Educational Technology Standards

After reviewing the various standards for education in technology, I think they can be boiled down into 3 "big picture" goals. Students and teachers should both be able to understand and implement:

1.Creative Use of Technology 

2. Ethical Use of Technology

3. Practical Use of Technology


A big part of my job is going to be the creative use of technology to enhance my teaching. It's all about selecting the right tool for the job.For example, if I have a smart board available, I plan to make frequent use of it and it's available functions. I can also use technology creatively to draw in student interest by incorporating pictures and videos found online. I can also attract student interest by using technology to take polls using either google forms or the cell phone polling site. It will be "cool" for students to see their poll results popping up on the screen in real time. Finally, in order to encourage my students to produce the best quality of work, I intend have them publish their projects, with pictures, to a class web page or blog. The fact that it's going to be published should be a good motivator for them.

Ethical use of technology is a bit more tricky. I will certainly be on the look-out for unethical use of technology such as word-for-word copying off of the internet. Fortunately, by using search engines, those things are fairly easy to catch. I will try to emphasize how very serious an issue copying another person's research could be in the real world.

For practical use of technology, an important goal is for my students to be able to organize and chart their research data. I find that high school students often have no idea how to use excel (or google sheets), and those skills are absolutely essential for lab work. Another important tool is power point (or google presentation), and I will be sure that students put together at least one group presentation using a technological visual aide over the course of the semester. I will also refer my students to useful study guides and instructional interactive pages and activities on the internet to assist in developing their understanding outside of class.