What other types of changes should occur?
Here is a list of some of the information provided in the six workshops that didn’t fit directly into the previous categories, but these items are still very important. Comment on them, or add to the list!
ACT 48 hours have to include a number of college type credits in technology skills
Ongoing training has to be provided in various ways, like…
Schools can collaborate to provide in-service across districts, and possibly share people with specific expertise.
Schools can work in cohorts for keeping technology skills up to date
Use lots of online options
Use the ISTE NETS standards in/with PA standards
Teachers should expect to travel
More learning will be done globally
More learning will be done in collaboration
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
To pursue the specialty certification areas without addressing the leadership context of schools and systems would not be wise. Resources (including personnel) are vital, but the role of system and building leaders is pivotal in the actual, rubber-meets-the-road results of integration.
Requiring certain Act 48 experiences for principals and district leaders might be one avenue - this is similar to your suggestion that teachers must take a certain percentage of ongoing Act 48 hours with a technology emphasis....
So you are suggesting that a required number of the ACT48 credits might be focused on Leadership?
Communication. Whether we facilitate this through eduwikis, blogs, podcasts, listserv, etc... nothing else matters. Using MIT's OpenCourseWare model, we could develop online curriculum that could distribute the content and measure assessments. By developing this curriculum under fair use, we can let individual districts tweak this as they see fit.
Also, by utilizing podcasts: video, audio and pdf handouts could be directly distributed to all parties who subscribe to the links. Best practices can be made available for the world to see. Example grants and suggested configurations could be easily shared.
Before substantive change can occur, key areas of weakness in the current system need to be addressed.
There is generally not sufficient dialog between curriculum departments and the IT department. A way must be found to enable the teachers and students to use the resources effectively while preserving the integrity of the computers and the security of the network.
Students can not communicate and collaborate without access to e-mail and some approved blog and chat sites. Most districts will not permit this, but there are systems and safeguards available to enable this.
Student and teacher technology standards are a starting point, but too often this ends up being a curriculum for a computer teacher and the skills are little used in the "regular" classroom. More than a list of skills to be introduced/mastered these standards need to describe how the students (and teachers) need to be able to use these skills and resources to support and enhance the educational process.
The integration of technology must be seamless. This means these resources and tools are used more than once or twice a year in painfully developed and scripted lessons created at some workshop. This means ongoing curriculum, and not some "showcase" unit developed primarily to demonstrate exceptional skills with special equipment on lessons that are not imbedded in the curriculum nor linked to standards.
These proposed (and essential) changes will require people, time, training, and money. Too many districts are more willing to spend money on equipment and believe that it's somehow magically going to be used by untrained teachers in ways that enhance student learning (and, of course, raise the sacred test scores).
Dale Roades
Education Consultant
Point Click Learn
Post a Comment