What Does the Future Hold?
Posted by LeAnn on October 13, 2008 in Content Areas
For the past year, I have been part of the team developing the Educational Techology EALRS/GLEs for Washington State. Our team is made up of teachers/librarians from across the state, representing various grade levels and content areas. As of yet, I am not able to share the draft of our work as it hasn’t been officially approved by OSPI. However, I can provide some idea of what is coming.
Much of our work has been influenced by ISTE’s NETS for Students and evaluating various resources that discuss what a student needs to be successful in the 21st century. Of course we also took into account the standards that other states have adopted. I feel that all of us are aware of the strains put upon teachers to have students meet particular standards, so with these Ed. Tech. standards there will be a strong emphasis on examples and the integration of technology within content areas. In fact, part of the team met with content area representatives this summer to discuss specific activities/projects that incorporate technology. Most likely, the Educational Technology standards will be ready and shared at NCCE conference in Portland in 2009.
For me, the biggest struggle in developing these standards is looking towards the future. How do we write standards for students whose world may be entirely different just a few years from now? Look at how the Internet has changed us. What about web 2.0? How soon will it be before we have “web 3.0″? “Technology Integration” is changing. I’m not even mentioning digital citizenship, professional development for teachers, or time…
I believe that Karl Fisch’s, “Did You Know?” is a thought-provoking perspective on our students’ world and future. What, then, as a teacher, does “technology integration” mean and in turn Ed. Tech. standards look like?
November 14th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
How do these standards match up to the ISTE tech standards. It seems most school districts use the ISTE Standards. I’m curious why WA state is doing their own?