Standard Three

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     Standard three of the ISTE-NETS for teachers explains that teachers should exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes that model an innovative professional in a global and digital society.   In other words, educators need to use different technological systems, and communicate effectively with students, peers, and parents.  They also need to delve into their subject matter while utilizing current and emerging digital tools such as credible teaching websites.

     This standard also states that teachers need to collaborate with students, peers, parents and the community to support student success and innovation.   A hindrance for some teachers to comply with this standard is first gauge the digital access and fluency of students, parents, peers, and the community. 

     One course of action for these teachers to take is that during in-service days, all gathered teachers should talk about and explore their technological modes of communication.  At the least, ensure that all colleagues use the school’s email.  If there’s a board or blog, suggest that others to start using it.  I used to regularly communicate with colleagues, and continually converse with department colleagues so at the minimum, the history department had a consistent way to communicate with teachers, students, and parents.

     One way for teachers to assess students’ technological fluency is ask colleagues which technologies they utilize in their classes.  Also, many schools have websites where teachers are expected to post current information such as projects and grades.  School websites should be user friendly since a lot of the school’s information is public.  This is a great way to expose the community to different levels of technology. 

     Educators can assess parents’ digital savvy during open house by simply asking parents their preferred method of communication.  A good way to gauge ongoing accessibility and fluency is to revisit this discussion during parent conferences.  Teachers should have a variety of technologies with which to communicate.  I used to regularly communicate with parents via simple technology like telephone and email.  There is an inevitable hindrance with a teacher utilizing new technologies:  Money.  If schools and families simply don’t have access to the latest and greatest technology, teachers and parents should agree on a common way to communicate.

     If student projects required more advanced technology that the school owned, it was my responsibility that there was computer time for students.  In all the schools I taught, I usually had two computers in my room. The computer labs would have about 20 computers.  Using the computer lab was the most efficient way to work on more involved projects that exposed students to different technologies.  It was resourceful to have help from the librarian, and to allow the all students to have their own computer.  The hindrance for any school is cost.  At-risk communities and schools would find it more difficult to implement more advanced technology due costs such software licenses and hardware.

     This ISTE-NETS standard also encourages teachers to be able to transfer knowledge between technology systems.  Some schools may only work with Microsoft while many personal computers work on Macintosh.  Students need to know how to translate any familiar language for things like menus and palettes in the event they work between different systems.  Teachers should glean if this will be an issue before starting a project, so that they could prepare students with tips or guides.   This part of the standard is important because this happens all the time for many people, not just those in academia.  Many businesses have systems that use jargon that is different than many common personal computers.  Learning and teaching about common technological terms would be beneficial. 

     This standard supports ongoing technology classes for teachers.  The more educators use technology, the richer their learning and teaching will be.