NETS T Standards and Value of Technology in the Profession

 As we've seen in recent weeks, clearly technology is alive in  education.  It appears some in an older generation and even some in a newer generation are fighting this fact.  That fight is not only a losing battle, it's a battle that should be lost.  Three 21st century learner deserves teachers willing to keep up with them.  In the NETS T standards we see where teachers should be in their quest to impart knowledge creatively and effectively through three use of technology.

Each of the 5 standards gives us a guide as educators.  The first standard essentially tells us we should be modeling the use out technology.  We should not only bee instructing students, we should be instructing to learn using technology through the use of technology.  As complicated as I may have made that sound, this is probably the easiest to accomplish and one that most teachers are at least making an effort to accomplish in every district I know of.

The second standard involves creating assignments or assessments incorporating technology.  As much as all teachers would love to be doing this all the time, this is one of the more difficult things.  We need to take the time to make this a regular practice.  The more we keep up with this standard, the better we'll be at all the rest.

The third standard seems to emphasize the use of technology to collaborate with students and parents as well as to organize our own thoughts and activities.  Online calendars are an adequate way to cover this standard but we can certainly expand this into other modes of collaboration.

The fourth standard emphasizes that we preach and model responsible and ethical technology use.  It also states that we should use tools and resources that are appropriate to our audience.

The fifth one, to me, simply implies that we constantly use and explore technology to stay up on current trends and resources.  Professional growth not only comes through taking classes, but also by simply playing and trying new things.  Some work, some don't, but growth only comes in when we maker the effort.  Failure cab giver us some of our best lessons.