with the conditions I would need to worry about all the external factors and it’s not always that easy to make sure that people are on the same page. I can relate to the ISTE standards, because the Essential conditions rely on more than just the educator, which can make things more challenging. I know that I could embrace these standards such as “facilitation and inspiring student leadership and creativity,” and to “engage in professional growth and leadership.” I think the ISTE standards are very reasonable.

I do think that these standards can for the most part, apply to all grade levels. However, when teaching “digital model citizenship,” it would obviously be taught to the middle/high school levels in more depth. I know that when I took a computer class in high school, we had a whole unit based on how to use the Internet ethically and how to be safe. I had many friends at that time steal term papers from online sources and because the Internet was relatively new none of them were caught. Yet, when I reached college I was aware of two students in my program who were expelled from the school for stealing papers online. I also new a student who was expelled for trying to hack his teachers computer to change a grade. With this being said, technology can be used for ethical and unethical practices. I believe that it is our job as educators to model ethical behavior, and also warn our students of the consequences of these unethical behaviors.

On a lighter note, I think that “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity,” can relate to a teacher’s everyday life. My favorite key point in this particular standard is in regards to “model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.” I love love love how we learned in class yesterday about the google docs, where we can essentially edit and collaborate simultaneously. Another example, of this face-to-face environment would be with Skype or Facetime, if one has a Mac computer. This is so amazing and makes email look ancient in comparison. Because, I am currently in a first grade class I would not be using this, but if I were teaching middle school or high school I would definitely use this technology.