Like the national educational technology standards for teachers, there are also six standards for the students. The six standards or performance indicators are: “(1) Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. (2) Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. (3) Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. (4) Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. (5) Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. (6) Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.”
These standards will serve as a helpful tool for when I begin teaching. Like other standards, I will be able to look at the list of standards and know what is expected of my students, and therefore what I should be teaching them. I also like how the article breaks the standards up into the 6 categories: (1) Creativity and Innovation, (2) Communication and Collaboration (3) Research and Information Fluency (4) Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making (5) Digital Citizenship (6) Technology Operations and Concepts. As an education student, looking through standards can be extremely overwhelming, so I really appreciate how this article has organized the standards. They are laid out in a clear manner that allows teachers to easily see what students need to know and be able to do.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers
This article states the national educational technology standards for teachers. There are six standards teachers must meet. (1) Teachers are required to demonstrate they understand technology operations and concepts. (2) Teachers are obligated to plan and design an effective learning environment and experiences that support technology. (3) Teachers’ curriculum plans must include methods and strategies for applying technology in order to maximize student learning. (4) Teachers are required to use a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies. (5) Teachers should use technology in a way that enhances their productivity and professional practice. (6) Teachers must understand the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in PK-12 schools and abide by all when teaching.
As a future teacher, I think it is nice there are clearly laid out technology standards for what teachers are expected to be able to do. As a digital native, six standards seem easy enough to follow.
As a future teacher, I think it is nice there are clearly laid out technology standards for what teachers are expected to be able to do. As a digital native, six standards seem easy enough to follow.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Education for the 21st century the basics
This article talks about how to teach students of the 21st century. It focuses on the elements of 21st century learning. “The elements include focusing on the core subjects, the areas identified in NCLB legislation; 21st century content, the emerging content areas such as: global awareness; financial, economic, business, and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; and health/wellness awareness”. The article goes on to explain that students are partly shaped by their environment, which is, “media rich, immediate, fast, engaging, dynamic and instant. It is electronic and digital, a communication medium implying instant gratification”. Therefore as teachers we must change the way we teach to fit their needs.
The ideas in this article sounded awfully familiar to me since the author discussed how to teach digital natives. Given that we have covered this topic before, the article did not hold my interest at all, and to be bluntly honest I wanted to stop reading after the 2nd page. Obviously children of the 21st century need to be taught differently than children 100 years ago. Because there is more technology, students are used to quick results, thus teachers need to adapt their teaching styles to better meet their learners needs.
The ideas in this article sounded awfully familiar to me since the author discussed how to teach digital natives. Given that we have covered this topic before, the article did not hold my interest at all, and to be bluntly honest I wanted to stop reading after the 2nd page. Obviously children of the 21st century need to be taught differently than children 100 years ago. Because there is more technology, students are used to quick results, thus teachers need to adapt their teaching styles to better meet their learners needs.
Standards for the 21st century learner
The article is from the American Association of School Librarians and covers 4 standards areas for the 21st century learner. The article elaborates on the 4 areas and lists out all of the standards for each area. “(1) Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge. (2) Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge. (3) Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. (4) Pursue personal and aesthetic growth“.
This article is very confusing out of context, and I’m not quite sure what to think of it. I could benefit from seeing some in the classroom type of examples of how these standards are used. The article was not clear if these are just suggestions or actual standards for educators.
This article is very confusing out of context, and I’m not quite sure what to think of it. I could benefit from seeing some in the classroom type of examples of how these standards are used. The article was not clear if these are just suggestions or actual standards for educators.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Copyright 101
The article Copyright 101 speaks to two policies; copyright and fair use. The author defines copyright as it “protects original works including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as novels, poetry, songs, motion pictures, computer software, and architectural works. In essence, copyright protection goes into effect as soon as an original work is fixed in a tangible form of expression. The copyright in the work immediately becomes the property of the author”. The article defines fair use as “a copyrighted work can be used or copied for educational purposes as long as the use is not solely a substitute for purchasing the work”. The article also provides some basic examples of fair use in schools.
This article was not very helpful, and to be truthful it was also kind of lame. Although the article included examples of what teachers are and are not allowed to do, the examples were common sense. We all know teachers are allowed to copy an article from a journal and distribute a copy to their class. The example that really bothered me was,” A teacher wishes to use a very expensive textbook for his or her class. Due to the high cost, the teacher makes copies of the entire book for class distribution.” Come on! To think any real educator would do this is down right insulting.
This article was not very helpful, and to be truthful it was also kind of lame. Although the article included examples of what teachers are and are not allowed to do, the examples were common sense. We all know teachers are allowed to copy an article from a journal and distribute a copy to their class. The example that really bothered me was,” A teacher wishes to use a very expensive textbook for his or her class. Due to the high cost, the teacher makes copies of the entire book for class distribution.” Come on! To think any real educator would do this is down right insulting.
What is Creative Commons?
Creative Commons allows other people to use and benefit from your work. Getting a creative Commons license is free and takes a simple visit to their website creativecommons.org. Creative Commons modifies copyright terms to best suit individual needs; telling your viewers exactly what they can and cannot do with your work.
As a student, I benefit from seeing other educator’s work. I would like to see more teacher’s ideas, previous lessons, bulletin board examples etc. that I could possibly use and build from. We could all benefit and learn from one another, so as long as people give credit where credit is due, I think they should be able to use their ideas for educational purposes.
As a student, I benefit from seeing other educator’s work. I would like to see more teacher’s ideas, previous lessons, bulletin board examples etc. that I could possibly use and build from. We could all benefit and learn from one another, so as long as people give credit where credit is due, I think they should be able to use their ideas for educational purposes.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Design Your Web Site from the Bottom Up
This article gives website creators 10 easy to follow steps for building a website. Step one is brainstorm a list of everything you want to put on your website. Step two tells you to take that list and group the items into categories. Step three suggests you should critique the categories you came up with in order to determine they make sense. Step four is revise your categories if needed. Step five recommends you develop a flow chart to help you organize the layout of your website and keep track of your pages. Similar to step five, step six proposes you develop a navigation plan that your audience will use to move around your site. Step seven is page layout. Step eight suggests you keep your website simple. Step nine; make your homepage which will be the introduction to your website. Step ten says you’re done, congratulate yourself.
To be honest, I think this article is pretty common knowledge. While the steps are easy to follow, they are really obvious suggestions like keep your site simple, organize it in a viewer friendly manner, and create your home/introduction page last. Obviously you would create your intro page last because you don’t know what will be on your site until you have given it some thought. I think anyone who was taught to write the introduction of an essay last would know to create their home/intro page of their website last. Steps five-seven are really repetitive and probably could have been condensed into one step. The only part of this article I actually liked was the part about grouping. I think that having things separated into news, class info, and for parents categories would be really helpful for my site viewers.
To be honest, I think this article is pretty common knowledge. While the steps are easy to follow, they are really obvious suggestions like keep your site simple, organize it in a viewer friendly manner, and create your home/introduction page last. Obviously you would create your intro page last because you don’t know what will be on your site until you have given it some thought. I think anyone who was taught to write the introduction of an essay last would know to create their home/intro page of their website last. Steps five-seven are really repetitive and probably could have been condensed into one step. The only part of this article I actually liked was the part about grouping. I think that having things separated into news, class info, and for parents categories would be really helpful for my site viewers.
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